Died 24 July 2007 | ||
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.
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Church career
He was ordained to the priesthood in 1955, and became a member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. He worked mainly with aboriginal communities in British Columbia, including being principal of the residential school, St Joseph's Mission at Williams Lake. He became bishop of Whitehorse in Yukon in 1971. In 1986, he was named bishop of Prince George and he resigned in 1991.
Abuse affair
He was convicted in 1996 of committing rape and indecent assault on two young aboriginal women during the 1960s when he was a priest. 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.
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.