Ex-teacher, retired priest named in separate lawsuits involving historical sex crime accusations

A former teacher and a retired priest, who both were previously brought before Manitoba criminal courts on sex crime charges, have been accused in separate lawsuits over historical sexual abuse allegations.

Retired Catholic priest Arthur Masse and former teacher Kenneth MacKinnon Mealey have been accused of sex assaults in lawsuits recently filed in the Court of King’s Bench by a Vancouver law firm that specializes in alleged sex abuse cases, Prezler Law.

Masse was acquitted in 2023 of a charge of indecent assault, which was alleged to have occurred on a schoolgirl more than 50 years ago at Fort Alexander Residential School. He was 93 at the time of his acquittal.

It’s unclear whether he’s still alive. The lawsuit names the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Winnipeg, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate — a religious order of which Masse was a member — and its administrative non-profit, OMI Lacombe, as defendants, but not Masse himself.

The lawsuit alleges Masse was a priest at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Duck Bay when, around 1990-91, he repeatedly sexually assaulted the plaintiff.

The plaintiff was around nine or 10, the court papers say, and was an altar boy at the church.

The sex assaults, the court papers allege, occurred “on a repeated basis, increasing in frequency, nature and intensity as time progressed.”

The defendants, the lawsuit alleges, failed in their duties to prevent Masse from sexually abusing the plaintiff.

The plaintiff alleges he’s suffered lasting emotional and mental pain, as a result.

None of the defendants have responded to the lawsuit in court.

Mealey, a former teacher at St. John’s Cathedral Boys’ School in Selkirk, was convicted more than 20 years ago of sexually assaulting several boys at the Anglican private school.

The school — known for its harsh discipline and physically gruelling outdoor exercises — closed more than 30 years ago.

The lawsuit against Mealey, which also names the Anglican Diocese of Rupert’s Land as a defendant, was filed by a man who was once a student at St. John’s.

He alleges that Mealey used his position of power to prey upon and sexually assault the plaintiff in 1982.

“Mealey sexually assaulted the plaintiff in the dormitories of the school where the plaintiff was living and where the plaintiff slept,” the court filing alleges.

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The plaintiff claims to have suffered mentally and emotionally throughout his life as a result of the abuse.

The diocese is accused of knowing of Mealey’s alleged sexual assaults and failing to take action to stop the abuse from occurring.

In response to a prior court action over Mealey’s abuse, the diocese’s bishop said in 2020 the school was privately run and was not affiliated with the diocese.

Neither Mealey nor the diocese have responded to the lawsuit in court.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.