Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Aug 07/98) - Former Grollier Hall senior boys supervisor Paul Leroux, 58, appeared in NWT Supreme Court in Inuvik Aug. 4 to answer to 44 charges of buggery, fellatio, digital penetration, taking photos of sex acts and gross indecency with his charges.

He pleaded not-guilty to 25 sex-related charges, guilty to nine charges, gave special pleas to four charges and the crown stayed six charges.

There is a publication ban on the names of his alleged victims during the trial, which is expected to last for the next three weeks.

Meanwhile, the 20 men who allege Leroux sexually abused them in Inuvik as teenagers in the 1960s and 1970s are receiving professional support during the trial.

The Grollier Hall Residential School healing circle has taken a leading role in forming a support service for those who will once again come face to face with their alleged abuser.

"Our fundamental priority as the GHRS healing circle will be to establish a counselling and emotional safety net before, during and after the Leroux trial," said Harold Cook, the victims' advocate for the GHRS healing circle.

"The GHRS victim-witnesses will receive support from their family, their community caregiver and from our counselling and support team to get through the court process emotionally intact."

The support service team consists of three aboriginal professionals with training in family and addictions counselling.

Norman Yakelaya is in Inuvik from NSY Training in Hay River while Vera Morin is here from New Path Beginnings in Yellowknife and Phyllis Nault is here from Blue Raven Consulting in Hay River.

Spiritual advisor Charlie Neyellie from Deline is also helping Leroux's alleged victims, who were all between the ages of 13 and 18 at the time the alleged assaults occurred.

The counselling team's main role will be to offer reassurance, normalize the process and generally present a calm presence in a highly charged setting.

Further support will come from community caregivers who attended GHRS healing circle workshops in Fort Good Hope and Inuvik in March 1998.

Allegations of sexual abuse on former male residents of Grollier Hall surfaced in 1996.

Initially the RCMP launched an investigation into the affairs of a former boys' supervisor; however, the investigation expanded considerably once additional suspects were named.

Two former supervisors have since been convicted for sex-related charges and received jail sentences.