The Ontario Hockey League is launching a new program to increase player's understanding and awareness surrounding respect for women.
The league has partnered with the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres and sexual assault centres in the Waterloo Region to develop the workshop to be rolled out in all hockey clubs.
"The hope is that OHL players can take the lead and redefine what it means to be a man to create safer communities for everyone," says Stephen Soucie with the Male Allies program in Kitchener.
OHL Vice-President Ted Baker says the league's goal is to foster respectable men in the community.
"We trust that this program will provide the players with the tools to pause and to see that isn't right. Whether it's something they hear or something they see or the actions of another," says Baker.
He says no single event was the catalyst for the program.
In September, former Windsor Spitfire Ben Johnson was found guilty of the sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl in 2013. There have been multiple allegations of sexual assault among OHL players. The league could not say how many when asked during a news conference Tuesday.
"The program that we're engaging in here is not a reflection of certain situations that may have arisen in the past but looking forward as to how we can better equip our players in the future," says Baker.
Each club will be given a workshop and will partner with local sexual assault centres as part of the program.
