Hubert Patrick O'Connor

Hubert Patrick O'Connor (1928 — 24 July 2007) was a Canadian Roman Catholic bishop of Prince George in British Columbia who was forced to resign following sex abuse charges being filed against him.

Church career

O'Connor was ordained to the priesthood in 1955. He became a member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and worked mainly with Indigenous communities in British Columbia. He served as principal of the Williams Lake Indian Residential School during the 1960s.[1] He became bishop of Whitehorse in Yukon in 1971 and was named bishop of Prince George in 1986.[2] He resigned from his position in Prince George in 1991 after being charged with sexual assaults.[1]

Sexual assault charges

He was convicted in 1996 of committing rape and indecent assault on two young aboriginal women during the 1960s when he was a priest.[1] He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison by Justice Wally Oppal, who later became British Columbia's Attorney General from June 16, 2005 to June 10, 2009. After serving six months, the disgraced clergyman was released on $1,000 bail pending an appeal. The B.C. Court of Appeal later acquitted him of the assault and ordered a new trial on the rape charge.[3]

The Crown later dropped the rape charge when O'Connor participated in a seven-hour healing circle in Alkali Lake, a small native village near Williams Lake.[3]

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References
  1. "B.C. bishop guilty of sex assaults on 2 students". Toronto Star. Canadian Press. 26 July 1996. p. A2.
  2. "Death of Most Reverend Hubert O'Connor, O.M.I." Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. 25 July 2007.
  3. Hawthorn, Tom (27 July 2007). "Disgraced B.C. bishop dead of heart attack". Globe and Mail. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
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