Calgary Stampede released enhanced youth safety policies on Tuesday, a week after admitting liability over the abuse of boys.
In a two-page document released on Tuesday, the Calgary Stampede Foundation released a set of enhanced policies aimed to improve youth safety centred around four themes: comprehensive, clarity, culture and compliance.
These include having a comprehensive system to provide safe programs and environments, prioritizing clear delivery of safety practices, and centring its culture around transparency and disclosure. This also includes monitoring and reporting policy compliance regularly.
Each theme is followed by a set of proof points, which include policies and programs for youth well-being. For example, youth psychologists will be available for one-on-one or group counselling for Calgary Stampede Foundation youth members.
Youth, staff, contractors and volunteers also have access to a confidential disclosure platform managed by a third-party helpline, which will report to the Calgary Stampede Foundation monthly.
Educational staff will also undergo training on topics related to safety and wellness, as well as fostering a safe and respectful environment.
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The document also said the foundation’s board of directors will be provided a report of major incidents bi-monthly and a thorough review must be completed and reported on at least annually.
This comes a week after a partial settlement was reached in a class-action lawsuit against the organization on Saturday, which alleged the Calgary Stampede allowed a performance school staffer to sexually abuse young boys.
Phillip Heerema received a 10-year prison sentence in 2018 after pleading guilty to charges including sexual assault, sexual exploitation, child pornography and luring.
Heerema admitted to using his position with The Young Canadians, which performs each year in the Calgary Stampede Grandstand Show, to lure and groom six boys into sexual relationships.
The offences took place between 2005 and 2014, as well as in 1992.
Calgary Skyview MP George Chahal said he is glad the Calgary Stampede Foundation is taking steps to ensure youth safety in its organization.
Chahal previously said all levels of government must hold the management of the Calgary Stampede to account for how it handled years of sexual abuse.
He also said the Stampede’s expressions of remorse, while they may be sincere, are inadequate. The public deserves to know what happened and someone needs to be held accountable, he said.
“I’m glad to see that they’re moving forward and I hope we can work with them to ensure that full transparency and accountability is there to make sure the victims have justice and reconciliation,” Chahal said in a news conference on Tuesday.
Mayor Jyoti Gondek said sexual abuse victims must be taken seriously and all organizations must act when complaints are received, especially when they involve youth.
“We need to make sure we take victims seriously. The first time someone steps up and says this has happened to them, whoever the individual is on the receiving end of this needs to act. All of our organizations must understand this,” she told reporters on Tuesday.
“When it is a child it is absolutely the responsibility of the adult in the room to take matters further up and make sure something is done.”
— with files from Bob Weber, The Canadian Press.
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