Quebec provincial police have arrested five elderly members of a Catholic teaching order, the Clerics of St. Viator, for allegedly sexually abusing boys in their care over the span of almost 30 years.
The Sûreté du Québec's major crimes unit carried out arrest warrants for the men, who are between the ages of 78 and 88, in a home in Joliette belonging to their congregation, known in French as the Clercs de Saint-Viateur.
The men are facing more than 30 charges in total, including gross indecency, sexual assault and indecent assault. The men were interviewed by investigators and arraigned Tuesday via teleconference in courthouses in Joliette, Valleyfield and Montreal.
The alleged crimes took place between 1961 and 1989, when the men were responsible for instructing minors in religious educational institutions in the Montérégie, Bas-Saint-Laurent, Gaspé and Laurentians regions, the SQ said in a statement.
SQ spokesperson Sgt. Ingrid Asselin said that 15 alleged victims of the clerics have come forward. She said they are all male and were minors at the time they say were assaulted. (more...)
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