Ex-Minister Charged Again

The Chronicle-Journal
May 9, 2012

http://www.chroniclejournal.com/content/news/local/2012/05/09/ex-minister-charged-again

A former Anglican Church minister who worked in First Nations communities in Northwestern Ontario in the 1970s and 1980s has been charged with sexual abuse offences following a lengthy provincial police investigation.

Ralph Rowe, 72, of Surrey, B.C., is to appear in Kenora court on May 31, charged with two counts of indecent assault on a male and five counts of sexual assault.

Provincial police said Tuesday that the charges relate to incidents at Fort Severn, Big Trout Lake, Wunnumin Lake and Kingfisher Lake between 1973 and 1986.

The OPP North West Region crime unit has been investigating reports of sexual offences against Rowe since 1994. The accused was last charged by police in 2009. Since then, new information has come forward, police said.

Rowe was charged on April 22.

This will be the seventh time that Rowe has faced sexual abuse charges related to incidents when he was a practicing Anglican Church minister, pilot and Boy Scout leader. Rowe worked in at least 18 Nishnawbe-Aski Nation communities between 1971 and 1986.

At a 2009 trial in Kenora, he was convicted of six counts of indecent assault and one of sexual assault. He was sentenced to one year to serve concurrent with a three-year sentence handed down at a 2007 trial.

In 2007, Rowe was convicted for sexual abuse and sexual indecency involving three boys from Northern Ontario First Nations. The incidents took place in the remote First Nation communities of Weagamow Lake, Wunnumin Lake, Bearskin Lake and Big Trout Lake.

A sexual assault conviction for a third victim fell within a plea agreement Rowe had made in 1994.

At that time, Rowe was granted a plea bargain which enabled him not to serve additional time for similar incidents where the assault included sexual fondling.

During his 2007 trial, Rowe pleaded guilty to 20 other counts which also fell under the plea bargain. He served 4 1/2 years of a six-year sentence in 1994 for indecent and sexual assaults involving boys aged 6-16.

His victims formed The Ralph Rowe Survivor Network, which continues to act as a support system for men who have been victims of sexual abuse.