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

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