Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Other or denomination not established London, Ontario, Canada · 2018

Canada: Anglican rector convicted of abusing First Nations altar boys in Ontario; second conviction for Yukon victims followed

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

rector, St. Andrew's Anglican Church (London, Ontario), 1977-1983, Anglican priest

Organization

St. Andrew's Anglican Church, London, Ontario, Anglican Church of Canada

Spiritual nexus

Norton was rector of St. Andrew's Anglican Church in London, Ontario from 1977 to 1983, and later held a clerical posting in the Yukon. Both sets of victims were altar boys -- children serving in his church under his direct clerical supervision -- and the first group were also members of the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation whom he accessed specifically through his parish's ties to that community. Two separate trials in two separate jurisdictions, a decade apart, both anchored the abuse in his role as their priest; the record covers both as a single perpetrator's authority-driven pattern across two dioceses.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority
  • Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2018-11-01 · trial conviction

    Ontario Court of Justice, London. Found guilty of three counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault against four boys, then altar servers at St. Andrew's Anglican Church, from the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, abused in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Sentenced to a total of 13 years.

  2. 2023-11-06 · trial conviction and sentence

    Yukon Territorial Court, Whitehorse. Found guilty after trial of six charges -- historic sexual assault, sexual interference and sexual assault against each of two more First Nations altar boys abused in the Yukon in the 1980s. Sentenced to three years on each Yukon count, served concurrently with each other but consecutively to the Ontario sentence, for a combined total of 16 years; added to the national sex offender registry for 10 years.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • rector's authority over altar boys serving at his church
  • access to children of the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation through his clerical role and the parish's ties to the community
  • grooming through attention, gifts, and outings that traded on his standing as a priest
  • later abuse of two more altar boys during a separate posting in the Yukon in the 1980s

Primary record

Sources

national press sentencing report CBC News, 'Former priest David Norton sentenced to 9 years for sexually abusing boys' (2019/2020 sentencing report).

Reports Norton's role as rector of St. Andrew's Anglican Church from 1977-1983, the conviction on three counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault against four Chippewas of the Thames altar boys, and the resulting sentence.

national press sentencing report CBC News, 'Ex-Anglican priest who molested Yukon boys in the '80s to serve another 3 years in prison' (2023).

Reports the November 6, 2023 Yukon Territorial Court sentencing, the six-count guilty finding for abuse of two First Nations altar boys, the three-year concurrent Yukon sentence served consecutively to the Ontario term, and the combined 16-year total.

denominational press institutional response Anglican Journal, 'Former Anglican priest sentenced for sexual abuse' (2019/2020).

Denominational press confirms Norton's suspension of his priest's licence in 2016 following the laying of charges and his subsequent relinquishment of ministry.

Related record

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