Dr. Manuela Joannou is stepping down from her role as the medical director of a trauma program for veterans and first responders in eastern Ontario amid public anger over her decision to place a registered sex offender as a peer mentor for a group of sexual assault survivors.
Doctor apologizes for allowing registered sex offenders to retreat sexual assault survivors
Now, the doctor in charge of Project Trauma Support says she regrets that she has decided to allow registered sex offenders to mentor a group of sexual assault survivors with post-traumatic stress disorder under her care.
Seven female first responders and veterans of the Canadian Forces Shared their stories publicly with CBC News yesterday. They said that Dr. Manuela Joannou violated their trust because she failed to tell them that her most recent peer tutor was convicted in two separate sexual assault cases, and then participated in a six-day trauma retreat in July 2018.
CBC News obtained an image of a statement posted by Joannou to Facebook on Wednesday apologizing to participants in her program. I am deeply saddened by the compounded hurt and pain that having a registered sex offender as a mentor on our program in 2018 has caused for so many people, Joannou wrote in the Facebook post. If I had a chance to do it all over again, this would not have happened. Did we make some errors in our early efforts? Undoubtedly, but it has shaped our awareness and our methods going forward.
The post comes a day after Joannou, in an exchange with CBC News, defended her actions and did not apologize for using retired Canadian Forces major Jonathan Hamilton as a peer mentor at the retreat.