TORONTO (CANADA)
CBC News
Dec. 9, 2019
For more than two decades, parishioners repeatedly warned Montreal church leaders about the troubling behaviour of Brian Boucher, a priest who was given an eight-year prison sentence last March for sexually abusing two young boys.
A months-long investigation by CBC Montreal has revealed the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal was told on multiple occasions that Boucher was divisive, bullying and had worrisome relationships with young boys.
But the archdiocese took little action against Boucher until a police investigation in 2015.
CBC spoke to nearly 50 parishioners, church staff and priests who oversaw Boucher’s work.
Many of the parishioners still have deep ties to the church and were reluctant to criticize it publicly. Others feared Boucher would track them down after his release.
For this reason, CBC has agreed not to reveal the identity of a number of its sources.
In these interviews, parishioners expressed frustration and dismay at how church leaders dealt with Boucher.
“They heard, but they didn’t listen,” said a parishioner at the last church where Boucher served before his arrest.
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