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<\/p>\nRoughriders receiver Ajou Ajou was released from Saskatchewan\u2019s\u00a0CFL\u00a0team following the results of a third-party investigation into allegations of gender-based violence and harassment by the league.<\/p>\n
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Ajou\u2019s release came after a league investigation into allegations of him making unwanted physical contact with women at a restaurant in Regina on Nov. 18 of last year, the same day the Riders held their Grey Cup parade.<\/p>\n
The CFL\u2019s decision, which\u00a0was released on Thursday morning, called for a minimum six-game suspension after Ajou breached one of its violence and\u00a0harassment policies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe decided to release Ajou, as this was clearly a violation of our team\u2019s code of conduct and the CFL\u2019s gender-based violence and harassment policy,\u201d Jeremy O\u2019Day, the team\u2019s general manager and vice president of football,\u00a0told reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur expectation is that our players and staff treat people with respect and integrity. These violations clearly did not meet that standard.\u201d<\/p>\n
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This call was made by the team, without any input from the league, he added. The Riders\u2019 general manager confirmed he has spoken with his now-ex receiver since the decision.<\/p>\n
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\u201cTo be honest, (it) was a sad conversation, but really just trying to give him the information. Talk it through with him a little bit,\u201d said O\u2019Day.<\/p>\n
The league was made aware of multiple allegations against the player in late January by the team, O\u2019Day said. Those allegations led to a third-party investigation, which involved interviews with Ajou, the complainants and more than one witness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hold each other to a high standard. We\u2019re trying to develop a culture that people feel safe in, that people feel respected. A family atmosphere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For him to be reinstated and play in the league next season, Ajou must participate in a minimum of 15 counselling sessions with a gender-based violence expert, meet with the commissioner and complete a psychological evaluation performed by an outside expert, according to the CFL.<\/p>\n
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Even if he fulfils these\u00a0requirements, O\u2019Day said there is no future for Ajou with his team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is my hope that Mr. Ajou learns from this experience, and that other players take this unfortunate situation as a reminder of the standards we uphold,\u201d said Stewart Johnson, the CFL league commissioner.<\/p>\n
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Looking to next season, O\u2019Day said wide receiver Dhel Duncan-Busby will replace Ajou.<\/p>\n
In his final season with the Riders,\u00a0Ajou totalled 212 yards on 22 receptions\u00a0and no touchdowns. The Alberta native was waived by the NFL\u2019s Indianapolis Colts in January 2025.<\/p>\n
All CFL players, coaches and staff must complete training on gender-based violence and harassment, the league said. Members also do other mandatory education, including concussion protocols and the player code of conduct.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur whole team was probably out that night (of the parade), and the large majority of them understand what it\u2019s like to be in the community and how to handle yourself in the community,\u201d said O\u2019Day.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Day said no other members of the team are under investigation by the CFL.<\/p>\n
Global News has reached out to the Regina Police Service for comment.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roughriders receiver Ajou Ajou was released from Saskatchewan\u2019s\u00a0CFL\u00a0team following the results of a third-party investigation into allegations of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,4397,4400,82],"class_list":["post-625537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-regina-news","tag-saskatchewan-roughriders","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}