On the eve of the Eastern Semi-Final, the Canadian Football League has indefinitely suspended Montreal Alouettes defensive lineman Shawn Oakman for breaching the league’s gender based violence and harassment policy. The Montreal Alouettes have also announced that they are cutting Oakman immediately.
The league announced in their press release that they were made aware of allegations on Thursday and initiated a third-party investigation that included interviews with Oakman and the complainant.
The investigation revealed threats to send sexually explicit material to an intimate partner’s child, who is a minor.
The Canadian Football League takes violations of our Gender-Based Violence and Harassment Policy with the utmost seriousness. Our policy is clear, and our commitment to enforcing it is unwavering. Following review, we have made the decision to suspend Mr. Oakman indefinitely,” stated CFL Commissioner Stewart Johnston.
In the Alouettes’ press release, they stated that they “will never accept any type of gender-based violence or harassment and have therefore decided to cut Mr. Oakman immediately.
“We hold everyone in our organization to the highest standard of integrity and respect both on and off the field,” stated Alouettes’ General Manager Danny Maciocia. “We’ve decided to release Shawn Oakman because his actions go against our core values.”
Oakman was listed as the team’s starting defensive tackle on the depth chart released this morning. Last week saw Montreal lose DT Mustafa Johnson to injury, and DE Lwal Uguak is listed as a game-time decision from an injury also sustained last week.
The sudden loss of Oakman in this manner is a huge blow to Montreal, which needs a strong run defense against Winnipeg. Oakman had a sack, 3 solo run stops, and was in on 3 shared run stops against Winnipeg last week. Because of this violation, Montreal will now be without his services.
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