Theoren Fleury brings Victor Walk to Neepawa

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Published on Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Photo by Tony Eu. A group of walkers during the Victor Walk. From left to right: Theo Fleury, Elle Presley, Aleksandra Zelic, Doug Miller and Stafford Greer.

By Tony Eu

Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

On July 20, 2016, former NHL star and survivor of childhood sexual abuse Theoren Fleury brought his Victor Walk to Neepawa. This stop is only one of many on this year’s walk from Russell to Winnipeg.

“The goal [of the Victor Walk] is to bring awareness to the subject of childhood trauma,” said Fleury. The walk started three years ago, established by Fleury and a number of other survivors of childhood trauma. “Every year, we pick a province and walk in that province over a five day period,” Fleury explained. The first walk, in 2013, was in Ontario, from Toronto to Ottawa. Last year, it was in Alberta from Edmonton to Calgary. This year, it’s here in Manitoba, from Fleury’s hometown of Russell to Winnipeg. 

The Neepawa walk consisted of a walk from the Yellowhead Arena, through the cemetery, and back to the arena. After the walk, there was a luncheon for $5 a person, followed by some music performed by Emma and Samantha Salmon. Representatives of the Town of Neepawa, Prairie Mountain Regional Health, Neepawa Natives Junoir Hockey team and  the Prairie Alliance Church (PAC)  group greeted Fleury, followed by  a speech by Fleury.  

As for how the walk ended up here in Neepawa, Fleury said that the he reached out to communities along the path between Russell and Winnipeg, and Neepawa responded with an invitation. Fleury has connections with Neepawa, as his brother played here in the Yellowhead Arena with the Neepawa Natives as well as Russell area teams. The walk was organized by the Victor Walk organization, with help from the local coordinator Amanda Novak, who is also the town’s Leisure Services manager.

“I think that the fact that it’s sort of grassroots is really what’s cool about the movement. We don’t necessarily have all the bells and whistles that all the other big charities across Canada have,” Fleury said about the walk.  As for the goals of the walk, Fleury said “[Short term] I would love for us to get our charitable status from the government, which has been difficult.” Long term, Fleury said his goals are “just that we continue to visit as many communities in Canada as we possibly can and to show people that it’s ok to talk about this stuff and really, the healing part is talking about it. So many of us have carried these secrets around for a long time, and we’d really like to speed up that process.”

“In addition to awareness, we’re raising money for the Breaking Free Foundation, which is the foundation that puts on the Victor Walk now,” said Amber Craig, a representative of the Victor Walk organization. The Breaking Free Foundation was founded by members of the Victor Walk organization, including Fleury and is run by Shandra Carlson.

The walk spreads awareness through more than just the actual walking. They’re also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. They also have a website for both the Victor Walk and the Breaking Free Foundation. “We’ve actually built up a really incredible online community, it’s been really good. We’ve done a few Twitter chats that have had a reach of eight million people, which is pretty incredible,” Fleury said about their social media reach.

On the local side, Amanda Novak said she was “thrilled with the turnout”. While there were only 50 or so people in attendance, that number was still impressive when compared to the numbers from other towns and cities, which Fleury mentioned in his speech. Brandon, a city with nearly 10 times the population of Neepawa, only had 100 or so attendees to their Victor Walk the day after Neepawa’s. Fleury said that the relatively low turnout to these events is pretty usual because of the stigma surrounding childhood traumas, especially sexual abuse. That’s why he does the walk, he said, to reduce the stigma around childhood traumas and mental illness, so that people aren’t afraid to ask for help. “It’s the biggest stigma in the mental health industry,” Fleury said. He continued, saying, “You can ask for help. It isn’t weak.”

To learn more about the walk or childhood trauma, check out any of the organization’s social media accounts (Facebook: Victor Movement, Twitter: @victorthefrog, Instagram: breakingfreefoundation) or visit either of the two websites, victorwalk.com or breakingfreefoundation.ca.