Facilitate Reporting Of Abuse, Report Urges Chl Other Recommendations Include Screening Of Junior Hockey Coaches

All coaches in Canada’s top junior hockey program would require background checks, and players could report sex abuse over a toll-free hot line under recommendations made Thursday in response to a sex scandal.

The report was commissioned by the Canadian Hockey League after Sheldon Kennedy, then a forward with the Boston Bruins, revealed last year that he was sexually abused hundreds of times by his coach while playing junior hockey in western Canada.

The Western Hockey League, which the Spokane Chiefs play in, is one of three leagues that make up the Canadian Hockey League.

Kennedy’s revelations led to the imprisonment of his popular and successful coach, Graham James, and forced Canadians to make a sobering reassessment of the sport they most cherish.

Entitled “Players First,” the report was compiled by a prominent Toronto sports lawyer, Gordon Kirke, on the basis of scores of interviews with psychiatrists, teachers, police officers, perpetrators of abuse and some of their victims.

Among the report’s key recommendations:

The 48-team Canadian Hockey League should have a national education policy for players, coaches, general managers, trainers and parents on issues ranging from sexual assault and harassment to hazing and how to be more tolerant of gay men and women.

All people involved with a club who have access to players should undergo screening that includes background checks through police and child protection agency records.

The league should provide a toll-free number for players to call if they feel they have been sexually abused or harassed. Each team should make people who are independent of the team available to players for counseling.

A confidential complaint process should be established.

The CHL said it will study the report before deciding which recommendations, if any, to adopt.