Winnipeg police confirm they have issued a Canada-wide warrant for convicted sex offender and former junior hockey coach Graham James.

A release from the Winnipeg Police Service says there has been an investigation into "complaints of historic sexual assaults" but no other information will be released.

James was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison in 1997 after he pleaded guilty to hundreds of sexual assaults involving two teenage hockey players under his influence.

A tell-all autobiography published last year by former NHL star Theoren Fleury contained new allegations against James, who coached Fleury and fellow NHLer Sheldon Kennedy as young teens.

It was Kennedy and an unnamed individual who finally went to police in 1996.

James was granted a pardon by the National Parole Board in 2007, has coached internationally and is believed to be living in Mexico.