There are certain people whose courage you truly admire — none more so, than the victims of childhood sexual assault.
But their stories provide more than just inspiration.
They remind us of the need to be ever vigilant about protecting our children — even in places like rural Saskatchewan where we sometimes wrongly assume our kids are always safe.
One such person to be deeply admired is Zack Miller — a name you may not have heard before, but one whose story you may remember.
It was a decade ago when Miller — then, a 10-year-old Whitewood-area farm boy — was abducted by sexual predator Peter Whitmore, kept in an abandoned farmhouse near Kipling and abused.
Whitmore received a life sentence in 2007. However, beyond the scant details made available during the court process at the time, little else was know about the case. A publication ban was put in place to protect Miller and a second Winnipeg boy, then 14, who had also been kidnapped and sexually abused by Whitmore.
But in an act of incredibly bravery, Miller — now 20 and living in Saskatoon — petitioned the court for two years to to allow his named to be released publicly so that he could help other victims of sexual assault.
“I’ve been wanting to tell my story for a long time,” Miller told the CBC.
“I want to take what happened to me and help as many children as I can who have gone through this, because I know how horrible it is.”
The young man also wanted to have his voice heard on the need to tighten the laws that are supposed to protect children against people like Whitmore, who is now eligible to apply for parole.
“They’re not doing a very good job of protecting us,” Miller the CBC. “They’re letting these people back out [when] there’s red flags, [and now] they are going to let him out again and destroy more families.”
Miller’s courage to speak out also serves to remind us that even rural Saskatchewan is not as safe as we assume.
And dangers don’t always have to be hostile predator sneaking into the community. Sometimes they can come from a respected community leader invited in, as Swift Current knows all too well.
Last month, Swift Current Mayor Jerrod Schafer expressed his “sincere and absolute sorrow to the victims of (Graham) James and their families.”
The apology comes 30 years after the former Swift Current Broncos coach sexually abused former NHL hockey player Sheldon Kennedy and Theo Fleury and Fleury’s cousin, Todd Holt.
Kennedy was as gracious as he has been courageous, quickly accepting the city’s apology and saying that was showing “great leadership on how a community can take such a negative tragedy and turn it into something positive, and be leaders in our country around child protection.”
Unfortunately, it also comes at a time when James, now 62, has been granted day parole in Laval, Que. after appearing before the National Parole Board.
It’s also worth noting that back in 1997 James only received three and half years for the original sentence in Kennedy’s case.
It was just last June when James was sentenced to an additional two years on a five-year sentence he was already serving — the third time he was convicted of sexually assaulting a player he coached.
“By granting day parole the Canadian justice system just kept more victims of rape silent and feeling more shame today!!!!!,” Fleury wrote in a tweet.
The lenient sentences and ease in which such repeat sexual predators get parole is clearly an issue.
But also of issue is the need to keep our kids safe — even when we assume they are safe in the setting of rural Saskatchewan or at the local hockey rink.
Murray Mandryk has been covering provincial politics for over 22 years.
