Healer guilty of sex assault

An Indigenous healer was convicted of sexual assault Friday afternoon in Kelowna, following a six-day trial last month.

Joseph Camille, who goes by the nickname Buckles, was charged with three counts of sexual assault after two women came forward, accusing him of touching their breasts and inner thigh during one-on-one healing sessions he was conducting in 2021.

The women, whose identity are protected under a publication ban, were referred to as Jessica and Claire by Justice Briana Hardwick when she delivered her judgment Friday. These aren't the victims' real names.

While not an employee of the Ki-Low-Na Friendship Society, Camille worked out of the society's downtown Kelowna office, and the alleged assaults occurred in a backroom in the society's building. He had been providing Indigenous healing services there since 2018 and held a position of trust there.

Jessica and Claire said they consented to some physical touching when they attended healing sessions with Camille, but they claimed his conduct went beyond what they consented to.

The women also filed civil lawsuits against Camille and the Ki-Low-Na Friendship Society in late 2021, and Camille denied the allegations in his filed response.

Inappropriate touching

Jessica said she first met Camille during their April 2021 session and she testified he cupped his hands under her breasts during the session and applied pressure “close to the lip of her vagina.” She said this touching exceeded what she consented to as part of the healing session.

She said Camille also asked her about her dating life, told her she had beautiful eyes and said she should smile more. She testified that she felt like she was being hit on. She said she didn't object to his touching at the time, as she “froze.”

But Jessica said she returned for a second session, where she says nothing inappropriate occurred, and then a third session in July 2021. During the third session, Jessica says Camille touched her breasts and close to her vagina again, causing her to leave the room abruptly.

She said she spoke with others about her concerns, including Claire, and then reported the incidents to police.

Claire, meanwhile, had undergone a handful of one-on-healing sessions with Camillie prior to the July 2021 session where the sexual assault occurred. She testified Camille first asked her to take her hair down and wave her hair around, something he'd never asked her to do before.

Camille then told her she needed to see a “professional tickler” because she was too serious and suggested that she hated men, Claire testified. The physical touching part of the session then began, and as Claire laid on her back, she said Camille told her he would “fix her broken heart.”

He put pressure on the middle of her chest with his hands, Claire said, and then moved his hands to cup her breasts. While she didn't verbalize her objection to the touching, Claire said she loudly cleared her throat and Camille moved on.

At the end of the session, Claire said Camille moved towards her, smelled her neck and kissed her on the neck.

“I did not say you could do that,” Claire told Camille, but Claire said Camille had a “half smirk expression.”

Denied inappropriate touching

Camille took the stand at trial and denied he touched the women inappropriately at all. He testified his healing sessions involved physically touching certain pressure points to remove negative energy. But he said these pressure points are on the sternum, armpit and on the inner leg, just above the knee, but not near a person's genitals.

He admitted to hugging Claire after their session ended, but said it was mutually initiated. While he denies kissing her, he says his cheek may have touched her neck.

Ultimately, Justice Hardwick accepted Claire's account of what happened during her July 2021 session, but she was left with doubts about Jessica's account from April and July 2021. As such, she acquitted Camille of two counts of sexual assault, but convicted him on one of the accounts.

“I am not concluding that Jessica was untruthful in providing her evidence to the court, however, there were identifiable difficulties with her evidence ... In the same measure, there are some identifiable difficulties with the evidence of Mr. Camille as well,” Justice Hardwick said.

“If after a careful consideration of all the evidence I am unable to decide who to believe, I must acquit.”

Judge doesn't believe Camille

While Justice Hardwick described Jessica as having “significant difficulties as a historian,” she said Claire was a “very careful and deliberate witness.”

“I simply do not believe the evidence of Mr. Camille about what occurred on the July 20, 2021 session with Claire. At no time during other sessions with Mr. Camille had there been any need to cup her breasts. Claire was comfortable with the physical nature of the sessions but there are no pressure points, as admitted expressly by Mr. Camille, in the under-breast region,” Justice Hardwick said.

“Further, I do not accept that Mr. Camille somewhat inadvertently almost kissed Claire's neck at the conclusion of the session ... I find it was an unacceptable boundary to have crossed, which effectively corroborates Claire' evidence that there was a touching of her breast by Mr. Camille during that particular session which she did not consent to.”

Following the conviction, Justice Hardwick ordered a Gladue report be prepared for Camille prior to sentencing. The report outlines an Indigenous offender's systemic or background factors that may have played a part in the person's offending. Justice Hardwick noted Camille's “historical family circumstances are unfortunately consistent with that which many Aboriginal children of his generation had to endure.”

The report isn't expected to be completed for at least three months, so Camille's sentencing is expected to take place in early 2025. Sexual assault carries a mandatory minimum sentence of one year.