Convicted sex offender ordered back to prison
Paul Leroux abused dozens of boys in his charge while working at residential schools in NWT and Saskatchewan
Meagan Leonard
Northern News Services
Monday, May 11, 2015
BATTLEFORD, SASK
Victims of a former residential school dormitory supervisor experienced some sense of reprieve last week when their infamous abuser was ordered back to prison.
Former Grollier Hall dormitory supervisor Paul Leroux is heading back to prison after the Federal Court of Appeal ruled his previous three-year sentence was too lenient for a string of historical sexual assaults dating back to his time as a dormitory supervisor at the Beauval Residential School in Saskatchewan. - NNSL file photo |
Paul Leroux, now in his mid-70s, worked at Beauval Residential School in Saskatchewan and Grollier Hall residential school in Inuvik for a period spanning nearly 20 years.
During that time he was found to have sexually abused many of the boys in his charge.
In 1998, NWT Supreme Court found Leroux guilty of sexually abusing 14 boys who lived at Grollier Hall between 1968 and 1979 and sentenced him to 10 years behind bars on charges of indecent assault, attempted buggery and gross indecency. Leroux served three years of the sentence in federal prison before being granted parole.
Prior to his arrest in 1998 Leroux had been working as a regional director for the B.C. Human Rights Commission in Vancouver.
In December 2013 Leroux was found guilty of similar offenses at Beauval and was handed a three-year term. He was granted parole less than a year in.
Now a decision handed down by the Federal Court of Appeal May 4 is ordering Leroux back to prison, stating his original sentence was inappropriate given the charges.
"As to the sentence imposed, the Crown has compellingly demonstrated that three years' incarceration is wholly unfit in the circumstances," the appeal reads. "A sentence of eight years' imprisonment is a fit sentence in the circumstances of this matter."
In justifying the decision, the appeal cites the seriousness of Leroux's actions - seemingly without remorse, number of occurrences and the detrimental effect on victims as reason for the extension.
"A cumulative sentence of eight years imprisonment is proportionate to the gravity of the offenses committed by Mr. Leroux and his moral culpability in committing them."
Previous leniency was attributed to Leroux's advanced age and the fact he hadn't committed any known indiscretions in nearly 40 years.
Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya is a former executive director of the Grollier Hall healing circle and says the news of Leroux's indictment will come as a relief for many victims; however he said some wounds may never heal. Working with the survivors of Grollier Hall, Yakeleya says the effects of such an experience are far-reaching.
"They have questioned their identity, questioned their masculinity, questioned their sanity - their behaviour ... their beliefs in God and the institution," said Yakeleya.
"People are moving toward closure but that's not an easy road - it's a rough road and some people make it and some people don't."
Leroux was given until May 6 to turn himself into Saskatchewan RCMP and although many will be watching him once again enter prison, Yakeleya says this punishment may not be enough.
"For the number of men he has harmed - that he has hurt, for the victims of Paul Leroux, no number of years is going to be long enough," he said.
