When Orlando Bowen, the former CFL player, watches the video of George Floyd pleading for air, he holds his own breath and relives his own nightmare with police.

“It was a flashback of sorts, because I am him,” Bowen said.

“It’s only by God’s grace or universal design why my life didn’t end, like that.”

Bowen, who is Black, is referring to a dark night in his life in the spring of 2004. At the the time, he was a successful linebacker, having three years under his belt with the Toronto Argos and a season with the Hamilton Tiger Cats.

His heart, he also says, was in community service — speaking in schools and even partnering with Peel Regional Police as a liaison for the Black community.

But life was about to take a drastic turn.

While waiting for his teammates in a Mississauga parking lot to celebrate a new extension he had just signed with the Ti-Cats, Bowen says he was approached by two men.

“One guy says, ‘Hey man, what you got? Got any drugs?’” Bowen remembers. After saying ‘no’, Bowen returned to the phone call he’d been having. But the men, who turned out to be plainclothes Peel police officers, weren’t so easily dissuaded and asked to search him.

Bowen said he complied and when nothing was found, in one surreal moment, everything escalated.

“They ended up grabbing me, punching me, delivering knee strikes,” Bowen recalls, punching his hand. “I’m saying, ‘Oh my gosh! What did I do? I didn’t do anything!…Talk to me! Like, what’s happening?’”

They never responded to him verbally, he said. They just kept punching.

“All I could think was, ‘God! Don’t let me die like this man, I got so much in me to give!” said Bowen.

His life was spared that night, but forever changed. The brutal injuries he suffered ended his CFL career, with a concussion meaning his days on the gridiron were over.

But when Bowen looks back, the now 44-year-old says the heaviest part is watching a similar scene of police brutality play out in the video of 46-year-old Floyd, dying–16 years later.

“As much as I knew it wasn’t me on the ground … I saw myself, like it was me,” Bowen said.

“It was taking me back to the moment where I was pleading to the universe and to God to intervene.”

It’s the reliving of these kinds of trauma and repeated viewing of high-profile incidents of racism and police brutality that can be deeply traumatic for Black people, says Monnica Williams, Canada Research Chair for Mental Health Disparities at the University of Ottawa.

“It’s been a huge drain on everyone that I know who is part of that community,” says Williams.

“We’re seeing people who look like us, our children, our brothers, our uncles, our fathers, laying dead on the road like roadkill, with no minimal amount of dignity.

“It’s unspeakable…it dehumanizes us, it makes us feel like we’re not worth anything, like our lives don’t matter.”

As for Bowen, he, who had before done racial sensitivity training for Peel police, was eventually arrested by the cops that night and taken to jail on assault and drug possession.

Stunned by the charges, Bowen said the drugs were planted on him by police and that they had assaulted him.

A year later, he was acquitted of all charges after one of the arresting officers was charged and later convicted of drug trafficking. An Ontario court judge ruled the testimony of police to be “incredible” and unworthy of belief.

But for Bowen, months of court battles, torment and what he felt was ultimately racial discrimination had left its scars.

“I remember having a hard time sleeping, probably averaging about 20 minutes of sleep per night,” said Bowen.

“It made me hyper-aware. I always went to bed last in my house. I often slept in between the two entrances to our house — front door entrance and the back door, just in case they came to, you know, finish.”

Williams says for Black people, especially Black men, navigating a world where your body is perceived as a threat can be incredibly taxing on Black mental health.

“Any encounter with law enforcement if you’re a Black person is potentially a life-threatening event,” Williams explained.

“You’re constantly having contact with law enforcement, and each time you have that contact, that’s a moment of anxiety, a moment where you have to look a certain way, talk a certain way, work really hard to alleviate white suspicion, fears, that you’re doing something wrong–and to be under that kind of stress, that pressure cooker all the time? It becomes unbearable.”

William says the psychological effects of these encounters and racism ripple.

“Everyday discrimination, major discrimination, covert discrimination, microagressions — all of these are tied to mental health problems that include anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use and even suicide,” said Williams.

