WINNIPEG (MANITOBA, CANADA)
CBC
September 7, 2017
Winnipeg priest faces new sexual assault charges
3 men come forward with new charges against Ronald Léger, now accused of sexually assaulting 7 men
By Katie Nicholson and Vera-Lynn Kubinec
[With links to previous CBC stories about Léger. See also the page about Fr Ronald Léger CSV on Sylvia’s Site, providing additional links to articles and documents, with a chronology.]
A Catholic priest who founded and ran a youth centre in Winnipeg for decades is facing new sexual assault charges from three alleged victims, on top of charges laid last year following accusations from four other men.
Ronald Léger, 79, was charged Aug. 31 with three new counts of sexual assault against three men, who were teenagers at the time of the alleged assaults.
Last October, four other men came forward alleging they were sexually assaulted by Léger in their youth. Léger was charged at that time with multiple counts of sexual assault. A trial date for those charges — which span three decades from 1983 to 2013 — has been set for March 5, 2018.
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All of the men first encountered the priest at his St. Boniface youth drop-in centre.
Léger started Teen Stop Jeunesse in 1983. Before that, he ran a drop-in centre from his home for several years while he also worked as a teacher.
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Léger is currently on day parole for three previous sexual assault convictions involving three other men who were assaulted when they were young. Léger pleaded guilty to those charges in 2015 and was later handed a two-year sentence.
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