Hockey NS launches pilot program to teach young players about consent, hazing – Halifax

The head of a provincial body that governs organized hockey in Nova Scotia is talking about a new educational program aimed at players after a series of hazing incidents and attacks have shaken the sport.

“There have been some incidents in hockey over the years and it was an area of ​​need,” said Michael Field, the executive director of Hockey Nova Scotia in an interview.

The organization partnered with a local non-profit that provides services to survivors of sexual assault to create the program. It aims to teach 13- and 14-year-old players how to engage in healthy team bonding exercises and how to cross the line.

“We feel there is a need to educate players about team culture,” Field said. “Some teams do a great job and some team sports don’t. We just want to do everything we can to build … team culture in a healthy way.”

Field said more than 2,000 minor hockey players of all genders will participate in the mandatory program.

It came about as families and coaches reacted to news reports last February about a hazing incident and sexual assault involving a junior hockey team in Nova Scotia.

A number of them sent emails expressing their concerns about the issue to Avalon, the non-profit that now works with the hockey association, explained Kailee Wakeman, the director of operations at the center.

Two under-15 minor hockey players in Colchester County, northeast of Halifax, have been charged with sexual assault following the 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.

Wakeman said Avalon hosted a webinar in February to teach parents and coaches how to discuss consent and hazing with young players.

Field said his association then reached out to Avalon to see if it could develop a version of the webinar for players.

Wakeman said the new program aims to teach players 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 will strengthen a team and there’s so much research that shows it doesn’t,” Wakeman said in an interview Wednesday.

Players will participate in two sessions, Wakeman said. The first teaches them about physical autonomy, respecting boundaries and consent, while the second teaches them how to react to situations that harm their teammates.

“So many people call this bystander intervention, but we’re going to frame it through the lens of a caring team environment,” she said. “Take care of each other instead of putting each other in harmful situations.”

Wakeman said educating the under-15 age group is an important place to start when trying to change behaviors that lead to a toxic culture.

“We’re hoping to reach athletes young enough that … we can start changing the narrative early,” she said.

Dee Dooley, an education consultant with Dalhousie University’s sexual violence prevention program, is helping to facilitate the pilot program along with varsity hockey players in the province.

Dooley, who has also researched sexual violence prevention among student-athletes, said culture in sports is often passed down between generations.

“The importance of peer influence and peer leadership cannot be overstated,” she said. “Culture is really created by the people inside.”

Hazing and sexual violence have plagued hockey in Canada for decades.

In 2023, a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League player filed a class-action lawsuit against the league claiming he was abused during hazing rituals in the 1990s.

The year before, Hockey Canada came under fire after it was revealed that an undisclosed settlement had been paid to a woman who claimed she was sexually assaulted by members of Canada’s 2018 World Junior Hockey Team. Five players were charged with sexual assault in 2024 in connection with the incident and were acquitted of all charges last year.

Jaqueline Moore, a research assistant with the project and a former college athlete, said while educating players is an important part of changing the culture of hockey, everyone has a role to play.

“We also need coaches involved, we need administration involved, we need parents involved,” she said. “It’s really going to take a community.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on October 7, 2026.

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