“Every condition out there where we’ve looked at this, racism has either caused this or made it worse.”

Bowen said he has seen some of that pain first hand now, working with youth in the community. Pain, that often goes untreated.

“Feelings of anger…feelings of insignificance, insecurity, feeling like you don’t belong, feeling like you don’t matter, feeling like it doesn’t matter what you do, you have very little control over what’s possible for you,” Bowen lists them off.

“When people get to those states of being or feeling…people act out of those beliefs, and then they become somewhat self-fulfilling, that you end up going down a path.”

Williams whose research focus at the university is in mental health and disparities and cultural competence in research and healthcare, says Black people often have no where to turn for help with handling these emotions, with culturally sensitive mental health supports and services, meager.

“Black Canadians are incredibly underserved, our mental health needs are not being met,” said Williams.  “This is a province-wide, nation-wide problem. The clinicians who provide the care for the public, they’re not trained in how to work with people of colour in general, much less Black people. Those resources are very few, very thin.”

That gap is what fuels Bowen and his charity, ”One Voice, One Team”, where he works with and shares his experience with thousands of young people–turning his pain into hope.

“We have opportunities and I think an obligation to do something to protect people’s mental health,” Bowen said. “To try to create positive outlets and opportunities for them to be connected, their voice to be heard, for them to have safe and brave spaces…”

Bowen not only inspires with his words and story, but with his actions.

A few years ago, he wrote a public letter of forgiveness to the two officers he said who wronged him.

He “wasn’t angry,” Bowen said, reflecting on the decision. Rather, he chose to see the officers as people who needed help, who are hurting and broken “in a system that is also hurting, that needs help”.

More importantly, he says, the decision to forgive was for him to move on and flourish.

“What I realized was the forgiveness wasn’t even necessarily for them, but it was for us, for me, for my family who perhaps may have been in a position to hold on to some things, to the emotion of the moment where we can’t get to what we’ve been designed to do if we did that,” said Bowen.

“There’s a bigger purpose and a bigger plan, I’m convinced of that.”

VICTORIA —
The B.C. government has terminated membership in the Order of British Columbia for a former Canadian Football League player involved in a U.S. college admissions cheating scam.

David Sidoo, a former CFL player and businessman from Vancouver, was appointed to the Order of B.C. in July 2016. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in a Boston federal court in March.

On Friday, the province announced it had revoked Sidoo’s membership in the Order of B.C.

“This process is initiated when a member of the order is convicted of a criminal offence or when their conduct undermines the credibility and integrity of the order,” the province said in a statement.

Sidoo was among 50 prominent parents, university athletic coaches and others charged in the scheme, which authorities say involved rigged entrance exams and bogus athletic credentials to make applicants look like star athletes for sports they didn’t play.

Sidoo paid the admissions consultant at the centre of the scheme US$200,000 to have someone pose as his sons using a fake ID to secure higher scores on their SATs, prosecutors said.

Sidoo and nearly two dozen parents, including Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman, pleaded guilty to the charges. Huffman was sentenced to two weeks in prison. Sentences for other parents range from no prison time to nine months behind bars.

Sidoo played professional football for six years for the Saskatchewan Roughriders and BC Lions. He was CEO of mining firm Advantage Lithium Corp. when he was arrested last year and was also a founding shareholder of an oil and gas company that was sold in 2010 for more than $600 million.

With files from The Associated Press

Troubled former professional football player Joshua Boden, who briefly played with the B.C. Lions, has again been charged with assault.

New Westminster police say the 31-year-old New Westminster resident was arrested on Wednesday after an assault investigation. 

On Sunday, police received a report of a domestic dispute that occurred between a man and a woman.

Police say Boden was not there when the officers arrived. He was later located on 6th Street and arrested.

Boden has been charged with two counts of assault, one count of failure to comply with conditions of recognizance, one count of dangerous driving, and one count of driving while prohibited.

Boden remains in custody and is scheduled to appear in court on May 16.

Two years ago, Boden was charged with assault in connection with an incident that took place on March 13 in Surrey and involved a female complainant.

