Residential school employee responds to charges

A man charged with abusing boys at an Indian residential school where he worked in northern Saskatchewan has responded saying the allegations are outrageous.

Paul Leroux, a dormitory supervisor at the Beauval Indian Residential School from 1960 to 1967, wrote to the CBCFriday defending himself against allegations of abuse.

"The laying of these copy-cat charges, despite much contradictory evidence, is irresponsible and an outrage," Leroux said.

The Prince Albert RCMP havecharged Leroux with 13 counts of indecent assault.

The victims were male residents of the school between the ages of three to 18 at the time of the alleged offencesand cannot be identified.

Police started their investigation three years ago.

Leroux, who currently lives in Vancouver,said he could not fully respond to the allegations for legal reasons.

Financially difficult to defend himself

"It is difficult to believe that, in this country, a person in his 70s is asked to ruin himself financially to defend so many false charges from half a century ago," he said.

In his email he also responded to his 1998 conviction in Inuvik where he was convicted on nine counts of gross indecency and indecent assault while he was supervisor at Grollier Hall in Inuvik.

"In the aftermath of convictions in Inuvik in 1998, including many wrongful convictions, a good number of former students who had previously said they had never been abused changed their story and filed fraudulent lawsuits in the hope of getting out-of-court settlements that others had received," Leroux said.

He said he has filed a complaint of perjury that was never fully investigated.

He is scheduled to make his first court appearancein provincial court in Beauval on Oct. 19.