Former Whitehorse educational assistant pleads not guilty to sexual abuse charges

A former Whitehorse educational assistant has pleaded not guilty to seven charges related to the alleged sexual abuse of two students at Hidden Valley Elementary School.

Over the phone, a lawyer entered the pleas in court Wednesday morning on behalf of William Auclair-Bellemare.

Auclair-Bellemare was accompanied by supporters in the courtroom gallery but did not speak.

He's charged with sexual exploitation of a person with a disability, sexual assault, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching against one child and invitation to sexual touching, sexual assault and forcible confinement against another.

The incidents allegedly happened at Hidden Valley between 2015 and 2017.

Trial dates will be picked later this month.

Auclair-Bellemare previously pleaded guilty to one count of sexual interference in relation to a third child — also a Hidden Valley student — in 2020. Neither the school nor the territorial education department informed parents or the public of the case, which only became widely known after the CBC reported on a lawsuit filed by the victim last year.

The story triggered an outcry from Hidden Valley parents and has since resulted in four separate reviews or investigations on how the government and police handled the situation, including an independent review that found the government ought to have informed parents about the case earlier.

The Yukon RCMP laid the current charges against Auclair-Bellemare following the CBC's story and a second lawsuit has since been filed against him.