Allegation of early abuse at Hidden Valley Elementary School “dealt with internally”, Yukon RCMP timeline

[ad_1]

The Yukon RCMP have not been made aware of a “worrying” incident during the 2015-2016 school year involving an educational assistant at Hidden Valley Elementary School in Whitehorse, who has since been charged with abuse alleged sexual intercourse on two other children, according to a police calendar.

Instead, the incident was “managed internally by the school”.

Yukon RCMP Chief Superintendent Scott Sheppard presented the schedule to parents at the Hidden Valley school in a private meeting, also attended by education officials, on November 9.

The parents as well as a spokesperson for the Department of Education have since shared Sheppard’s speaking notes with the CBC.

The timeline begins in November 2019, when police were first informed of the sexual abuse of a student at the hands of educational assistant William Auclair-Bellemare.

The victim’s parent informed school officials of the abuse, which had occurred a week earlier, on November 17, 2019. Officials informed Family and Children’s Services, which they said. tour informed the RCMP.

Auclair-Bellemare went to school the next morning but was immediately sent home and never returned.

Police met with “school authorities” on November 19, 2019, the timeline continues and they were “then told that a year ago there had been a disturbing incident observed by the school involving the first victim” and Auclair -Bellemare who has not been reported to the police.

However, the RCMP learned a year and a half later that the incident had in fact involved another child, which led to the identification of two more alleged victims.

Parent came forward after CBC story

The discovery came after the CBC reported on a lawsuit filed by the 2019 victim on July 16.

According to the timeline, police received a report from a parent the next day stating that “the incident the teacher spoke about in November 2019 actually took place with their child in the 2015-16 school year – not the same victim who was reported to the police by the school.

“At the time of this incident, the parent indicated that he had met the school which informed him that the incident had been handled internally by the school,” the timeline reads.

“It was as a result of this new information, the police realized that other victims were involved and confirmed the identification of a new victim, not the same victim as the first victim.”

Auclair-Bellemare, who had pleaded guilty and was convicted of one count of sexual interference with the victim in 2019, was arrested again on September 9 for the alleged abuse of two other children between 2014 and 2018 – including the child involved in the 2015-16 “incident”.

Police re-interviewed the teacher about a week later, according to the timeline, which confirmed “that the incident in previous years had not happened with the same” victim identified in 2019, but “was in fact a child. different”.

The timeline reiterates that “the incident was handled internally by the school”.

Auclair-Bellemare has yet to plead or stand trial on the new charges.

The family of a third child also filed a complaint against Auclair-Bellemare, the Ministry of Education and the police, also alleging sexual abuse.

In an email to the CBC, Education Department spokesperson Clarissa Wall wrote that the department “is reviewing the information and timelines provided and … will respond to it in more detail soon.”

She also wrote that the ministry would respond to “all parenting questions” raised at the November 9 meeting by November 23.

The Yukon RCMP previously declined to comment on the schedule, citing pending court cases. The force has launched a review of its investigation and will produce a final report on the findings, which Wall said police would be “provided in the coming weeks.”

[ad_2]