Montreal Canadiens launch ‘consent and respect’ action plan after controversial draft pick

The organization behind the Montreal Canadiens has unveiled its “consent and respect action plan” Wednesday after facing backlash this summer over its decision to draft a player convicted of a sex offence in Sweden.

Groupe CH said the program will allow the company to “act both internally and externally to raise awareness and educate its employees and the public about respect and consent and the serious consequences of sexual cyberviolence.”

The plan includes launching training on consent, respect and online sexual violence within the Habs ranks, hiring women in the organization’s hockey operations and helping create a prevention program targeting young hockey players.

The franchise said it will also give financial support to other groups that strive to “prevent, raise awareness, and educate in schools about sexual cyberviolence.” Group CH will also make a contribution to an organization that helps abuse survivors and their families.

“We want to ensure that our actions will be part of a concerted approach that will bring about positive changes within our company and in the hockey community,” team owner Geoff Molson said in a statement.

The initiative comes after the Canadiens were widely criticized by sponsors, politicians and groups that help victims of sexual assault for drafting defenceman Logan Mailloux. He was convicted of sharing non-consensual sexually explicit images of a young woman in 2020.

In Canada, non-consensual publication of an intimate image is an offence under the Criminal Code and, in the most serious cases, is punishable by imprisonment for up to five years.

Molson has since apologized for the “offensive” decision to draft Mailloux — who had previously asked the NHL not to draft him.

The team has not backtracked on its draft selection, though Mailloux will not participate in the Canadiens’ rookie or main training camp this fall.

Earlier this month, the Ontario Hockey League suspended the defencemen indefinitely for violating the league’s expectation for appropriate conduct by a player.

—With files from Global News’ Dan Spector, Alessia Simona Maratta and The Canadian Press

by Global News