A retired priest was arrested Thursday for allegedly sexually assaulting a girl at an Indigenous boarding school in Canada in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Arthur Masse, 92, was arrested at his Winnipeg home and charged with sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl who was a student at Manitoba School in Fort Alexander, according to CBC.
“The victim in this case endured a lot throughout the investigation and was adamant to speak up about what happened to her,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman Sgt. Paul Manaigre said on Friday.
“The most important thing for her today is that she was heard.”
According to Manaigre, more than 80 investigators were working on the case and contacted more than 700 people across North America to search for witnesses and victims. The RCMP obtained 75 witness and victim statements, he said.
“The question can be asked: why, in all this work, has only one charge been made and not many?” Manaigre said, adding that many victims had died and others could not participate in the investigation for “mental or physical health reasons.”
The school opened in 1905 in Fort Alexander Township, Sagkeeng First Nation territory. In 1970 it was closed.