Sentencing hearing for disgraced Cree medicine man shows 'breathtaking impact' of sexual assaults

Warning: this story discusses sexual assault.

A Saskatoon prosecutor says that Cecil Wolfe's sexual assaults over nine years had a "breathtaking impact" on his victims and community.

"He breached a significant position of trust," prosecutor Lana Morelli said Tuesday at Court of King's Bench.

"The victims' own trauma was compounded by the sexual assaults by a trusted healer."

The 63-year-old pleaded guilty before Justice John Morrall in February to a dozen sexual assaults.

The self-styled Cree medicine man met with a variety of women over nine years in homes and hotel rooms in Muskeg Lake, Onion Lake and Saskatoon. The women he assaulted were drawn to him as a trusted healer and sought him out to help with maladies ranging from depression to cancer.

Wolfe returned to court this week to hear from his victims and the submissions from Morelli, co-chair Maria Shupenia and defence lawyer Harvey Neufeld.

Both the defence and Crown say Wolfe will face time in a federal penitentiary. The defence is asking for a sentence in the four to five year range. The Crown is arguing for 10 years and nine months.

Morelli said the case presents unique challenges in terms of finding comparable cases as a reference for sentencing. Medical cases typically lack a spiritual component, while religious abuses lack the medical element.

"A medicine man is a symbol of culture, tradition, spirituality — and the healing as a doctor," she said.

The defence filed seven letters of support for Wolfe, but Morelli said one of the notes had a troubling aspect. It appears that Wolfe continued to treat at least one woman since his charges, "and this appears in violation of his release conditions."

She said the Crown is agreeing that so-called Gladue factors do play into the sentencing submissions — "he had a life shaped by colonialism" — but that his culture had not been stripped away.

Further, even though he only went to Grade 3 in his education, "he has 63 years of life experience," Morelli said. 

"Lack of education does not mean he should not appreciate that his actions are wrong."