Sheldon Kennedy reacts to full parole for Graham James
Posted Sep 15, 2016 12:43 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Disgraced former junior hockey coach Graham James has been granted full parole.
The decision was handed down Thursday by the National Parole Board following a hearing at a federal penitentiary in Laval, Quebec. James is serving a federal sentence for sexually assaulting players he coached in the late 1980s and early ’90s with the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League.
One of his victims, Sheldon Kennedy, has seen this happen before.
“In my case a number of years ago, Graham got out and made all these promises,” Kennedy told 660 NEWS of James’ first sentence in 1997, which was a 42-month term. “He had all these conditions on full parole, but we found Graham teaching youth hockey in Spain.”
While there are, again, several conditions attached that forbid James from being in a position of trust with minors, Kennedy feels little solace.
“We’ll never get decisions that are supportive of the impact of his crime until we start understanding the severity and the lifelong impact this crime has on children and into adulthood,” he added.
The conditions will remain in place until James’ seven-year sentence expires in 2019.
Theo Fleury, another victim of James, offered a statement on his website after he heard the news:
Kennedy has founded a ground breaking treatment program for survivors of child sex abuse: sheldonkennedycac.ca, while Fleury is active on the public speaking circuit, sharing his story and providing support to other victims.
