Article Pat Hickey-Montreal Gazette

[mark_60 0]

Que pensez vous de l'article dans journal?

 

 

MONTREAL - It was the right message from the wrong messenger.

 

Shortly after Graham James pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting former National Hockey League player Theoren Fleury and an unnamed victim, Fleury held a news conference and accused Canada’s politicians of doing nothing to protect our children.

 

He was criticial of the ruling that allows James to remain free on bail in Montreal until he is sentenced by a Winnipeg court in February.

 

“It’s just unbelievable for me when I think about what happened and that he was granted a pardon,” said Fleury, referring to a pardon following a similar conviction in 1997. “Then he was allowed to leave the country, go to Mexicio and who know what he was doing in Mexico. Then he comes back, they give him bail so he can continue his behaviour in Montreal.”

 

I agree James should be doing hard time. In fact, I don’t understand why he was granted bail earlier this year after Fleury ended years of silence by detailing the abuse in his best-selling, as-told-to autobiography.

 

But I find it hypocritical that Fleury can blast the justice system for giving James two months of freedom when he provided his former coach with years.

 

James’s perversions first came to light when former NHL player Sheldon Kennedy stepped forward in 1996. Kennedy is the hero of this piece and, on the day James pleaded guilty, he was testifying before a U.S. Congressional hearing into sexual abuse of children, a hot topic in the U.S. in the wake of scandals involving alleged criminal acts by coaches at Penn State and Syracuse University.

 

Fleury didn’t show the same courage as Kennedy, which is understandable because he had more to lose. Kennedy was a role player whose career was being derailed by substance abuse. Fleury was a star and, if he was having problems with drugs or alcohol at that time, they hadn’t affected his performance on the ice. If Fleury had come forward, there may have been more outrage and James may have received a harsher sentence. If Fleury has come forward, it might have made life easier for Kennedy.

 

Nobody should question Fleury’s decision to remain silent. What should be questioned is Fleury’s continuing role in James’s life. At the time of Kennedy’s revelations, James was the coach of the Calgary Hitmen. He was one of the co-owners of the junior team in the Western Hockey League. One of the other owners was Theoren Fleury. Here was someone who had suffered abuse at the hands of Graham James. Here was someone who knew that James had abused other players. Here was someone who was exposing other children to the same sexual predator.

 

Fleury has been through enough counselling to know there’s a word for someone who acts in this fashion - enabler.

 

We should all hope that there is a greater awareness of sexual abuse, particularly when it involves children, and that the perpetrators of these acts are dealt with harshly. But if we have to find a poster boy for abuse, we can do better than Theoren Fleury.

[sisu 0]

disont que la liberté de Presse implique pas toujours l'intelligence de presse...

 

en fait il devrait peut-être allez jaser un peu avec les victimes pour voir...

[mark_60 0]

100% d'accord.

[mctru 68]

Je penses que vous ne saisissez pas ce qui est ecrit parce que c'est plein de bon sens.