There was an initial response of outrage Thursday after Paul Leroux was sentenced to just three years in a federal prison.
Leroux, who was a dormitory supervisor at the Beauval Indian Residential School in the 1960’s, was convicted last month of numerous sexual crimes against young boys.
Speaking outside a Battleford courtroom, one of Leroux’s victims, who cannot be named because of publication ban, says he can’t believe the former dorm supervisor got off with such a light sentence after damaging so many lives.
“After hearing today’s sentence, I’m totally disappointed, totally like system is working against us victims,” he says.
The victim adds he is frustrated Leroux will likely be paroled in a few months.
“I feel so totally inadequate, I feel like my life is worthless for what the judge giving him three years, with good behaviour he’ll be out of there by next summer. Well, we have to live with what his has done to us.”
The former dorm supervisor, now 73, has been found guilty of eight counts of indecent assault and two counts of gross indecency.
He has already spent four years in jail for similar sex crimes committed when he was a dorm supervisor at a residential school in Inuvik in the 1970’s.
In handing down his sentence, Justice Murray Acton said a number of factors came into play including Leroux’s age, the fact he has already served prison time and he has not committed any criminal offences since the late 1970’s.
Justice Acton said although he recognizes the severity of Leroux’s crimes and the long-term impact they have had on his victims, no sentence would ever satisfy the suffering and should not be used as a form of retribution.
Prosecutor Mitch Piché says the Crown will likely appeal.