{"id":190086,"date":"2018-11-17T18:36:10","date_gmt":"2018-11-17T23:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=190086"},"modified":"2018-11-17T18:36:10","modified_gmt":"2018-11-17T23:36:10","slug":"violent-hazing-at-toronto-private-school-goes-back-decades-alumnus-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/11\/17\/violent-hazing-at-toronto-private-school-goes-back-decades-alumnus-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Violent hazing at Toronto private school goes back decades, alumnus says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE: St. Michael’s College School (Photo By SimonP – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2014 An alumnus of a prestigious Toronto private school says he experienced violent hazing there decades ago, amid new allegations of assault and sexual assault at the institution.<\/p>\n

Jean-Paul Bedard, who attended St. Michael’s College School in the ’80s, said he was prompted to come forward by news that eight students had been expelled and another was suspended in the wake of multiple incidents, one of which involved an alleged sexual assault.<\/p>\n

Bedard said he played on the football team after transferring to the school in Grade 9.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn’t realize at the time, but there was a bit of an initiation rite. And I experienced sexualized violence,\u201d said Bedard, now 52, in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just dismissed it as ‘boys will be boys,’ and it’s part of the macho culture and all that stuff,\u201d he said. \u201cBut then when I saw the story in the news earlier this week at St. Mike’s, I realized \u2014 here we are 35 years later, and this is still going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toronto police sources said the incident under investigation involved a group of students on the football team pinning down another student and allegedly sexually assaulting him with a broom handle. Police sources said another incident involved members of the basketball team bullying a student and soaking him with water.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the school said it had also reported a third incident but declined to provide any details. Police encouraged anyone with information to come forward.<\/p>\n

While Bedard remains an elite athlete today \u2014 spending his time on the running trail instead of the football field \u2014 he has also become an author and an advocate for survivors of sexual violence.<\/p>\n

St. Michael’s College School did not respond to requests for comment about Bedard’s allegations, but notes in a statement on its website that the most recent alleged incidents are \u201cunacceptable and fall far short of upholding the principles we strive to live by.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs school administrators and educators, we bear a heavy responsibility to help guide our students through a challenging period in their lives \u2014 when external forces are often in conflict with the notion of doing the right thing \u2014 and these incidents were a stark reminder that we have more work to do,\u201d the school said.<\/p>\n

Dave Cooper, an associate professor in the faculty of kinesiology and physical education at the University of Toronto, said hazing \u2014 an extreme form of bullying \u2014 is nothing new, nor is it uncommon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe culture of a boys school very strong in tradition and sport, is a very masculine, hegemonic type of culture,\u201d said Cooper, who has been a varsity coach for nearly two decades.<\/p>\n

Especially in male sports teams it’s common for boys to want to assert dominance, he said, which can take the form of initiations where new players have to perform a task or face some kind of consequence.<\/p>\n

Cooper said hazing continues in part because those who do it to others think it’s acceptable because it was done to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s doesn’t surprise me that there’s some form of initiation going on,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s usually a tradition, it’s passed down. It’s part of the old boys’ culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooper said hazing is meant to make newer players feel humiliated, and as if they have to comply in order to be accepted.<\/p>\n

But for some, the word \u201chazing\u201d minimizes the violence that is sometimes involved.<\/p>\n

Joseph Gillis, who teaches psychology at the University of Toronto, said he prefers to use the term \u201critualized violence\u201d so that such acts aren’t normalized.<\/p>\n

\u201cRitualized violence is particularly problematic, especially in schools … because of the notion of toxic masculinity,\u201d he said. \u201cSo these circumstances are all-male environments where the most negatives aspects of male stereotypes and behaviour \u2014 the aggression, lack of empathy, dominance, control of others \u2014 intensifies and goes unchecked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gillis said these incidents have a lasting impact on victims and can cause anxiety, depression and social isolation associated with the shame and stigma of being bullied. He said victims can also have difficulty forming relationships because they might be less likely to trust others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 An alumnus of a prestigious Toronto private school says he experienced violent hazing there decades ago, amid new …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":190087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-190086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-alanna-rizza","mauthors-adam-burns","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}