Hockey Nova Scotia and the Avalon Sexual Assault Centre in Halifax are launching a pilot program to educate minor hockey players about consent and hazing.
The executive director of Hockey Nova Scotia, Michael Field, says more than 2,000 U-15 minor hockey players of all genders will participate in the mandatory program.
The launch comes after two under-15 minor hockey players in Colchester County were charged with sexual assault following a hazing incident during a team sleepover last fall.
One of the accused players changed his plea to guilty last month, while the other pleaded not guilty in May.
Kailee Wakeman, Avalon’s director of operations, says the centre received many emails from concerned parents and coaches following the incident and it hosted a webinar in February to teach them how to discuss consent and hazing with young players.
She says the new program for players builds on the success of the webinar and aims to teach them how to recognize discrimination, harassment, pressure, hazing and coercion.
“We’re hoping … that we can help change team cultures because sports cultures can often include hazing in ways that people think it strengthens a team and there’s so much research that shows that it doesn’t," Wakeman said in an interview Wednesday.
