Trial stayed against 98-year-old nun accused of historic sex crimes at residential and day schools
WARNING: This story contains details of abuse of children at residential schools
The trial of an Ottawa nun accused of sex crimes at northern Ontario residential and day schools in the 1960s and 1970s will not proceed after a stay of proceedings was granted due to evidence issues.
Francoise Seguin, 98, is the third nun and eighth worker overall to face criminal charges in relation to abuse at St. Anne’s Indian Residential School in Fort Albany, Ont.
Seguin, of the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa, was scheduled to enter a plea on three counts of gross indecency, a historic sexual assault offence, Tuesday in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Cochrane, Ont.
Instead, assistant Crown attorney Sonia Beauchamp requested a stay of proceedings, citing difficulty getting necessary evidence.
“At this time, due to the unique evidentiary issues in this matter, the Crown is currently unable to meet the heavy burden of proof required in criminal law, despite wholesome attempts to obtain further records,” Beauchamp told court.
The Crown and police had alleged the first offence occurred at St. Anne’s in 1966-67, the second at Moosonee’s Bishop Belleau School in 1969-70, and the third at a Sudbury detention facility in 1972-73.
The case involved a single male complainant, Joseph Etherington, who was a young student at the time, CBC News can now report. As the proceeding opened, Beauchamp successfully applied to lift a publication ban on his identity.
Sitting beside the Crown attorney, Etherington addressed the court, partly in Cree and often through tears.
“It was very overwhelming for me to know that what happened was going against all sin, related to the devil. I always remember the struggle that I felt inside myself,” he said.
He described growing up in the Cree language and with the Cree people, of growing up with Roman Catholicism as a matter of fact, a religion about which he recalled learning in residential school. He went on to describe feelings of guilt and shame, saying for a long time he locked out what he alleged had happened.
“The memory of what happened was able to float away from me, but at the same time stay inside me. I was always, ‘I’m, like, OK.’ That I can do things,” he said.
“But then came the beginning of when I started to use drugs and alcohol. That got me in trouble, caused trouble, and caused me to believe it was my fault.”
Following the statement, defence counsel Michael Tomassini said for the record that his client, who declined to be present, wholeheartedly denies the allegations.
The stay was granted under s.579 of the Criminal Code, which provides that the proceedings may be restarted but notice must be given within a year.
Previously, two nuns with the Roman Catholic order were convicted of charges following a sprawling 1990s Ontario Provincial Police probe into suspected criminal conduct at St. Anne’s.
Between 1992 and 1997, police interviewed more than 700 people, took 900 sworn statements and seized more than 7,000 documents from church organizations, eventually laying charges against seven former school workers. Five were convicted.
Anna Wesley, a Cree nun who had attended St. Anne’s herself, was convicted in 1999 of administering a noxious substance and assault. Jane Kakeychewan was convicted in 1998 of three counts of assault causing bodily harm on female students.
During the investigation, Sisters of Charity of Ottawa provided investigators with a list of everyone who had worked there. The list said Seguin was a teacher and director between 1958 and 1968 at St. Anne’s.
The government estimates 150,000 Indigenous children attended residential schools, a system of assimilation that operated countrywide for more than a century. St. Anne’s, operated from 1906 to 1976 first by the Catholic church and then the federal government, has a reputation as one of the cruellest of these institutions.
Survivors have reported sexual and spiritual abuse and widespread physical abuse. Some former students reported they were forced to sit in a homemade electric chair or eat their own vomit. Some have given graphic accounts of rape and sexual humiliation.
The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation counts 24 deaths there.
Support is available for anyone affected by their experience at residential schools or by the latest reports.
A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for survivors and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419.
Mental health counselling and crisis support is also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or by online chat at www.hopeforwellness.ca.
