Terry Kruger and Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Monday, June 25, 2007

FORT PROVIDENCE - A former teacher who pleaded guilty to sex charges against three teenaged girls had sexual intercourse with one of them 100 times.

This is according to an agreed statement of facts in the case against Marvin Lizotte, who was sentenced to 14 months in jail June 14 by NWT Supreme Court Justice John Vertes. Lizotte had earlier pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual exploitation.

The charges are in connection with incidents involving three teenaged girls between 1998 and 2004, while he was a teacher at Deh Gah school in Fort Providence. Lizotte was arrested in January 2006 while teaching at the school in Kakisa. At that time, he was also charged with three counts of sexual assault, which were stayed when he pleaded guilty.

According to court records, the first incident was in Nov. 1999, after he e-mailed a 15-year-old girl and asked her to sneak out of her parents' house. When she arrived at about 2 a.m., his apartment in teachers' housing was lit with candles and the two had sexual intercourse.

That same month, he had sex with another girl, also 15. During intercourse, the girl started to cry and asked Lizotte to stop. The agreed statement of facts says he comforted her. The two developed a long-term relationship during which they had sex "100 times over several years."

In June 2002, he had sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl, and made her remain in his apartment until he could get her out without being seen.

The court files also say police suspected something was going on as early as Feb. 18, 2000. Responding to rumours in the community, Cpl. Marc Coloumbe met with one of the eventual victims, who denied that anything had happened. The RCMP officer met with Lizotte and told him what could happen if he was convicted under the sexual exploitation section of the Criminal Code.

All three girls filed victim impact statements, outlining how they've been traumatized.

"I ... wake up every day knowing that I was abused by someone who should have known better," wrote one victim.

Another girl wrote that she told some friends what had happened, and that at one point she was at a party when a woman began calling her names.

The sentence has angered community members and the NWT Native Women's Association.

"I think it was too light for the feeling the girls had to go through," said Bertha Landry, chief of the Deh Gah Got'ie Koe First Nation in Fort Providence. "When we first heard about it I was shocked."

She said she personally believes Lizotte should have received a prison sentence of five to 10 years.

"The justice system has failed us once again," said Denyse Nadon-Holder, executive director of the native women's association.

Several people, including family members, a nurse, an elder, a former girlfriend and Kakisa Chief Lloyd Chicot wrote letters of support for Lizotte, many describing him as having "an upstanding character." According to one testimonial, Lizotte, was "well loved by children."

The fact a community leader wrote a letter of support also upset Nadon-Holder. "If you stand up to support somebody, it's like you're saying it's okay."

The court file noted that he has lost his teaching license and was employed as a heavy equipment operator in Fort McMurray. Lizotte has also worked a teacher in Rocky Lane, near his hometown of Fort Vermillion, Alta. and Fort Good Hope.

According to a pre-sentence report, Lizotte considered one of the teens a "semi-girlfriend" and the other two incidents were "out of control situations." That report also noted he said he wants to apologize to the victims, but was unable to because of a no-contact order.