FORT SIMPSON (CANADA)
CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) [Toronto, Canada]
October 24, 2023
By Natalie Pressman
Victim told court that assault by Camille Piché ‘held me down’ for decades
WARNING: This article contains graphic content and may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
A former N.W.T. priest began a two-year sentence Monday for a crime dating back four decades.
Camille Piché pleaded guilty in N.W.T. territorial court to indecent assault against a child while working as a priest in Fort Simpson, N.W.T.
According to an agreed statement of facts read in court on Monday, Piché was working at the Sacred Heart Church in Fort Simpson when he developed a friendship with the victim’s parents and made regular visits to their home.
On two of those occasions, in 1981 and 1982, Piché sat next to the victim on their living room couch. The victim was covered by a blanket and Piché admitted he put his hand under the blanket, under the child’s pants and touched the child’s genitalia.
Piché told the victim not to say anything about the incidents, according to the agreed statement of facts.
The victim told the court that the trauma from the incidents resulted in years of anxiety and depression.
“It has held me down for 40 years,” the individual said in a victim impact statement Monday. “This has changed me forever.”
They said that Piché was supposed to teach virtues like goodness and trust but instead made them feel fearful, angry and ashamed. The victim said they learned those virtues on their own and that they’re working hard to be best they can for their family.
The territorial court judge accepted the Crown prosecutor and defence counsel’s joint recommendation of two years in custody followed by two years of probation.
Dehcho Grand Chief Herb Norwegian says that for his communities the sentence brings closure.
“Even though we were hurt we still have heart and a strong spirit and we need to move on with our lives,” he said. “Now it’s all about trying to figure out what would forgiveness mean, and if there’s room for forgiveness.”
Corrections
- An earlier version of this story referred to Piché as a pastor. He was a priest. Oct 24, 2023 7:32 AM CT
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Natalie Pressman is a reporter with CBC North in Yellowknife. Reach her at: natalie.pressman@cbc.ca.