He was released on $1,500 bail but was later charged again for breaching an undertaking or recognizance.

Boden was given a practice roster position as a receiver with the B.C. Lions before the 2006 season, but he was cut in the spring of 2008, shortly after he was charged with assault, theft and mischief in connection with an incident involving his ex-girlfriend.

Boden also briefly played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

He has also previously faced firearms offences, as well as sexual assault, break-and-enter, assault, uttering threats, possessing a controlled substance, procuring, living on the avails of prostitution, aiding a person to engage in prostitution and criminal harassment.

He was also the subject of a rare public warning issued by Vancouver police, who believed he posed a safety risk to the community.

ticrawford@postmedia.com

With files from Jennifer Saltman

Former B.C. Lion Joshua Boden has been charged in connection to an alleged domestic dispute earlier this week.

The investigation into Boden began Sunday, May 6 when New Westminster police were alerted to a domestic dispute between a man and a woman, but by the time officers arrived at the scene, the suspect – Boden – had fled, according to a press release from the New Westminster Police Department.

Using evidence collected at the scene, investigators spent the following few days tracking down Boden. They eventually located him on May 9 at an address on Sixth Street. He was arrested without incident, noted the release.

“We’re thankful that he was located only a few days after the alleged offences and that there were no issues during his arrest,” said police spokesperson Sgt. Jeff Scott. “Because this matter is before the courts, we are unable to comment further, but, in any case of alleged violence, we encourage people to speak up and report it to the police.”

Boden, 31, is charged with assault, failing to comply with conditions of recognizance, dangerous driving and driving while prohibited.

He remains in custody at this time. He is scheduled to appear in court on May 16.

Boden was a wide receiver for the B.C. Lions’ 2007/08 season.

© 2018 Vancouver Courier

Read more from the New Westminister Record

Former B.C. Lion Joshua Boden has been charged in connection to an alleged domestic dispute earlier this week.

The investigation into Boden began Sunday, May 6 when New Westminster police were alerted to a domestic dispute between a man and a woman, but by the time officers arrived at the scene, the suspect – Boden – had fled, according to a press release from the New Westminster Police Department.

Using evidence collected at the scene, investigators spent the following few days tracking down Boden. They eventually located him on May 9 at an address on Sixth Street. He was arrested without incident, noted the release.

“We’re thankful that he was located only a few days after the alleged offences and that there were no issues during his arrest,” said police spokesperson Sgt. Jeff Scott. “Because this matter is before the courts, we are unable to comment further, but, in any case of alleged violence, we encourage people to speak up and report it to the police.”

Boden, 31, is charged with assault, failing to comply with conditions of recognizance, dangerous driving and driving while prohibited.

He remains in custody at this time. He is scheduled to appear in court on May 16.

Boden was a wide receiver for the B.C. Lions’ 2007/08 season.

Troubled former professional football player Joshua Boden, who briefly played with the B.C. Lions, has again been charged with assault.

New Westminster police say the 31-year-old New Westminster resident was arrested on Wednesday after an assault investigation. 

On Sunday, police received a report of a domestic dispute that occurred between a man and a woman.

Police say Boden was not there when the officers arrived. He was later located on 6th Street and arrested.

Boden has been charged with two counts of assault, one count of failure to comply with conditions of recognizance, one count of dangerous driving, and one count of driving while prohibited.

Boden remains in custody and is scheduled to appear in court on May 16.

Two years ago, Boden was charged with assault in connection with an incident that took place on March 13 in Surrey and involved a female complainant.

He was released on $1,500 bail but was later charged again for breaching an undertaking or recognizance.

Boden was given a practice roster position as a receiver with the B.C. Lions before the 2006 season and played some games, but he was cut in the spring of 2008, shortly after he was charged with assault, theft and mischief in connection with an incident involving his ex-girlfriend.

Biden also briefly played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

He has also previously faced firearms offences, sexual assault, break-and-enter, assault, uttering threats, possessing a controlled substance, procuring, living on the avails of prostitution, aiding a person to engage in prostitution and criminal harassment.

