Former Calgary Flames player turned author, Theo Fleury, says he is shocked at the province’s lack of support for treatment centre to help sexually-abused children.
Edmonton-based organization, Little Warriors, said they had been told by the Government of Alberta that there was no money available for the Be Brave Ranch project.
However, Fleury says the government needs to deal with the reality of child sexual abuse.
“There are 8 million survivors of child sexual abuse in this country,” he told CTV News.
“It boggles my mind why the government refuses to address this or even comment on it.”
Little Warriors founder, Glori Meldrum said she too was surprised at the government’s reaction.
“Priorities need to be our kids. Provincial funding already goes to centres for rehabilitating sex offenders, but what about the kids,” she asked.
Fleury took to Twitter to express his disappointment.
@littlewarriors asked gov't for 650K but gave out over 130 million this week. Shame on you. Kids are the most important thing we have.
— Theo Fleury (@TheoFleury14) January 25, 2013
For Fleury the issue is personal.
“It took me 27 years to come to grips with my own abuse and to go public and share it with everybody.”
He is even planning a fundraiser called Victor Walk.