Trial of 98-year-old nun accused of sex assault on student stayed over evidentiary problems

The trial of an Ottawa nun accused of sexual assault against a former student at a northern Ontario residential school in the 1960s and 1970s, will not proceed.

Francoise Seguin, 98, a nun with the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa, was scheduled to enter her plea regarding three counts of gross indecency, on Tuesday, in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Cochrane, Ont.

The charges stemmed from a 2022-2023 investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police into allegations made by a former student, Joseph Etherington.

During the investigation, Etherington recounted incidents that were alleged to have transpired in in the 1960s and 1970s at a residential school in Fort Albany and a day school in Moosonee, Ont., as well as a detention facility in Sudbury, Ont .

On Oct, 11, 2023, members of the James Bay OPP Crime Unit charged Seguin, then a 97-year-old resident of Ottawa.

The OPP later confirmed that the accused was a nun-teacher at the schools. In Moosonee, police say the school allegedly involved was Bishop Belleau School. In Fort Albany, located on the James Bay coast in Northern Ontario, she worked at the St. Anne’s Residential School, which operated from 1906 to 1976.

A request to stay the proceedings was made by the Crown trying the case and granted by the judge on Tuesday. Ottawa-based Assistant Crown Attorney Sonia Beauchamp cited problems with evidence as the basis for her request.

The defendant “has denied these allegations from the outset,” defence lawyer, Michael Tomassini, told the National Post. “We think the Crown made the right decision to ask for a stay.” She was not present in the court that day.

Under section 579 of the Criminal Code, proceedings may be restarted within a year, after the Crown gives notice of intent to do so. But Tomassini doesn’t think that’s likely.

The Timmins, Ont.-based lawyer says it’s the first time he has had to battle this type of charges during his almost 15 years of practice. However, he declined to comment on the state of the evidence in the case or what the Crown may do in the future.

Seguin is the third nun to face criminal charges connected to allegations of abuse at St. Anne’s Indian Residential School in Fort Albany, Ont.

Two Sisters of Charity nuns were previously charged — and convicted — following an OPP probe in the 1990s into allegations of criminal conduct at St. Anne’s.

Ann Wesley , born on the Attawapiskat First Nation was a Cree nun who attended St. Anne’s as a child. In 1999, she was convicted of three counts of common assault, three counts of administering a noxious substance, and one count of assault causing bodily harm. She received an eleven-month conditional (non-custodial) sentence.

Jane Kakaychawan, born in Ogoki Post, Ont. was an Objibwe nun who attended McIntosh Indian Residential School as a child. She was convicted in 1998 of three counts of assault causing bodily harm and given a six-month conditional sentence.

Only a small shack remains of St. Anne’s today. The school, the nuns’ residence and the rectory burned down separately over the past 15 years. The site, which is owned by the band, is now a water treatment plant and a storage depot for housing material.

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