Trial begins for ex-minister facing 56 sex charges

The trial of a former Anglican minister facing 56 sex-related charges involving children started Monday in a court in the northwestern Ontario community of Kenora.

The charges date as far back as the 1970s, when Ralph Rowe was a minister and a Boy Scout master in several remote First Nations communities in northern Ontario.

The trial, which is by judge alone, revolves around acts alleged to have taken place with boys aged six to 16.

Five men who say they were abused by Rowe will testify at the trial, while 25 others are expected to give victim impact statements.

Rowe, now 69 and living in Surrey, B.C., is expected to plead guilty to 20 of the charges against him, his lawyer told CBC News. His lawyer says there are plans for the Crown to withdraw more than 20 charges, while Rowe will go to trial with regard to allegations from five victims.

In 1994, Rowe was convicted of 27 counts of indecent assault and one count of common assault after he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing 16 boys during the same time period, and in many of the same communities.

He served three years of a six-year sentence in prison for those convictions.