GROUP FIGHTS CHILD PREDATORS
High-profile cases highlight abuse in sports
To a young person, joining a sports team is a chance to make some friends, learn a skill, and share the joy of victory and agony of defeat.
But when cases of sexual abuse arise, what should be one of the more pleasant rites of passage can turn into a nightmare situation of confusion, shame, guilt and anger for the child, parents and the sports organization.
Until recently, it seemed not much was being doing to prevent such incidents and sexual predators had free rein until they were caught.
But after several highprofile cases highlighted the shortcomings of protecting children, one Calgary group says that’s changing.
Sports teams and youth organizations are adopting new approaches to protect children from would-be predators as they increasingly grapple with sexual abuse cases.
The groups have started taking the education of their coaches and other leaders more seriously amid a number of high-profile cases, from the shocking incident more than a decade ago involving Sheldon Kennedy and his former junior hockey coach Graham James to the recent conviction of Calgary ringette coach Kelsea Joy Hepburn.
In 2004, Kennedy, a former Flames player, and Wayne McNeil started Respect Group Inc. to provide an online training program, called Respect in Sport, to educate coaches and other youth leaders on bullying, abuse, harassment and neglect.
“Six and seven years ago, when Sheldon and I were out there, we were pretty lonely,” McNeil said. “Nobody wanted to talk about these issues. They wanted to think everything was an isolated incident and it doesn’t happen, which we know today is clearly not the case.
“When we walk into a room today, people are very accepting of us coming in to talk about these issues,” he added.
While it’s not mandatory in Alberta for youth leaders to take the Respect in Sport course, which was developed with the Red Cross, McNeil estimates that “hundreds of sport organizations” across the country are requiring their volunteers to take the online training — including Hockey Canada, Ringette Calgary and Baseball Alberta.
The groups are going beyond standard criminal background checks, which have limitations.
Sexual predators who haven’t been caught can pass a background check because they don’t have a criminal record and get into positions where they’re trusted to look after children.
Last month, a jury convicted Hepburn, 22, of sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching in connection with an improper relationship involving a 13-year-old girl she coached in 2011. She did not have a previous record.
On one occasion, the victim’s mother caught her daughter and Hepburn with their pants down in the basement of their home. Prosecutors also introduced months of text messages between Hepburn and the girl, some of which were sexually explicit.
Hepburn’s case is an example of why education and communication is important in stopping sexual abuse of children by adults placed in positions of trust, say police and child advocates.
“Organizations, as well as parents, should take training in how to prevent sex abuse,” said Laurie Szymanski, executive director of Little Warriors, a national charity dedicated to preventing sexual abuse of children.
With the proper education, Szymanski said organizations can put in place policies that forbid or limit the potential for inappropriate contact between adults and children in their care, such a s ma n - dating the presence of a second a dult f or one-on-one meetings or requiring office doors to remain open.
The more parents learn about preventing sexual abuse, the more equipped they are to be discerning about the organizations they trust with their children, Szymanski said.
“If they educate themselves, then they can ask, ‘What are your policies?’” she said.
Youth groups say they are taking the issue seriously.
For new volunteers, Ringette Calgary requires an application, interview, criminal background check and coaching feedback through a survey. The Respect in Sport training is mandatory for all coaches.
Past-president Paul Geddes has been involved with ringette for more than 15 years. “Absolutely, the
We’ve seen a lot of these issues come to light over the last 10 years. PAUL GEDDES
awareness is much better and communication and training. All that stuff is one hundred times better. When I first got involved in the sport there was never any talk of coach training, athlete training, parent training,” he said.
“We’ve seen a lot of these issues come to light over the last 10 years. You look at somebody like Sheldon and what he’s brought to the forefront, and those are the kind of things that make people think twice and look at their organizations and determine whether they need to be better.”
Hockey Calgary spokeswoman Christina Rogers said her organization’s volunteers are also required to take the Respect in Sport training.
“We believe that education is the key to preventing abuse from happening and allows people to feel more comfortable about stepping forward if something ever does happen,” she said. It’s not just sports teams. Scouts Canada chief commissioner Andrew Price said the organization does background searches on potential volunteers, requires three references and has a two-leader rule that states no leader should be alone with a child.
“We’re all about developing young people into confident and capable, contributing members of society. That’s our fundamental mission. Clearly, we believe the fundamental start point for that is making sure that young people are safe,” Price said.
According to the RCMP, which maintains the national sex offender registry, there were 2,200 registered sex offenders living in Alberta in 2011.
Unlike in the U.S., the registry isn’t made public. Police there use it as an investigative tool and for conducting the background checks designed to keep the 26,000 sex offenders in the database out of jobs or volunteer positions where they could target victims.
Although criminal record checks aren’t a panacea, Szymanski said volunteer groups and employers should research an applicant’s background and ask for references.
Ideally, a combination of proper background checks and vigilance will prevent sexual abuse, but child advocates said it’s also important to recognize the signs that a child is being molested.
“You always have to be vigilant, you always have to be talking to your kids,” said Calgary police spokesman Kevin Brookwell.
Some common behaviours exhibited by children who are being sexually abused are sudden changes in mood — particularly aggressive or selfdestructive behaviour, sleep problems such as nightmares, losing interest in activities they have typically enjoyed and anxiety when being undressed or changed.
For McNeil, the progress is rewarding. “Are we going to prevent them all from happening? No, but what we can do is have organizations do the best they can to prevent it from happening. If it does happen, they’ll have the tools in place,” he said.
“In the early days of the Respect in Sport program, organizations feared that if they discussed the difficult subject matter, their members would think there was a problem.
“Today, parents and society in general are demanding this program. If you don’t have this program, people aren’t signing up because they want their kids to be protected.”