Court challenge delays sentencing of oral surgeon who let prison guard do dental work on inmate
CBC
Sentencing submissions in the case against an oral surgeon who pleaded guilty to assault — after letting a prison guard do dental work on a sedated inmate — will have to wait another month.
Dr. Louis Bourget was charged after he permitted a correctional officer to extract an inmate's teeth in October 2020. The incident was recorded by another correctional officer on his phone.
Submissions began Friday in Gander Supreme Court but were stopped when defence attorney Randy Piercey challenged the victim impact statement by the inmate, Blair Harris.
Victim impact statements are written or oral submissions in court that describe how the victim of a crime was affected by the incident, either through physical or emotional harm, property damage or economic loss.
Rarely are they challenged, but Piercey told the court he couldn't accept Harris's statement but didn't elaborate on why.
"In 40 years, I've never objected to a victim impact [statement]. I have to object to this."
The statement, filed by victim Blair Harris, was a written submission and not read in court Friday. Crown attorney Tina Walsh will now meet with Harris to see if the issue can be resolved.
In the agreed statement of facts, read prior to the submission of the victim impact statement, more details surfaced on the assault against Walsh.
The court heard that the two correctional officers involved — Ron McDonald and Roy Goodyear, who escorted Harris to Bourget's practice at Gander Family Dental Clinic — took an interest in the procedure Bourget was performing.
Normally, once a patient is sedated, the officers leave the room, but McDonald and Goodyear stayed. Bourget was explaining the procedure to them, and then suggested they perform the extraction of the four teeth.
McDonald took them out while Goodyear recorded the whole thing.
According to the statement of facts, Bourget said he "got caught up in a teaching moment" but regretted the decision after the procedure.
The dental assistant and nurse on staff were shocked by his decision, according to the court statement.
Bourget's matter is due back in court March 5.
A suspended Moncton structural engineer faces more lawsuits alleging design flaws in buildings that require repair.
Sajjade Tugano has come a long way since he first set foot in Chibougamau, six hours north of Quebec City, in the depths of winter in November 2021.
A national mentor-based hockey organization that helps marginalized youth through the sport is paying tribute to one of its members and youngest coaches.
After months of asking the City of Saskatoon to do more to solve its homelessness crisis, advocate David Fineday took to the stand at city council Tuesday.
A community organization wants to breathe new life into a historic building in Regina.
Some Prince County residents are walking away with more answers after attending Tuesday night's public information session in Albany, P.E.I., on the Wejipek Wind Project.
After just a few months of using vape detectors in a couple of bathrooms, a B.C. high school principal says it's reduced vape use in those areas to basically zero.
Burlington MP Karina Gould gets boost from local young people after entering Liberal leadership race
A day after entering the Liberal leadership race, Burlington, Ont., MP and government House leader Karina Gould was cheered at a campaign launch party by local residents — including young people expressing hope the 37-year-old politician will represent their voices.
Anold Mulaisho was born intersex and wonders where they fit in, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order for the United States to recognize only two sexes, male and female.
WARNING: This story contains references to suicide.
Subway service is down on Line 1 between Sheppard West and Lawrence West due to a broken power rail, the TTC said Wednesday morning.
A long-term care home in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood has cleared one more hurdle to add desperately needed beds to its property, a move that's been praised by housing advocates but opposed by locals concerned about the impact on the neighbourhood.
A Charlottetown resident is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect homeowners after reading about a recent oil spill very similar to one on his Montague property 20 years ago, which he says ruined him financially.
WARNING: This story includes details of abuse.
Two years after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared she was taking the unprecedented step of moving to confiscate millions of dollars from a sanctioned Russian oligarch with assets in Canada, the government has not actually begun the court process to forfeit the money, let alone to hand it over to Ukrainian reconstruction — and it may never happen.
Alberta business and oilpatch leaders are returning home from Washington this week after the U.S. presidential inauguration festivities — and gritting their teeth after a roller-coaster of emotions.
Youth workers in Toronto's Jane and Finch area are flipping the script on negative stereotypes about their communities with a new fundraising campaign that offers anti-bias training in exchange for donations to bolster their programming.
In a sudden move that came late Tuesday evening, city officials rolled out cots and temporarily opened a warm building in east London as frigid temperatures continued.