At a recent public event, retired hockey star Theoren Fleury said he has forgiven his WHL hockey coach Graham James for repeated sexual abuse..On Sunday, Fleury told attendees of the Ezra Wellness conference in Regina the catalyst was a former prison mate of James’ who admired Fleury and wanted to beat up James himself..“I’ve been to about 25 different prisons all over Canada. And so we show up at Stony Mountain Penitentiary just outside of Winnipeg, and we have 400 of the baddest dudes on the planet in our audience,” Fleury recalled..In the back row, the 5-ft. 6-in. Stanley Cup and Olympic champion spotted a young man who resembled Eminem, complete with a flat-beaked cap and tattoos. Fleury asked if he had something to say, and the prisoner stood to respond..“The first thing out of his mouth is, ‘Theo Fleury,’ you’re my hero. As you can see, I’m not a very big guy. I used to be a really great hockey player and I grew up on the north end of Winnipeg. When I was 14 years old, I got involved with the wrong crowd and I started selling drugs.’”.The young man said he had been in jail ever since..“’Guess who I was with three weeks ago in Grand Cache, Alberta?’…I was with Graham James.’ He was in jail with my abuser.”.Fleury, born in Oxbow, Saskatchewan, played right wing for the Western Hockey League’s Moose Jaw Warriors from 1984-1988. In those years, he told the audience, James raped him 150 times..“He (the prisoner) said, “’My sole intent while I was in that prison was I was going to beat the crap out of this guy for you. But Graham is very heavily guarded because everybody wants to beat the s— out of this guy. So I waited and I waited and I waited. I got my chance. The guards left his room.’”.The man walked into James’ room but couldn’t see him..“’I went to the left side of the bed, and he wasn’t there. So I walked over to the right side of the bed, and there he was curled up in a ball in the fetal position, in the corner of his room.’ The kid looked at me, and he said, ‘I didn’t do anything.’”.That’s when Fleury expressed his own admiration..“You know what I said to the kid? I said, ‘You’re my hero for not doing anything.’”.Fleury said earlier in his journey of healing he was determined not to forgive, but eventually he knew it was necessary..“Somebody who’s curled up in a fetal position on the floor in a room is in pain and they’re suffering. But guess what, I’m in a prison helping inmates deal with their past trauma. And up until that point in my life, I was still attached to my abuser. And in that moment, I got the opportunity to not only forgive myself, but forgive my abuser, and detach from that experience forever,” Fleury said..The author of Playing with Fire and Conversations With a Rattlesnake recalled a one-day healing conference in Calgary at the Westin Hotel where 100 people were in attendance. After a morning of “storytelling and vulnerability” Fleury spotted an attendee he felt wanted to share. And after inviting him, he did so..“He said, ‘I’ve been carrying a secret around for a long, long time. I want everybody in the room to know that I sexually abused my little sister for 11 years.’ And the whole room just went dead silent. There was three women in our audience who had been abused by their brothers…[who] got up out of their chairs, walked over to this man and hugged him. And it was one of the greatest healing experiences that I’d ever experienced in my life,” Fleury said..Fleury said he has spent$1 million and ten thousand hours in therapy since contemplating suicide 18 years ago. Now he says facilitating healing “is why I get of bed in the morning…I want to see more of that. I want to be part of that. I want to facilitate that every single day of my life.”.The 53-year-old Metis recently became the President of First Merchants Capital Partners. He and his associates hope to bring healing in a world that has suffered trauma in the past two years of the pandemic..“I’m a living, walking, breathing example that healing is possible. No matter what you’ve experienced in your life, everybody can heal. And we’re going to heal from this too, right?”.Lee Harding is a Western Standard contributor living in Saskatchewan.
At a recent public event, retired hockey star Theoren Fleury said he has forgiven his WHL hockey coach Graham James for repeated sexual abuse..On Sunday, Fleury told attendees of the Ezra Wellness conference in Regina the catalyst was a former prison mate of James’ who admired Fleury and wanted to beat up James himself..“I’ve been to about 25 different prisons all over Canada. And so we show up at Stony Mountain Penitentiary just outside of Winnipeg, and we have 400 of the baddest dudes on the planet in our audience,” Fleury recalled..In the back row, the 5-ft. 6-in. Stanley Cup and Olympic champion spotted a young man who resembled Eminem, complete with a flat-beaked cap and tattoos. Fleury asked if he had something to say, and the prisoner stood to respond..“The first thing out of his mouth is, ‘Theo Fleury,’ you’re my hero. As you can see, I’m not a very big guy. I used to be a really great hockey player and I grew up on the north end of Winnipeg. When I was 14 years old, I got involved with the wrong crowd and I started selling drugs.’”.The young man said he had been in jail ever since..“’Guess who I was with three weeks ago in Grand Cache, Alberta?’…I was with Graham James.’ He was in jail with my abuser.”.Fleury, born in Oxbow, Saskatchewan, played right wing for the Western Hockey League’s Moose Jaw Warriors from 1984-1988. In those years, he told the audience, James raped him 150 times..“He (the prisoner) said, “’My sole intent while I was in that prison was I was going to beat the crap out of this guy for you. But Graham is very heavily guarded because everybody wants to beat the s— out of this guy. So I waited and I waited and I waited. I got my chance. The guards left his room.’”.The man walked into James’ room but couldn’t see him..“’I went to the left side of the bed, and he wasn’t there. So I walked over to the right side of the bed, and there he was curled up in a ball in the fetal position, in the corner of his room.’ The kid looked at me, and he said, ‘I didn’t do anything.’”.That’s when Fleury expressed his own admiration..“You know what I said to the kid? I said, ‘You’re my hero for not doing anything.’”.Fleury said earlier in his journey of healing he was determined not to forgive, but eventually he knew it was necessary..“Somebody who’s curled up in a fetal position on the floor in a room is in pain and they’re suffering. But guess what, I’m in a prison helping inmates deal with their past trauma. And up until that point in my life, I was still attached to my abuser. And in that moment, I got the opportunity to not only forgive myself, but forgive my abuser, and detach from that experience forever,” Fleury said..The author of Playing with Fire and Conversations With a Rattlesnake recalled a one-day healing conference in Calgary at the Westin Hotel where 100 people were in attendance. After a morning of “storytelling and vulnerability” Fleury spotted an attendee he felt wanted to share. And after inviting him, he did so..“He said, ‘I’ve been carrying a secret around for a long, long time. I want everybody in the room to know that I sexually abused my little sister for 11 years.’ And the whole room just went dead silent. There was three women in our audience who had been abused by their brothers…[who] got up out of their chairs, walked over to this man and hugged him. And it was one of the greatest healing experiences that I’d ever experienced in my life,” Fleury said..Fleury said he has spent$1 million and ten thousand hours in therapy since contemplating suicide 18 years ago. Now he says facilitating healing “is why I get of bed in the morning…I want to see more of that. I want to be part of that. I want to facilitate that every single day of my life.”.The 53-year-old Metis recently became the President of First Merchants Capital Partners. He and his associates hope to bring healing in a world that has suffered trauma in the past two years of the pandemic..“I’m a living, walking, breathing example that healing is possible. No matter what you’ve experienced in your life, everybody can heal. And we’re going to heal from this too, right?”.Lee Harding is a Western Standard contributor living in Saskatchewan.
