Guardians of the Children show support for child witness

A child witness in a case involving an alleged sexual assault was in Red Deer court Monday – but she wasn’t alone.

Guardians of the Children, a biker group dedicated to empowering youth victims or witnesses of abuse, were on hand to support the young girl.

The group of about 40 bikers was comprised of members from chapters in Red Deer, Wetaskiwin and Edmonton.

Red Deer chapter President Dale ‘Biff’ Meyers says the court proceedings are not easy for everyone.

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“Today is a very stressful day for a young guardian of ours that we’ve adopted into our chapter. There’s a great deal of pressure, a great deal of stress placed on her and as guardians of the children, we do whatever we can to help our little community members not feel so stressed,” he said on the steps of the courthouse. “We’re empowering our little guardian today and we’re going to make her day way less stressful.”

Meyers says a lot of members didn’t initially realize how prevalent child abuse is in society, adding it doesn’t get talked about nearly enough.

“It’s really important we as a community pay more attention to our young citizens,” Meyers continued.

“Anytime you can help a youngster not feel so much stress, whether it be bullying, whether it be abuse and in some cases sexual abuse, make sure you call the appropriate organizations, even governmental ones — make sure we don’t ignore them and as our motto says, ‘Don’t let your silence drown out their cries.’”

A 2014 study by the Canadian Medical Association Journal found 32 per cent of Canadians had experienced one or more forms of abuse during their childhood.

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Editor’s note: Our lead to this story has been revised to note this legal case involves an alleged sexual assault.