Ed Horne trial in October

Ed Horne, a teacher and principal who worked in several Baffin communities between 1971 and 1986, will be tried Oct. 15 before a jury on 11 sex charges.

All charges stem from allegations made in Cape Dorset.

That same week, preliminary inquiries for two other Horne matters will be held, to see if there’s enough evidence to move forward to trial: three sex charges from Iqaluit, and one charge of uttering threats alleged to have occurred in Kimmirut.

After a first set of complaints came to light in the fall of 1985, Horne was convicted on at least two occasions of numerous sex charges involving Inuit boys from communities such as Sanikiluaq, Grise Fiord, Cape Dorset, Kimmirut and Iqaluit.

In October 2002, the governments of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories settled the claims of victims through a process called alternative dispute resolution, in a $21.5 million pay-out.

In 2004, a second group of people claiming sexual abuse, including one woman, stepped forward to launch a second lawsuit. That group now comprises at least 66 people.
But this time, the governments of the NWT and Nunavut are playing hardball, forcing the Inuit claimants to prove every element of every allegation they make.