He was also the subject of a rare public warning issued by Vancouver police, who believed he posed a safety risk to the community.

ticrawford@postmedia.com

With files from Jennifer Saltman

Every once in a while, something happens that makes you stop and realize just how much the world has changed in a very short amount of time.

Take this week’s news that recently signed B.C. Lion Euclid Cummings had been charged last May with four criminal counts, including sexual assault, for an incident that allegedly occurred in Vancouver in October 2016 when he was a member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Just a few short years ago, in what we will call the pre-Ray Rice era, this would have been a story, not a scandal. And there’s a decent chance Cummings might have been able to continue playing right up until his day in court, based on the legal principle of innocent until proven guilty.

Instead, the Cummings story is an embarrassment to the CFL, and questions are being asked about who knew what and when, and who else should have been drawn into the loop. Most importantly: How is it that a player could face such serious charges without anyone knowing and manage to play the entire 2017 season?

This demonstrates the kinds of things pro sports league and teams have to be thinking about, because simply turning palms upward and saying, “we didn’t know” won’t do anymore.

The details of the Cummings case are that the Blue Bombers were aware in the fall of 2016 that there had been an alleged incident involving Cummings in Vancouver that police were investigating.

Cummings met with police when the Bombers played in Vancouver for the West Division final in November 2016, but by the time he left Winnipeg for Edmonton via free agency the following February, charges still hadn’t been filed.

In other words, even if the Eskimos had run his name through a background check, nothing would have turned up.

So, was it incumbent on someone to let the Eskimos know Cummings was the subject of an investigation a few months earlier, and still might be? Whose responsibility would that be? The league’s? The Blue Bombers’? His representative’s?

And would it have been fair to Cummings, who hadn’t been charged at that time, for either the league or the Bombers to tell the Eskimos about the alleged incident before they signed him? What would Edmonton’s reaction have been if they’d been told after they signed him?

Cummings was charged in April but no one in the CFL seemed to know about it. He played the 2017 season in Edmonton without so much as a whisper about his troubles off the field. And so, last month Lions general manager Ed Hervey was unaware that Cummings was due to face serious charges in the city in which he’d just signed.

It’s worth noting the charges against Cummings occurred during a brief window when there was no full-time CFL commissioner, between the exit of Jeffrey Orridge and the arrival of Randy Ambrosie. Whether that is significant or not is impossible to say.

The question becomes whether a league these days should be expected to track and follow every one of its players who is ever investigated or accused of something, even when no charges are laid. Could you ask a league to run its players’ names through police information checks twice a year? Is that really where we are?

Cummings’ trial is set for October, although the league voided his contract this week upon learning of the charges, a decision the Lions publicly endorsed.

That’s a positive sign of the times, of the lowering of the threshold of acceptance for violence against women, one that began in the football world with Rice and continues right up to today’s #MeToo movement.

But if that’s the new standard, the CFL and other leagues need to have policies and procedures in place that reflect that.

The CFL should start by making it the obligation of every player and agent to make their employer aware any time one of them is charged with any sort of offence. The punishment for failing to do so should be an immediate suspension and a substantial fine, and possible expulsion.

Cummings is the second CFL player to sign a contract this off-season without his team being aware of a criminal charge. Saskatchewan’s Duron Carter signed a new deal with the Roughriders in January, less than two months after being charged with having more than 30 grams of marijuana with him at the Winnipeg airport, something the Roughriders claimed to know nothing about.

The fact that Cummings played the entire 2017 season after being charged with such a serious offence is and should be an embarrassment to the league.

It’s a situation that, in this day and age, shouldn’t happen again.

TORONTO — The CFL voided Euclid Cummings’ contract with the B.C. Lions after the player was charged with four criminal counts, including sexual assault.

The league made the announcement about the contract Wednesday after learning of the charges the defensive lineman was facing, but provided no further details. However, Vancouver Provincial Court documents indicate Cummings was charged April 21, 2017, with four criminal offences involving two alleged victims.

The alleged incidents occurred in Vancouver on Oct. 16, 2016. At the time Cummings was playing for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who faced the Lions at B.C. Place Stadium on Oct. 14, 2016.

