Woman speaking out to shed burden after priest charged with sexually assaulting her 50 years ago

WARNING: This story accommodates distressing particulars.

It is a face that Victoria McIntosh labored so exhausting to dam from her thoughts — Father Arthur Masse.

The retired priest is now going through a cost of sexually assaulting McIntosh greater than 50 years in the past, when she was simply 10 years outdated and a scholar on the Fort Alexander residential faculty in Sagkeeng First Nation, in jap Manitoba. 

“I do not forget that smile,” mentioned McIntosh. “At first, he was good.… He was gentle in his mannerism, however on the identical time he jogged my memory of a snake —he would simply slither.”

McIntosh, 63, is talking out for the primary time about what occurred to her greater than 50 years in the past. She says she’s uninterested in maintaining it a secret and dwelling with the disgrace of what occurred. 

“After I acquired older, I simply put it away — I put it away in my thoughts. I did not wish to give it some thought. I did not wish to take into consideration a variety of the opposite issues that I witnessed there, as a result of I felt responsible.” 

Masse was charged final week with indecent assault of a kid who was 10 on the time. RCMP say the abuse occurred between 1968 and 1970.

RCMP didn’t determine the woman, however McIntosh says it was her.

She says she remembers Masse all the time ready outdoors the woman’s toilet, which is without doubt one of the areas of the varsity the place she alleges she was assaulted.

“I assumed, ‘Nicely, if I’m going to the washroom once I must go to the washroom, I hope he is not in there.'”

One other residential faculty survivor, who contacted RCMP after listening to in regards to the cost towards Masse, alleges she too was assaulted by the priest when he took her to the washroom.

Since final week’s announcement, RCMP say others have come ahead with new allegations of assault. They might not say what number of, or specify which colleges the complainants have been pressured to attend.

In line with data held by the Nationwide Centre for Reality and Reconciliation, Masse taught at three Manitoba residential colleges: Pine Creek, from 1960 to 1966, Fort Alexander from 1966 to 1969 and Brandon from 1970 to 1971.

McIntosh says as a younger woman, she did not perceive why she was sexually assaulted, and thought it needed to have one thing to do together with her abuser being a priest. 

“‘What gave you the suitable? Since you … speak for God? That is what I assumed as a child — he speaks for God and I should not say something,” mentioned McIntosh. 

When she was 12 years outdated, she moved together with her household to Pink Lake, Ont., however her time at Fort Alexander residential faculty continued to hang-out her. 

“I’d have nightmares a couple of face, seeing a face, and I’d get up,” McIntosh mentioned. “The final reminiscence I had … was him coming at me.”

In her teen years, McIntosh says she developed suicidal tendencies and alienated herself from these round her. She developed an consuming dysfunction and began chopping herself. 

Masse is now 92, however his age should not be an element, McIntosh says.

“Somebody must be accountable.… Why ought to that 10-year-old carry it?”

10-year investigation 

Police arrested Masse at his dwelling in Winnipeg final week, following a decade-long investigation. He was launched with situations and can seem in courtroom in Powerview, Man., on July 20.

RCMP say allegations of sexual abuse on the faculty have been first dropped at their consideration in 2010, and so they launched a legal investigation a yr later. 

Greater than 80 officers have been a part of the investigation, chatting with over 700 individuals throughout North America and gathering 75 witness and sufferer statements, RCMP say. 

“The query could also be requested: ‘Why with all this work was there one cost laid?” Manitoba RCMP Sgt. Paul Manaigre mentioned at a information convention final week.

“Sadly, because of the passage of time, most of the victims are usually not in a position to take part within the investigation, whether or not that be for psychological or bodily well being causes or as a result of the sufferer is now deceased.” 

McIntosh says except for telling a couple of members of the family, she had principally stored what occurred to her a secret, till police approached her in 2013.

“I needed to study to belief them and say, ‘OK, please do not betray me,'” she mentioned. “Simply hear what I’ve to say, and that is all I wished. No matter was going to occur … all I wished was to be heard.”

‘It takes simply 1 individual to make the path’ 

After carrying the burden of her secret for many years, McIntosh says she’s lastly able to shed the disgrace of what occurred to her. 

“What actually set step one for me was my grandkids, particularly my granddaughters,” mentioned McIntosh. 

“I checked out her, and [thought], I would not know the best way to react if any individual did this to her.”

McIntosh is from the Turtle Clan, and says a narrative her grandmother informed her explains why she is now coming ahead together with her story. 

“We have been taking a look at this large big turtle crossing the highway, and he or she mentioned in our language, ‘That turtle makes [the] means … [so] that you do not have to be scared anymore — you do not have to be nervous. We lived the exhausting half already,” mentioned McIntosh.

“It takes only one individual to make the path.” 

Now, when McIntosh talks about her expertise at Fort Alexander residential faculty, she retains the jacket she wore on her first day close by.

However that jacket by no means truly made it into the varsity together with her. 

She remembers a nun assembly her on the entrance when her mom introduced her to the varsity. 

“She mentioned to my mother, ‘We’ll handle your children now,’ and I keep in mind her saying, ‘Oh, sauvages,'” mentioned McIntosh.

The nun took off McIntosh’s jacket and threw it to her mother, who then held onto it for years, she mentioned. It was solely when the jacket got here again to her that she informed her mom what occurred. 

“All I mentioned to her was, ‘It is not your fault,’ and all that animosity — after all I used to be offended with my mother, nevertheless it went [away] proper there,” mentioned McIntosh. 

“I mentioned, ‘I wish to get to know you once more, as a result of this intergenerational trauma, it is actual.'” 

She hopes the remainder of Sagkeeng First Nation can begin to heal, identical to she and her mother did. 

“After I take a look at the image of the residential faculty … it seems like an enormous field of ugly secrets and techniques. That is what I see, and now it is falling down.”

Help is on the market for anybody affected by their expertise at residential colleges or by the newest experiences.

A nationwide Indian Residential Faculty Disaster Line has been set as much as present assist for former college students and people affected. Individuals can entry emotional and disaster referral companies by calling the 24-hour nationwide disaster line: 1-866-925-4419.