Glen Korstrom

Leroux Found Guilty of Molesting Residential-School Boys

"There is no evidence of force or threats to compel students into sexual activity," Northwest Territories Supreme Court Justice John Vertes said in delivering his verdict in an Inuvik courtroom.

During a hearing to help Vertes decide on the sentence, Toronto paedophilia expert Dr. Peter Collins explained the significance of material found in a child-pornoraphy seizure at Leroux's Vancouver apartment in March 1997. Most of the photos were downloaded from Internet news groups, where Leroux went to find pictures of teens, boys, and boys' feet.

"We call it partialism [to focus] on certain parts of a child's body," Collins said before explaining that many photos posted on that news group might be innocent and legal. "What they're really doing is looking for erotica."

Collins also suggested that the existence of such movies as Lord of the Flies and The Last Emperor in Leroux's home suggested that he still has paedophiliac tendencies, even though there was no evidence that he has reoffended since leaving Grollier Hall in 1979.

Defence lawyer Jim Brydon ridiculed the police seizures of classic mainstream movies. Under cross-examination, Collins admitted that Vancouver police had contacted some of Leroux's former male adult lovers and asked questions about their involvement with him.

"[Police] embarassed a lot of people," Brydon said. He also said that some of those partners were raised in traditional Asian cultures and were still living with parents who were unaware of their offspring's sexual orientation until the police arrived.

Vancouver police media-liaison officer Const. Anne Drennan said she was unaware of such interviews, but said it did not sound unusual. "If [police] found a list of names and were unclear as to who these people were or what their involvement might have been with the suspect, then it's quite logical, I think, to interview these people," Drennan said.