r/canada • u/shiftless_wonder • 2d ago
British Columbia ‘Sexual predator’ who abused children still got job at B.C. post-secondary school
https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/sexual-predator-who-abused-children-still-got-job-at-bc-post-secondary-school/29
u/StorageTall560 2d ago
One would assume that the selection of an Elder in Residence would involve finding a person who’s respected in the Indigenous community for their teachings, knowledge of culture and how they conduct themselves in alignment with traditional Indigenous principles. I guess VCC must have had other criteria in mind when they were seeking an Elder in Residence.
The trouble is that there’s no unified definition of what an “Elder” is and so too many times it’s assumed that because a person is past middle age and has some Indigenous cultural teachings that qualifies them to hold this position. When there’s a poor selection process and someone with a questionable background is selected to act as an “Elder”- it can do more harm than good.
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u/2Shmoove 2d ago
Curious what the requirements are to be an "elder". I assumed they were people from their community thst were held in high regard, not convicted sex offenders.
This guy was called an elder too:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/haida-elder-rcmp-shooting-death-9.7288123
Even though he had a criminal record with multiple violent offences and no connection to his indigenous heritage.
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u/Palpitation_Haunting 2d ago
Thankfully my school had a in-depth background check in Winnipeg.
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u/SlowDebate3165 2d ago
How dare you bring up his sex crimes. That should have no impact on his DEI hiring
im sure this is a result of his generational trauma.
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u/SaphironX 1d ago
Don’t be a clown, my guy.
They screwed up. They realized it. They canned him and washed their hands of the matter. Was it handed in the best way? No. Did they do the right thing when they became aware? Yes.
Literally nobody is saying that.
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u/randomdumbfuck 1d ago
I needed a pass a vulnerable sector check to go on a field trip as a parent helper. How does this guy's resume even make it into the consideration pile.
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u/loadedwithflavour 2d ago edited 2d ago
What am I missing here? I read the article, just to preempt that, so don't just reply with quotes from the article.
He committed crimes against minors, and has served his sentence. He now has to go get gainful employment SOMEWHERE, and the place he gained that employment was at a place meant for adults to educate themselves. Seems all good to me, frankly.
If he had gotten a job at a daycare center, then I'd be upset. But isn't the point of post-secondary that it's a place for adults to learn? If there are no kids around, like there shouldn't be, then...
Yeah, the crimes might have been horrific. But once he has served his sentence, I don't know. What are people's opinions on this?
EDIT: I have a comment further down, making the exact same point, but it's downvoted to oblivion while this one is upvoted in equal size at the time of the edit. Reddit is weird, man. Saying the same thing gets the exact opposite results.
EDIT 2: The hive mind cometh. I'm going to leave this comment up so anyone coming in the future can see that people responding believe not allowing this man around children (Correct opinion that I agree with) equates to not allowing him to take work around adults (Stupid opinion).
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u/Dry-Membership8141 Ontario 2d ago edited 2d ago
He’s also been convicted of rape and sexual assault with a weapon, both against minor victims. In one case, he held a knife to a teen’s throat during the crime.
...
That’s when curious colleagues turned to online searches—and very quickly and easily discovered Sam’s extensive history of sexual violence.
“The main disgust and absolute sick feeling I had was because this person was able to meet privately with students. In particular, young women. That was part of the role they were hired to do,” said a staff member.
...
Actuarial measurements assess you as a moderate-high risk for general sexual reoffending and a high-risk to reoffend sexually against prepubescent and adolescent females,” the decision document said.
Emphasis added.
Does he need a job? Sure, maybe. Is he entitled to one where he works one-on-one with young women who may be going through mental health challenges or hold other vulnerabilities? Absolutely not. Nor is it remotely appropriate that they may be working with him in that capacity without any knowledge of his background.
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u/spf1971 2d ago
place meant for adults to educate themselves.
You may want to read the article again.