Cummings, 26, of Atlanta, is charged with sexual assault, assault and uttering a threat to cause death or bodily harm to one person and the sexual assault of another.

The six-foot-three, 300-pound Cummings signed through the 2018 season as a free agent last month with B.C.

“Upon learning of the criminal charges facing Euclid Cummings, CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie has voided his contract with the B.C. Lions,” the league said in a statement Wednesday. “As these charges are before the courts, the CFL will offer no further comment.”

B.C. general manager Ed Hervey said he had no idea of Cummings’ legal woes when he signed the player.

“We support the commissioner’s decision to void the contract of Euclid Cummings in light of criminal charges he is currently facing,” Hervey said in a statement. “We were given no indication by the player or his representation that these charges existed and I assure our fans, partners and supporters of the CFL across Canada, that we would not have offered him a contract had we known about this situation.”

Cummings had eight sacks and 21 tackles last season with the Edmonton Eskimos. He has also spent time with Winnipeg and Toronto.

TORONTO — The CFL voided Euclid Cummings’ contract with the B.C. Lions after the player was charged with four criminal counts, including sexual assault.

The league made the announcement about the contract Wednesday after learning of the charges the defensive lineman was facing, but provided no further details. However, Vancouver Provincial Court documents indicate Cummings was charged April 21, 2017, with four criminal offences involving two alleged victims.

The alleged incidents occurred in Vancouver on Oct. 16, 2016. At the time Cummings was playing for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who faced the Lions at B.C. Place Stadium on Oct. 14, 2016.

Cummings, 26, of Atlanta, is charged with sexual assault, assault and uttering a threat to cause death or bodily harm to one person and the sexual assault of another.

The six-foot-three, 300-pound Cummings signed through the 2018 season as a free agent last month with B.C.

“Upon learning of the criminal charges facing Euclid Cummings, CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie has voided his contract with the B.C. Lions,” the league said in a statement Wednesday. “As these charges are before the courts, the CFL will offer no further comment.”

B.C. general manager Ed Hervey said he had no idea of Cummings’ legal woes when he signed the player.

“We support the commissioner’s decision to void the contract of Euclid Cummings in light of criminal charges he is currently facing,” Hervey said in a statement. “We were given no indication by the player or his representation that these charges existed and I assure our fans, partners and supporters of the CFL across Canada, that we would not have offered him a contract had we known about this situation.”

Cummings had eight sacks and 21 tackles last season with the Edmonton Eskimos. He has also spent time with Winnipeg and Toronto.

TORONTO — The CFL voided Euclid Cummings’ contract with the B.C. Lions after the player was charged with four criminal counts, including sexual assault.

The league made the announcement about the contract Wednesday after learning of the charges the defensive lineman was facing, but provided no further details. However, Vancouver Provincial Court documents indicate Cummings was charged April 21, 2017, with four criminal offences involving two alleged victims.

The alleged incidents occurred in Vancouver on Oct. 16, 2016. At the time Cummings was playing for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who faced the Lions at B.C. Place Stadium on Oct. 14, 2016.

Cummings, 26, of Atlanta, is charged with sexual assault, assault and uttering a threat to cause death or bodily harm to one person and the sexual assault of another.

The six-foot-three, 300-pound Cummings signed through the 2018 season as a free agent last month with B.C.

“Upon learning of the criminal charges facing Euclid Cummings, CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie has voided his contract with the B.C. Lions,” the league said in a statement Wednesday. “As these charges are before the courts, the CFL will offer no further comment.”

B.C. general manager Ed Hervey said he had no idea of Cummings’ legal woes when he signed the player.

“We support the commissioner’s decision to void the contract of Euclid Cummings in light of criminal charges he is currently facing,” Hervey said in a statement. “We were given no indication by the player or his representation that these charges existed and I assure our fans, partners and supporters of the CFL across Canada, that we would not have offered him a contract had we known about this situation.”

Cummings had eight sacks and 21 tackles last season with the Edmonton Eskimos. He has also spent time with Winnipeg and Toronto.