CANADA
Timmins Press
By Len Gillis
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
TIMMINS – The new billboard sign that went up in Timmins Tuesday is believed to be the only one of its kind in Ontario. But the fellows who put the sign up are saying one in six men in Ontario should see it.
That’s because the issue of sexual abuse against young males is rampant, they said, and it is something that needs to be exposed and talked about more.
Ray Auclair and Ray Lariviere, both of Timmins, are men who are survivors of sexual abuse from their adolescent years.
Auclair grew up in Timmins. Lariviere grew up in Chelmsford. As young teenagers, even though they were hundreds of miles apart, both were victimized in remarkably similar circumstances by older men; men who gained their trust and confidence and then sexually assaulted them.
One was molested by a businessman, the other by a priest.
The priest went to jail. The businessman committed suicide.
Auclair and Lariviere are now friends who met in a support group. They are also committed to encouraging more men to come forward, to tell their stories of abuse and to expose the abusers. Both men spoke at a special dinner held in Timmins back in February to raise funds for the Timmins billboard project.
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