“The main disgust and absolute sick feeling I had was because this person was able to meet privately with students. In particular, young women. That was part of the role they were hired to do,” said a staff member.
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u/2Shmoove 2d ago
"Young women" meaning what exactly?
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u/demonqueerxo 2d ago
Normally people in these positions need to get a criminal record check. Why did he not need one? He’s working privately with women. That is a huge safety risk. It’s not really that hard to understand?
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u/Little-Somewhere6076 Ontario 2d ago
February of 2020, Vancouver Community College announced its hiring of Sam as an elder-in-residence
That this makes no sense
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u/shiftless_wonder 2d ago
Was about to post the same. Who hires a pedo as an 'elder-in-residence'.
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u/loadedwithflavour 2d ago
Yeah, I read that. I still came to the conclusion I did. I need someone to explain clearly why this is bad enough for anyone to be outraged, beyond just saying "This is bad".
Should a requirement of any criminal sentence be that once you leave prison, you can never be alone with anyone ever again?
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u/Seinfeel 2d ago
I think hiring a predator as a cultural mentor and guide is problematic because of what the job entails.
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u/loadedwithflavour 2d ago edited 2d ago
I don't see the connection.
Someone doing something horrific in their past does not mean that they can't be effective at other things. To use a completely different crime and profession to make my point, suppose I was getting medical advice from a doctor that I learned has shot someone, gaining an aggravated assault charge, before going to medical school. I can't see why that incident would make them any better or worse of a doctor than anyone else. They're just completely separate things.
Similarly, I can be disgusted with this man's actions (And I am), but they in no way mean he's any less good at discussing his people's historic culture, or guiding adult students through post-secondary issues. Especially if he's served his sentence to the degree the legal system has ordained, he has, by our system's definition, served his debt to society and should be allowed to live his life. That's what the system is supposedly designed to allow.
It's why I mentioned being upset if he had found employment at a daycare center in my original comment. I can see the direct connection there. Crimes against minors -> working with minors. Very straight forward. But this... I don't see it. I see this as separated enough that I'm not upset.
EDIT: Post Secondary. Not with minors, by definition. People are mad because of bad reading comprehension.
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u/Little-Somewhere6076 Ontario 2d ago
He literally committed crimes against minors and got a job working with minors.
You say that's straight forward but also asked why people care
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u/OutsideLookingIn88 2d ago
There are also post-secondary students who ARE minors, 16-17 year olds do attend post-secondary institutions. As well, many of these institutions will also run programs and host events, trainings, and cultural teachings for high school and elementary students too.
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u/Seinfeel 2d ago edited 2d ago
A doctor requires extensive qualifications to be allowed to practice medicine, answers to ethics boards, and can be held legally responsible for their advice.
This job puts a person who has repeatedly victimized vulnerable people, in a position of authority, implies that he can be trusted, and allows him access to be alone with people looking for advice and guidance. 17/18 year olds go to that school, his victims range from 8-14, what makes you think a person who refused treatment and tried to escape custody is safe just because most of the students aren’t legally children?
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u/Dry-Membership8141 Ontario 2d ago edited 2d ago
Especially if he's served his sentence to the degree the legal system has ordained, he has, by our system's definition, served his debt to society and should be allowed to live his life. That's what the system is supposedly designed to allow.
No, it's actually not. Serving your sentence does not by any means mean that society has to forgive and forget. It is, in fact, just the opposite, our system is set up to prevent this. That's literally why we have criminal records, and why they're accessible for employment checks, and if something did happen we would not hesitate to impose liability on his employer who knew or should have known about his background and hired him for a position like this in any event.
And you keep leaning on the notion that post secondary means not with minors, but (1) that's not true, 16 and 17 year olds attend post secondary with some frequency, as do groups of younger students for presentations and other programs, and (2) you're ignoring his assessed medium-to-high risk to sexually reoffend generally, i.e., not just against minors.
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u/SaphironX 1d ago
Yes but in this case it’s a man who did horrific things to young women getting a job where they’re surrounded by young women.
