Center Director, Dr. Walter DeKeseredy, has been featured in the news this week due to the controversy of a professional hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens, selecting as a first round draftee a person who has been convicted of image-based sexual abuse against a woman. Here you can find links to both the television news program featuring Dr. DeKeseredy and a newspaper article from the day before where he discusses the insensitivity of sexual violence and women’s safety in this selection. He as well as other advocates have expressed their deep concerns in the aftermath of this selection and the damage that results. He also discusses the role of male peer support and how it further perpetuates and facilitates harm in violence against women and girls. Since the announcement of the draft pick and subsequent backlash, the team owner has released a statement of apology. Dr. DeKeseredy says that the statement and the actions outlined in it moving forward are not sufficient and not the way to deal with the issue, signaling a bigger problem within the organization.
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