First Nation victims of Ralph Rowe fighting to protect others from sexual abuse
NAN Press Release
PRELIMINARY HEARING TO BEGIN FOR NEW ROWE CHARGES
THUNDER BAY, ON, August 19, 2008: Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) representatives will attend a preliminary hearing for new charges laid against convicted pedophile Ralph Rowe in Kenora this week.
Rowe, a former Anglican minister and Boy Scout master, is currently serving a three-year sentence in a federal penitentiary in British Columbia after being convicted last year of 20 counts of sexual offences involving First Nation boys in northern Ontario between 1977 and 1987. He now faces an additional 15 charges of sexual abuse involving 12 individuals at this week’s preliminary hearing which will begin in Kenora tomorrow and continue through until Thursday.
Rowe worked in at least 18 NAN First Nation communities between 1971 and 1986. He served four and a half years of a six year sentence in 1994 for indecent and sexual assaults involving boys aged 6 to 16.
Several members of the NAN Men’s Healing Initiative (formerly the Ralph Rowe Survivor Network) will be in attendance.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation is a political territorial organization representing 49 First Nation communities in James Bay Treaty 9 and Ontario portions of Treaty 5 – an area covering two thirds of the province of Ontario.
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For more information please contact:
Kristy Hankila
A/Director of Communications
Nishnawbe Aski Nation
(807) 625 4952
(807) 629 1512 mobile