Winnipeg Free Press
The life and destructive legacy of Graham James
Brian Bell still remembers the way Sheldon Kennedy walked into the Calgary Police Service’s District 6 office nearly 25 years ago.
After being sexually abused hundreds of times by his former junior hockey coach Graham James, Kennedy was finally ready to share his painful truth.
About this series
Graham James was last seen in a courtroom in the summer of 2015.
Appearing via video link from a Quebec prison, the disgraced junior hockey coach pleaded guilty in a Swift Current courtroom to sexual assault on one of his players during the early 1990s, and was sentenced to two additional years behind bars.
WFP Exclusive
It was midway through Sheldon Kennedy’s seventh NHL season, and the Calgary newspapers were calling for his head.
The life and destructive legacy of Graham James
It was midway through Sheldon Kennedy’s seventh NHL season, and the Calgary newspapers were calling for his head.
After discovering Kennedy had collapsed into tears and was unable to suit up for the Calgary Flames’ April 8, 1996 game against the Edmonton Oilers, they published stories he had suffered a nervous breakdown.
About this series
Graham James was last seen in a courtroom in the summer of 2015.
Appearing via video link from a Quebec prison, the disgraced junior hockey coach pleaded guilty in a Swift Current courtroom to sexual assault on one of his players during the early 1990s, and was sentenced to two additional years behind bars.
Saskatchewan’s Connor Zary, Braden Schneider and Kaeden Korczak will be on the roster for Canada’s quest for back-to-back gold medals at the annual tournament. Zary, a Saskatoon-born forward, was a 2020 first round draft pick of the Calgary Flames. He plays for the Kamloops Blazers in the WHL. 2019 Vegas Golden Knights second round pick Kaeden Korczak hails from Yorkton. The defenceman is a member of the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets. Prince Albert-born Schneider is a member of the Brandon Wheat Kings. The New York Rangers selected the right-shot defenceman nineteenth overall in the 2020 NHL draft. All three players will be taking part in their first U20 World Junior Championship. Twenty-two other players made the final cut, including six returnees from the 2020 gold medal winning team.
WFP Exclusive
It’s a warm late-August afternoon and Jay Macaulay is sitting in the empty lobby of Winnipeg’s train station fidgeting with a pen.
The life and destructive legacy of Graham James
It’s a warm late-August afternoon and Jay Macaulay is sitting in the empty lobby of Winnipeg’s train station fidgeting with a pen.
He just finished putting a check mark in his day planner, indicating another successfully finished workshop he’s required to attend each week as part of his parole conditions.
He says he feels good after the workshop meeting and is in a much better mood than he was earlier in the day; he had an argument with his ex-girlfriend over something he can’t even remember now.