Hubert Patrick O'Connor, OMI (17 February 1928 – 24 July 2007) was a

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prelate who served as Bishop of Prince George from 1986 until his resignation following charges of

sex crimes Sex and the law deals with the regulation by law of human sexual activity. Sex laws vary from one place or jurisdiction to another, and have varied over time. Unlawful sexual acts are called sex crimes. Some laws regarding sexual activity are ...

stemming from his time as principal of Saint Joseph's Mission Residential School in Williams Lake. At the time, he was the highest ranking

official in the world to be charged with a sex crime. He was a member of the

Oblates of Mary Immaculate The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest later recognized as a Catholic saint. The congregation was ...

. O'Connor was tried twice for the alleged sex crimes. The first trial resulted in a stay of proceedings on constitutional grounds, but that decision was set aside on appeal and a new trial ordered by the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

. He was convicted at the second trial on some charges, but the convictions were set aside on appeal by the

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, which ordered a new trial. Before the new trial was held, O'Connor formally apologised to some of his victims in a

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

healing circle in 1998. The victims said that they had received a sense of closure from the healing circle and the apology that they had not received from the criminal trial process. Based on the victims' comments, the Crown prosecution service entered a stay of proceedings to avoid revictimising them at another trial. O'Connor died in 2007. After his death, a new allegation arose that O'Connor had sexually abused a young boy.

Family and early life

O'Connor was born in Huntingdon, Quebec on 17 February 1928. His parents were Patrick O'Connor and Stella Walsh and he had several brothers and sisters.

Church career

O'Connor was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

to the priesthood on 5 June 1955 with the

after studying in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

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. He worked within the church until being sent to Williams Lake as the principal of Saint Joseph's Mission from 1961 to 1967. St. Joseph's Mission was a key component of the Canadian Residential School System. It was during his time at St. Joseph's that O'Connor committed multiple sex crimes against underage

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

girls and boys and raped multiple Indigenous women. On 15 October 1971, O'Connor was appointed Bishop of

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. He then served as the Bishop of Prince George,

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

from 1986 to 1991 before resigning after being charged with multiple sex crimes.

Sexual assault charges

In 1991, several students from the St. Joseph's Mission Residential School in Williams Lake came forward with allegations of

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally Physical intimacy, sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or Coercion, coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their w ...

and sexual indecency while O'Connor was principal between 1964–1967. O'Connor went on trial in 1992, on four counts of sexual offences.''R. v. O'Connor'', 1992 CanLII 15046, 18 CR (4th) 98 (BC SC).
/ref> Eight women

testified Testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. Etymology The words "testimony" and "testify" both derive from the Latin word ''testis'', referring to the notion of a disinterested third-party witness. Law In the law, testimony ...

that O'Connor repeatedly molested, raped, coerced, and physically and sexually abused young Indigenous girls at St. Joseph's Mission. Testimonies revealed that O'Connor also entered into sexual relationships with female staff at St. Joseph's who were in their teens and early 20s. O'Connor targeted the all-female bagpipe and dance band in particular because of their frequent field trips across British Columbia and Canada that left them isolated with O'Connor. One woman testified that during these trips, O'Connor would "crawl into girls' bunks and start kissing them". Incidents such as these led to O'Connor fathering at least one child, who was placed for adoption to avoid public scandal. At trial, the defence raised a constitutional issue, alleging that the

Crown prosecutor Crown prosecutor is the title given in a number of jurisdictions to the state prosecutor, the legal party responsible for presenting the case against an individual in a criminal trial. The title is commonly used in Commonwealth realms. Examples * ...

s had failed to disclose evidence to the defence. After hearing submissions from Crown and defence, the trial judge agreed that the Crown had infringed O'Connor's constitutional right to full disclosure, and entered a stay of proceedings. The Crown appealed from that decision. In 1994, the

unanimously allowed the Crown's appeal and ordered a retrial. O'Connor appealed to the

, but in 1995 the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the British Columbia Court of Appeal and confirmed the order for a new trial, in '' R v O'Connor''. At the second trial, in 1996, O'Connor was acquitted on two of the charges, but convicted of

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

and

indecent assault Indecent assault is an offence of aggravated assault in some common law-based jurisdictions. It is characterised as a sex crime and has significant overlap with offences referred to as sexual assault. England and Wales Indecent assault was a broa ...

of two young Indigenous women that occurred at St. Joseph's Residential School. Justice

Wally Oppal Wallace Taroo "Wally" Oppal, (born 1940) is a Canadian lawyer, former judge and provincial politician. Between 2005 and 2009, he served as British Columbia's Attorney General and Minister responsible for Multiculturalism, as well as Member of ...

sentenced O'Connor to two-and-a-half years in prison; he served six months of his sentence before being released on $1,000

bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Court bail may be offered to secure the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when ...

pending an

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

in 1997. In March 1998, the B.C. Court of Appeal

acquitted In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal means that the criminal prosecution has failed to prove that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charge presented. It certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an o ...

O'Connor on the charge of indecent assault, and ordered a new trial on one count of rape. However, three months later, in June, O'Connor participated in a seven-hour healing circle held at Esk'etemc, a Secwepemc

community near Williams Lake (formerly known as Alkali Lake Band). During the healing circle, O'Connor formally apologized to his victims. The victims later reported a sense of closure they had not found in the prior trials. The Crown, having considered the impact of O'Connor's apology and the extent to which the trials had retraumatized his victims, decided to drop the remaining rape charge.

Death and subsequent allegation

O'Connor died suddenly of a heart attack in Toronto on 24 July 2007. In July 2021, a new sexual assault allegation against the now-deceased O'Connor surfaced. Ronald Wayne Petruk filed a suit with the Supreme Court of B.C. stating that O'Connor sexually assaulted Petruk and other teen boys with fellow priests at St. Joseph's Mission. The suit was ongoing of 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Hubert Patrick 1928 births 2007 deaths Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals in Canada 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Canada Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate Roman Catholic bishops of Prince George Roman Catholic bishops of Whitehorse Sexual abuse of women in the Catholic Church Canadian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Canada