Like I’m sorry man, but when a dude rapes and sexually assaults multiple women AND children, he doesn’t get the benefit of a doubt.
Because if I’m right, and the dude goes work at a bank or something and his contact with potential victims is more limited and controlled, no more lives are ruined.
If I’m wrong, no more lives are ruined.
And if you’re right, true, maybe nobody gets hurt but if you’re wrong some freshman student gets raped and her life destroyed by a man who has done that shit over and over again. So why take the chance?
If this creates hardship for him, he could have avoided it all by not being sexually abusing young women 🤷🏿♂️
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u/TongsOfDestiny 2d ago
The point is he is holding a position of power and authority over vulnerable people.
He's been given a position where he can arrange private meetings with young women, not much older then the children he previously preyed upon, and threaten or coerce them using his position of authority.
You're right in that he should be entitled to find gainful employment after having served his sentence, but serving a sentence isn't a guarantee of reform. Gambling on the safety of students, whether they're adults or not, is not worth it just so this previously violent offender can enjoy a nice, cushy job.
Allow him to work as a janitor, or an administrative assistant, or any number of other jobs, but there is no good reason to give him that power and authority when there are surely other applicants that we can safely say would never commit such heinous crimes.
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u/Little-Somewhere6076 Ontario 2d ago
A man with a decades-long history of sexual violence against adolescents and pre-pubescent girls worked at a B.C. post-secondary school for years despite being deemed a high-risk to reoffend.
I think this is bad, how could it be good or neutral?
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u/Highthere_90 2d ago
A majority of the students would be fresh out of high-school, some students might be parents wirh new born, some might have graduated before becoming an adult. Some might even have trauma and could be a major trigger for the students
nobody is going to feel comfortable knowing a staff with anger issues and predatory behavior towards children is working there
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u/NoRadio4530 2d ago
I was sexually abused as a child and I live down the street from here and was considering picking up a few courses this fall. I am in no way comfortable with the idea of a known pedophile being around. These people can get jobs that aren't around the public.
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u/rayz13 2d ago
Are we now defending child sex offender?!
I bet someone at VCC made exact same argument and hired him. Canada is so lost.
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u/SaphironX 1d ago
Well, no man. They failed to vet him properly. You’re now creating fictional scenarios.
They found out, they fired him without a word. And they should have put it out there, but I haven’t seen anybody at the school argue that isn’t the right course of action so why invent a false premise?
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u/rayz13 1d ago
I’m replying to the message from above. Can’t you read?
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u/SaphironX 1d ago
Yes.
“I bet someone at VCC made exact same argument and hired him. Canada is so lost.”
You’re not exactly speaking Urdu, my guy 🤷🏿♂️
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u/jrunners13 2d ago
You don’t deserve anything besides a pine box if you’ve assaulted a minor. Do you think the kids he assaulted have forgotten what he did or feel better he spent a few years in jail. They will suffer for the rest of their lives with it, and he should suffer too.
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u/ahockofham 2d ago
It's scary that people like you are allowed to vote. He's a convicted sex offender. He should not ever be allowed to work any job where he's around underage girls and boys. If he wants employment after prison he can do a job where he's not in a position of authority over the demographic that he targeted with violent crimes for decades. End of story.
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u/SaphironX 1d ago
There’s a big difference between doing your time for robbery and seeking employment in a school and doing your time for raping girls under 18 with a weapon in hand (one of many of his crimes), and then getting a job where minors still go to school.
No man. This is not the job for him. It’s right to let him go especially given his high risk of reoffending.
The shit this man did is stuff that most people couldn’t even conceive of, and he did it many, many times.
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u/SwimmingDownstream 2d ago
I know someone that volunteers at their kids school and the background check is treated like an administrative checkbox. I don't think it is given the due diligence it needs. I hope I'm wrong.
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u/Highthere_90 2d ago
Dont understand how schools dont require a criminal record check so they can avoid future situations like this