Former professional ice hockey player Sheldon Kennedy is calling for Hockey Canada CEO Scott Smith, his leadership team and the board of directors to resign immediately, according to a statement released Tuesday.
“Giving my 26 years of advocating for victims, I can’t sit idle any longer,” Kennedy said in his statement post on Twitter.
Kennedy’s statement comes after Hockey Canada announced a plan to combat any “toxic” behaviour in hockey.
The plan was announced a day before the start of the second round of parliamentary hearings into the organization’s handling of an alleged sexual assault incident complaint.
In his statement, Kennedy wrote that expecting different results from “the same people with a new plan” is “the definition of insanity.”
Trending Stories
Defence minister ‘disturbed’ after ‘desecration’ of Tomb of the Unknown soldier
Woman opens fire in Dallas airport, shot and wounded by police, authorities say
“Enough is enough already,” he wrote.
Child abuse victim advocate Sheldon Kennedy – Oct 6, 2017
In 1996, Kennedy disclosed that he was sexually abused by his coach Graham James during his time in the Western Hockey League between 1984 and 1990.
Since then, Kennedy has been an advocate for sexual abuse survivors in sports, especially in the hockey sector.
James was sentenced to three and a half years in prison in 1997 and the Canadian Hockey Association banned him for life from coaching. After his sentence had expired, James faced more sexual assault charges in 2015 while serving his five-year sentence for abusing former NHL player Theo Fleury.
More to come.
— with files from The Canadian Press
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
