The Calgary Stampeders are proud to partner with the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters in a program to stop domestic violence and abuse against women — Leading Change: The Alberta CFL Project.

As part of the program, designated players and coaches went through three days of intensive training in gender-based violence prevention.

The program centres on a belief in the power of peers to create social change, employing the Bystander Method adapted by Mentors in Violence Prevention to empower youth with this leadership. The focus will be on promoting respectful relationships and recognizing and interrupting inappropriate and abusive behaviour.

The players share the message by visiting schools and speaking to students.

“As a husband and a brother, I am so proud to be apart of this project,” said Anthony Parker, one of the players involved in the program. “This is something our team takes very seriously.”

The second component of the program includes a public awareness campaign consisting of in-stadium public service announcements and messaging.

“We’ve learned that to truly make change, programs needs to be sustained and audiences need to be approached from many different avenues,” says Jan Reimer, Executive Director of ACWS. “Training adult mentors to provide bystander education to youth coupled with public awareness messaging delivered by male leaders is bound to have a positive impact.”