Sheldon Kennedy, the former NHLer who was abused by his junior hockey coach and has spent the past decade advocating for child and youth rights, was in Goderich, Ont. on Friday.
He gave the keynote address at a discussion panel on that very subject on Friday morning at the Knights of Columbus Hall.
He is crossing the country to try to make sure what happened to him, never happens again.
"What drives me is, you know, we're making change....We've come a long ways in our knowledge around these issues. We've got a long way to go yet, but we've come a long ways," he says.
Kennedy was in town to launch his foundation's Safe Places Youth Certification Program with the goal of empowering bystanders - the adults close to these situations.
He helped start the program, which provides training to parents, teachers, and coaches about how to create a safe environment for children.
Kennedy believes, "If we look at what we're struggling with across our country. I mean one of the critical issues we're dealing with right now is mental health, the leading contributor to mental health issues across this country is early childhood trauma."
The program is coming to Huron County this summer through the Rural Response for Health Children. It is the first place in Ontario to offer the training.
