A teacher’s secret past

Ryan Cooke, CBC News - September 2, 2024


Paul Sheppard’s stories always felt far-fetched to Steacy Easton.

Students would watch Sheppard’s icy, blue eyes light up as he talked about teaching around the world. Flying air force jets. Arresting criminals.

The students sometimes did the mental math, wondering how their teacher, just shy of his 30th birthday, could have lived so many past lives before ending up at their boarding school.

“Nothing seemed plausible and everything seemed plausible, and he did a good job of trying to convince you,” said Easton. “I still don’t know what is true.”

Read More
By Patricia Grell January 9, 2026
Bishop Accountability - December 23, 2025 Brampton, ON - A Catholic priest in Brampton, Ont., has been charged with sexual offences and removed from the ministry, the Archdiocese of Toronto says. It says the man is accused of one count of sexual assault and one count of sexual interference, an offence that applies when the victim is under 16 years old. It says the decision to remove the man from the pastoral ministry was made in accordance with its protocols and procedures relating to allegations of misconduct.
By Patricia Grell September 25, 2025
Free Press - September 23, 2025 Somerset, MB - The Archdiocese of St. Boniface has denied a man’s claims he was sexually abused by one of its priests in rural Manitoba decades ago. The man, who’s in his late 60s, claimed in a lawsuit filed in the Court of King’s Bench earlier this year that he was sexually abused by now-deceased Catholic priest Rene Touchette in the village of Somerset, about 150 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg. In a statement of defence filed in late July, the archdiocese argued the lawsuit should be tossed out — and that the man has provided no proof of the alleged abuse.
More Posts