Sex charges stayed against chief after child testifies she lied
Child sex abuse charges have been stayed against a Manitoba chief after the young alleged victim admitted in court Friday she lied when she told police the man had taken cellphone pictures of her vagina.
'I have my life back,' Lake St. Martin First Nation Chief Christopher Traverse said outside court, minutes after prosecutor Boyd McGill stayed charges of sexual assault, possessing and creating child pornography and sexual interference.
Traverse, 41, said his life was turned upside down after he was arrested in February 2024. His bail order prohibited him from talking to or seeing his kids, he had to sell his house, was removed from the boards of the Interlake Reserves Tribal Council and Anishinaabe Child and Family Services and banned from attending Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs events.
Child sex abuse charges have been stayed against Lake St. Martin First Nation Chief Christopher Traverse after the young alleged victim admitted in court Friday she lied when she told police the man had taken cellphone pictures of her.
'The whole process was very difficult… and I stopped being there for my community,' Traverse said.
'This is worse than murder, to accuse an individual of touching a girl like that,' he said. 'That's the worst kind of charge you could (face) and I endured that pain for over a year and a half, being called names and all that.'
Traverse said he expects to resume his regular duties as chief immediately. He's also hoping for an apology from the Indigenous groups that turned their backs on him.
'They put me down,' he said. 'Now they are going to know I didn't do this kind of stuff.'
Traverse was accused of sexually assaulting the girl in December 2023, when she was eight years old.
In an interview video played for court last April, the girl said she was watching television when Traverse put her over his shoulder and carried her to the bathroom 'like someone was kidnapped' and told her to pull down her pants (she amended her statement in court, saying Traverse pulled her by the hand to the bathroom).
The girl said Traverse told her to pull her pants down. When she didn't comply, Traverse pulled her pants down himself and touched her vagina before taking a picture of her exposed body on his cellphone.
The girl said Traverse deleted the picture, and then used her cellphone to take another picture, which he 'forgot' to delete.
She claimed Traverse told her not to tell anyone about what had happened.
'I shut my mouth,' she said. 'I thought I would get in big trouble if I told.'
The girl said her mother later discovered the picture on her cellphone.
'She was like: 'Who did this to you?' I said Chris.'
During cross examination Friday, the girl said around the same time period she had taken a picture of herself using the toilet, which was later discovered by her mother, who told her not to do it again. The girl admitted she then lied to her mother, telling her she took the picture 'by accident.'
During subsequent questioning, the girl admitted she took the second picture of her vagina and after her mother discovered it, she blamed Traverse.
'I just got scared,' the girl testified.
'So, Chris didn't take the photo?' Olson asked the girl.
'No,' she said quietly.
'You thought you were going to get in trouble with your mom, didn't you?' Olson said.
'Yes,' the girl replied.
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The trial before provincial court Judge Stacy Cawley was held over two days, two months apart, and was marked by angry outbursts between the alleged victim's family and Traverse and his supporters.
A second day of testimony set for April had to be adjourned after Traverse was assaulted as he arrived outside court.
Police confirmed Friday a man in his 40s and a man in his 50s have been charged with one count each of assault. Their names have not been released so as to protect the identity of the child witness in the case.
When the trial resumed Friday, Sheriff's officers were stationed outside the courtroom and sat in the small court gallery separating the two families. Sheriff's officers escorted Traverse and his family as they left court.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean PritchardCourts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
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