Documentary record Bound by Fear
← Explore all cases
Other Christian institutions & contexts Mennonite and Anabaptist Oakville and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada · 2022

Canada: teaching pastor of an Ontario megachurch found by an independent investigation to have abused a congregant; criminal charges later stayed and withdrawn without trial

Record class

Context only

Evidence status

Official finding

Authority role

Bruxy Cavey, founding teaching pastor of The Meeting House, a multi-site evangelical/Anabaptist megachurch based in Oakville, Ontario, with authority over the congregation's spiritual life and pastoral counseling

Organization

The Meeting House

Spiritual nexus

The independent investigation the church itself commissioned found that Cavey's position as the congregation's founding teaching pastor — its central spiritual authority — was what he used to initiate and sustain the abusive relationship with a member under his pastoral care.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority
  • Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2022-03-03 · internal investigation upheld the abuse finding; separate criminal prosecution ended WITHOUT TRIAL — one charge judicially stayed for delay, two withdrawn by the Crown

    Independent investigation commissioned by The Meeting House board (Postma Consulting/Under Construction); Hamilton Police Service; Ontario Court of Justice. Cavey was placed on leave in December 2021 after allegations surfaced of a 'sexualized relationship' with a congregant. A third-party investigation commissioned by the church board concluded he had engaged in a years-long pattern of sexual abuse of a church member, characterizing it as an abuse of his position of spiritual authority; he resigned 3 March 2022. The church later disclosed two further credible abuse claims (one involving an accuser who was a minor at the time) and, by 2024, a total of 38 reports of sexual misconduct involving four different pastors at the church. Separately, Hamilton Police charged Cavey with sexual assault on 31 May 2022, and with two further counts of sexual assault in December 2023. On 22 July 2024, Ontario Court Justice Michael K. Wendl stayed the first charge on Charter grounds (unreasonable pre-trial delay); the Crown withdrew the remaining two charges shortly after, citing no reasonable prospect of conviction. No criminal trial on the merits occurred and no conviction resulted.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • his standing as the church's principal teaching pastor and public face, which the independent investigation found he used to initiate and sustain a years-long sexual relationship with a congregant that the investigators characterized as abuse of his position of spiritual authority
  • the closed, insider culture of a single-leader-centered megachurch, which the church's own later disclosures said had allowed a pattern extending to at least four pastors and 38 reports of misconduct

Primary record

Sources

national newspaper court reporting investigation and charge report Religion News Service, 7 Jun. 2022: charge report, including the investigation's findings that preceded it.

Establishes both the independent investigation's abuse finding and the initial criminal charge.

national newspaper court reporting court disposition report CBC News: 'Final 2 sexual assault charges against ex-pastor of Ontario megachurch withdrawn by Crown'.

Confirms the withdrawal of the remaining charges without trial.

national newspaper court reporting court ruling report CBC News: '1 of 3 sexual assault charges against ex-pastor of Ontario megachurch has been dismissed'.

Confirms the Charter-delay stay of the first charge.

trade religious press institutional disclosure report MinistryWatch: 'Canadian Megachurch Discloses 38 Reports of Sexual Misconduct by 4 Pastors'.

Institutional-pattern context on the church's later broader disclosure.

Related record

Related cases · Christian institutions & contexts

← Explore all cases