Manitoba: Doctor convicted of sexually harassing patients

In tears, several women who were sexually abused by a Manitoba doctor told the court how they were taken advantage of by someone they trusted and how they were left disgusted and broken.

Arcel Bissonnette sat quietly in the gallery of a Manitoba courtroom during his sentencing Thursday, taking notes as some of the women he sexually abused described to the court the impact his actions had on them.

“I felt like my soul was broken,” one woman said tearfully as she gave a victim impact statement.

“I have spent countless hours in therapy and for the life of me, I cannot get over the events that took place during the attack and in the years that followed.”

Back in 2020, the 64-year-old man was accused of sexual assault on 22 occasions – all of which are said to have taken place while Bissonnette was working as a family doctor at Ste. Anne Hospital and Seine Medical Centre.

In the meantime, all charges except seven have been suspended by the public prosecutor.

Bissonnette was found guilty of five counts of sexual assault following his trial last year. He later pleaded guilty to two more counts. The court heard that Bissonnette sexually assaulted these seven women during medical examinations between 2001 and 2017.

One of the women who was in Bissonette’s exam room in 2001 said she felt vulnerable but desperately needed medical attention.

“Despite my discomfort and vulnerability, I believed it was a safe place. It should have been a safe place,” she said. “I knew something horrible had happened to me at that appointment, but I just couldn’t comprehend that a doctor in a small-town clinic where everyone knows him could do something so abusive.”

Prosecutor Renee Lagimodiere told the court that Bissonnette enjoyed the privilege of being a doctor in a small rural community and enjoyed the unconditional trust of his patients.

“Under the pretext of medical examinations, he abused that trust in the most outrageous way,” she said.

The prosecution has asked the court for an 18-year prison sentence and a lifetime registration on the sex offenders’ register. Lagimodiere referred to Bissonnette’s position of power and authority over his patients.

“Instead of providing the victims with the medical care they desired, the perpetrator touched them in a way that violated their sexual integrity,” she said. “The impact of his crime on each of the victims is significant. His crime also had an egregious impact on society.”

His defense attorneys argued that 18 years was unreasonably long, harsh and devastating, and asked for a nine-year sentence instead. They said there were several “mitigating circumstances” such as his advanced age, his lack of any criminal record, the support of his family and friends, and his “good character.”

“The fact that he has the support of his family and friends, I think, is a good sign for the prospects of rehabilitation,” argued Josh Weinstein, one of his defense attorneys.

Defense attorney Lisa LaBossiere also pointed to a forensic psychologist’s report that found Bissonnette posed a low risk of reoffending.

“Ultimately, I would argue that to protect people, he does not need to be put in prison because the risk of him reoffending is so low and he will not be practicing medicine,” she said.

Bissonnette’s victims stated in court that the former doctor must be held accountable for his actions.

“I will continue to have hope that no one will ever have to go through something like this again at the hands of the man who attacked me,” said one of the victims.

The identity of the victims is protected by a publication ban.

When asked if he wanted to say anything, Bissonnette stood and told the court he had nothing more to add than what his lawyers had told the court. His defense team declined to comment outside the courthouse.

Judge Sadie Bond has postponed her decision until the end of August.