TORONTO (ONTARIO, CANADA)
CBC News
November 25, 2020
By Benjamin Shingler
Catholic Church officials protected Brian Boucher’s reputation for years before he was arrested, report says
Montreal – A Montreal priest was able to sexually abuse two young boys and terrorize several others over a 20-year span because top officials in the Catholic Church ignored complaints about his behaviour and, in some cases, tried to keep serious allegations secret, according to a damning new report.
The priest, Brian Boucher, worked at 10 churches in Montreal during his career, which began in the early 1980s. He was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2019 after being found guilty in one case and pleading guilty in another.
After Boucher was sentenced, the church commissioned former Quebec Superior Court justice Pepita Capriolo to investigate how the crimes could have gone undetected for so long.
As she released her report on Wednesday, Capriolo placed blame on the upper echelons of Montreal’s Catholic Church. She said officials preferred to turn a blind eye rather than investigate mounting complaints about Boucher.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.