A 97-year-old Ottawa woman is facing charges involving sexual assault allegations at northern Ontario residential and day schools in the 1960s and 70s.
Ontario Provincial Police said in a release that the offences allegedly took place in “residential and day schools” in Fort Albany and Moosonee, communities on the shore of Hudson’s Bay, about 900 kilometres north of Ottawa.
Alleged offences also occurred at a detention facility in Sudbury, police said.
The accused, Francoise Seguin, was a nun with the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa who worked at St. Anne’s Indian Residential School in Fort Albany between 1958 and 1968, according to media reports.
Seguin’s name appears on a list of nuns who worked at St. Anne’s, which the sisters provided the OPP in 1994 after the force opened a probe into sexual and physical abuse allegations at the institution.
“Four former staff members have been convicted on charges that include indecent assault, assault causing bodily harm, assault and administering a noxious substance,” the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation said about St. Anne’s.
The most recent allegations have not been proven in court.
An OPP spokesperson said Françoise Séguin, 97, of Ottawa, had been given a summons to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice at Moosonee on Dec. 5.
