‘I knew something disgusting had happened to me’

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This article was published 27/06/2024 (436 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A woman was seeking relief for severe abdominal pain following surgery for an ovarian cyst when she visited Dr. Arcel Bissonnette for the first time at his Ste. Anne, Man. medical clinic in August 2001.

Instead, under the guise of medical treatment, Bissonnette sexually assaulted her, repeatedly inserting his fingers in and out of her vagina and rectum, with no explanation.

“I found myself in the most vulnerable position that a woman can ever find herself in, which is to be fully naked in a small room with a man I had never met,” the woman told court Thursday, reading from a prepared victim impact statement. “I had no choice because I needed urgent medical attention.

“It should have been a safe place, instead I discovered a doctor’s examination room can be a place where a professional abuses his power, abuses my body and where he breaks his professional vows to do no harm and put the patient first.”

Bissonnette, 64, was convicted after trial last year of sexually assaulting the woman and four other patients during medical examinations between 2001 and 2017. He pleaded guilty in February to sexually assaulting two more patients in 2005 and 2011. Bissonnette admitted his actions in those two cases were without each woman’s consent and violated their “sexual integrity,” but said they were not committed for his own sexual gratification.

Prosecutors Thursday urged King’s Bench Justice Sadie Bond to sentence Bissonnette to 18 years in prison.

“Arcel Bissonnette enjoyed the position of being a doctor in the small community of Ste. Anne,” Crown attorney Renee Lagimodiere told Bond. “Along with that privilege came the unquestioning trust of the patients who saw him for medical appointments. Under the guise of medical examination, he breached that trust in the most egregious of ways.”

At trial, the five women testified about examinations that included pelvic exams in which Bissonnette repeatedly inserted and removed his fingers from their vaginas, pelvirectal exams involving the simultaneous insertion of fingers into the rectum and vagina for which Bissonnette provided no explanation or warning, and unnecessary breast exams.

Three of the women testified they saw or may have seen Bissonnette with an erection during or following the examinations.

One victim had been Bissonnette’s patient since she was a child, another had been a patient since he delivered her as a baby.

All five victims who testified at trial said they came forward after learning he had been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting six other women.

“I knew something disgusting had happened to me,” the woman who visited him with abdominal pain told court. “I tried to pretend it never happened” until reading about Bissonnette’s arrest.

“It should have been a safe place.”–Victim

“I then faced a terrible dilemma — continue to remain silent and risk him continuing to get away with the terrible things or come forward and face a gruelling legal process and having to recount my disgusting experience to multiple people in great detail while having my honesty and integrity questioned on every detail,” she said. “Ultimately my conscience pushed me to come forward.”

The victim said her experience has left her unable to trust medical professionals, especially when they are men.

“How can I ever trust another doctor again?” she said. “If you are not even safe in a doctor’s office, can you ever feel safe anywhere?”

Another victim said she met Bissonnette for the first time when she visited the emergency room of the Ste. Anne Hospital with a concern about her pregnancy. At Bissonnette’s suggestion, she visited him for a followup appointment, at which time Bissonnette rubbed her labia with lubricant before inserting his finger in and out of her vagina.

The woman told court she left the medical clinic feeling “horrified and in shock.”

“I was at an incredibly vulnerable stage in my life knowing I had a condition with my reproductive organs and a history of infertility and pregnancy loss,” the victim said. “I put myself and my unborn child in the care of a professional. Looking back now, it feels as if a weakness was seen within me and taken advantage of. My vulnerability was taken advantage of.”

Court heard Bissonnette assaulted another woman and was seen leaving an examination room with an erection at a time he knew she was grieving the loss of her husband.

At trial, Bissonnette denied any wrongdoing, testifying the examinations did not occur as the victims testified or that the examinations were “medically indicated” and consistent with his training.

A psychiatric report filed by the defence concluded Bissonnette is a low risk to reoffend, but shows a “lack of insight” and a “minimization of his conduct.”

“I knew something disgusting had happened to me. I tried to pretend it never happened.”–Victim

While that is not unusual for an untreated sex offender, it is “concerning” Bissonnette continues to maintain he did nothing wrong after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting two women, Lagimodiere said.

“He continues to deny or diminish the extent of the assaults he was convicted of,” Lagimodiere said.

Bissonnette was suspended from practising upon his arrest in 2020 and was stripped of his medical licence following his conviction last year.

Defence lawyers Josh Weinstein and Lisa LaBossiere argued Bissonnette should be sentenced to nine years in prison, citing his age, lack of prior record, and prospect for rehabilitation.

“Nine years is not a short sentence, it is almost double digits in a penitentiary,” LaBossiere said. “It is not an insignificant sentence.”

The defence lawyers argued the stigma and loss of status Bissonnette has suffered can be considered as punishment justifying a reduction in his sentence.

Bissonnette, who attended court accompanied by his wife, declined an opportunity to address court.

Bond will sentence Bissonnette on Aug 29. Bissonnette remains free on bail.

Bissonnette was initially charged in November 2020 with sexually assaulting six patients. More women stepped forward and he was ultimately charged with assaulting 22 patients between 2001 and 2017.

“He continues to deny or diminish the extent of the assaults he was convicted of.”–Crown attorney Renee Lagimodiere

A trial involving six alleged victims in 2022 ended with all charges stayed after prosecutors said late disclosure in the case left them with no reasonable likelihood of conviction.

Earlier at that trial, it was revealed the local police department lost key evidence in its investigation of the allegations — its own notebooks.

Charges involving another alleged victim were stayed in advance of his second trial.

A third trial involving 10 alleged victims was set for last February, but was cancelled after Bissonnette pleaded guilty to assaulting two of the women.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter

Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.

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