Ralph Rowe worked as a priest and boy scout leader and flew a plane with the Anglican Church logo into remote First Nations in northern Ontario where his "abuse was massive in its scope and horrendous in its impact," said a statement on Friday from Michael Thompson, general secretary of the Anglican Church of Canada.

First Nations leaders referred to Rowe's legacy of abuse in Wapekeka First Nation during a news conference on Thursday about two 12-year-old girls who died by suicide within days of each other earlier this month.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said Rowe was a "monster" who abused more than 500 children during his time working in northern Ontario and leading to an intergenerational suicide crisis in Wapekeka.

"We've reached out to the Anglican Church numerous times...they've never acknowledged their role," Fiddler said. "They've never supported any of our efforts to give us funding, even, for community-based healing work that needs to happen, they've never apologized to any of the survivors, to any of our communities and that's still very much a reality that we're dealing with."

The Anglican Church said it has contributed to "community-led healing projects" in several remote First Nations where Rowe worked over the course of several years and is now offering to do more.

"We acknowledge that our past actions have helped to create a legacy of brokenness in some First Nations communities, and we express our willingness, in spite of failings and false starts in the past, to renew our commitment to dialogue and discernment that will help us understand more deeply and act more effectively on our responsibilities," Friday's statement said.

Joshua Frogg, the uncle of one of Chantel Fox, one of the two girls who died this month in Wapekeka, is a Rowe victim, who told CBC News in 2015 that his struggle with alcohol was fuelled by the abuse.

"There was mention of previous suicides in Wapekeka in the 1990s. I was there. Those were all my relatives. It touched me, just like it touched me today, to have buried my niece," Frogg said at Thursday's news conference in Ottawa.

Thompson, who was not available for an interview on Friday, said in his statement that the Anglican Church is now working on a national apology to victims of Ralph Rowe and their communities.

"Whatever our words, we will only have honoured that grief when we act, and we look to [Grand Chief Fiddler] and to others to help us direct our actions in ways that will help end the crisis in the communities he serves," Thompson said.

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Victims of former priest's abuse need Anglican Church to apologizes says Indian affairs minister
Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Carolyn Bennett says it is very important that the Anglican Church has agreed to work on a national public apology for the legacy of Ralph Rowe - a former priest who flew into indigenous communities and sexually abused children during the 1970s and 1980s
Carolyn Bennett: 'I thought that it really was the equivalent of Jack the Ripper'

By Kristy Kirkup
The Canadian Press
Jan 23, 2017

A long-awaited public apology from the Anglican Church for the rampant sexual abuse perpetrated by former priest Ralph Rowe in the 1970s and 1980s will be vital in helping victims heal, Canada's Indigenous affairs minister says.

The Anglican Church of Canada acknowledged last week the tragic legacy of Rowe, a former Boy Scout leader who abused countless children during the two decades he spent travelling between remote First Nations communities in northern Ontario.

Indigenous leaders have suggested a link between that legacy and the recent suicide deaths of two 12-year-old girls earlier this month in Wapekeka First Nation, a fly-in community about 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Ont.

The church's statement said Archbishop Fred Hiltz is taking part in an engagement process with other stakeholders as they work towards a formal national apology to victims and communities.

"It has been very clear from the survivors how important this is to them and their families in that ... it is an acknowledgment of the harm that was done and a way forward," Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett said in an interview.

"I think that what we learn so often is that when people have recognized the fact that harm was done and they didn't deserve to be harmed, that it goes a long way in the healing journey."

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler, who represents 49 First Nations communities in northern Ontario, urged the church to provide not just words, but resources to help foster long-term healing.

The intergenerational legacy of long-term historical sexual abuse includes suicide and drug and alcohol addiction, Fiddler added.

Rowe pleaded guilty at trial in 1994 to 39 counts of indecent assault involving 19 boys; he was sentenced to six years under a plea agreement that ensured he wouldn't serve additional jail time if convicted of other similar offences.

He was released on parole after serving just four-and-a-half years.

Bennett's husband Peter O'Brian, a TV producer and himself a victim of childhood sexual abuse, produced a documentary released in 2015 entitled "Survivors Rowe," which alleges Rowe left an estimated 500 victims in his wake.

'Equivalent of Jack the Ripper'

If and when the church does apologize, it will affect victims differently, depending on their experiences, Fiddler said, citing the experience of residential school survivors when former prime minister Stephen Harper apologized in 2008.

"Some, I assume, might well consider accepting the apology," he said, adding that Nishnawbe Aski will be pressing the Boy Scouts of Canada to issue an apology of its own.

"Some will reject it. Some, it will help them in their own healing.... But I think it will be good for the church to do this, to finally acknowledge its role and to apologize."

Bennett said she and O'Brian have tried to do their part to raise awareness about the Rowe story, one she calls a teachable moment for Canada about cycles of violence.

"From the time I first heard the Ralph Rowe story by former (Assembly of First Nations) regional chief Stan Beardy, I felt the story needed to be told," Bennett said.

"I thought that it really was the equivalent of Jack the Ripper. It was so horrendous and horrific and the effects that have happened ... 500 boys, probably 100 of whom were dead by suicide or overdose or violence of one form or another."