Canada
Canada: Retired priest arrested over indecent assault in Manitoba residential school RCMP probe
Winnipeg/IBNS: In a decade-long RCMP investigation, charges have reportedly been laid against Manitoba's retired priest Arthur Masse, 92, in connection with the sexual assault on a 10-year-old girl, who was a student at the Fort Alexander residential school, northeast of Winnipeg.
The alleged assault happened between 1968 and 1970, police said at a news conference Friday morning.
"The victim, in this case, has endured a lot throughout the investigative process and has stood firm in speaking out about what happened to her," RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Paul Manaigre said at a news conference on Friday.
"The most important thing to her, today, is she was heard."
After being arrested by the police at his home in Winnipeg on Thursday, Masse was released with conditions and will appear in court in Powerview on Monday.
The school was attended for about 10 months of the year by the children from nearly two dozen First Nations.
A criminal investigation began in the residential school in 2011.
With more than 80 investigators working on the case, contacting more than 700 people across North America to search for witnesses and victims, the RCMP could obtain 75 witness and victim statements.
(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
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