March–April Toronto There were calls […]

When

1976-03 – 1976-04

Description

March–April Toronto There were calls in the Ontario Legislature from both opposition parties, led by MPPs Michael Cassidy (NDP –Ottawa-Centre), Albert Roy (Lib.–Ottawa East), and Vernon Singer (Lib.–Toronto Wilson Heights), for a judicial inquiry into the handling of the "Ottawa Sex Scandal" case by Ottawa's morality squad. This related to the case of Michel Gravel, arrested on March 3, 1975, for operating two male-modelling agencies that were used as a front for a prostitution service involving teenage boys. Seventeen other men were also arrested and charged with contributing to juvenile delinquency, gross indecency, or buggery. None of the youths were charged. The media had sensationalized the "Ottawa Sex Scandal," calling it a "white slavery ring" and a "homosexual vice ring." The names, ages, addresses, and occupations of the arrested men were published or reported not only locally, but also in newspapers across the country and on national radio. On March 18, 1975, one of the arrested men, Warren Zufelt, committed suicide by jumping from an apartment building. The case only grew in sensation. Michel Gravel eventually pleaded guilty to charges of operating a common bawdy house and gross indecency, and in September 1975 was sentenced to two years less a day at the Guelph Correctional Centre. The remaining defendants were dragged through the courts, and although some were found guilty of engaging in sexual activities with juvenile males, none of them received a jail term or a fine; the charges were dismissed or the men were given absolute discharges or suspended sentences. Ontario Attorney General Roy McMurtry rejected claims that there had been improprieties in the handling of the case and said that the Crown Attorney's office in Ottawa had acted properly in laying the charges. This view was supported by Premier William Davis in a letter to GO dated July 15, 1976, in which he stated that "a public inquiry would serve no purpose." But, on April 15, 1976, charges of assault causing bodily harm were laid against Constable Robert Gervais and Sergeant Alain Méthot, two of the Ottawa policemen who had investigated the "Ottawa Sex Scandal." The charges were laid under McMurtry's direction, and after an OPP investigation into allegations made by George Duthie that the policemen had assaulted him during his arrest on March 8, 1975. Duthie had been charged with gross indecency; the charge was later quashed. (See also August 24, 1976.)

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