‘You violated their trust’: former doctor gets 12 years for sexually assaulting patients

Days shy of his 65th birthday, Arcel Bissonnette, a practising doctor for 30 years, was taken out of court in handcuffs Aug. 29 after he was sentenced to 12 years in prison for sexually assaulting seven patients over the course of nearly two decades.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say you have scarred your victims, perhaps for life,” King’s Bench Justice Sadie Bond told Bissonnette, as five of his victims watched in the court gallery.

“You violated their trust and abused your authority as a doctor,” Bond said. “I trust that you will take every opportunity available to you for treatment and counselling.”

Bissonnette’s victims, who all described feelings of shock, betrayal and violation following the assaults, “demonstrated courage and strength in coming forward … and resolving to take back their lives,” Bond said.

The former doctor was convicted in November 2023 of sexually assaulting five women at the Ste. Anne Hospital and Seine Medical Centre between 2001 and 2017.

Bissonnette pleaded guilty before another judge in February to sexually assaulting two other women at the medical centre between 2005 and 2011, avoiding another trial. In entering his guilty pleas, Bissonnette acknowledged his actions violated the victims’s “sexual integrity” but maintained they were not committed for his own sexual gratification, which the court accepted.

“In my view, whether Dr. Bissonnette had a sexual purpose in committing these kinds of violations has little relevance to his level of moral blameworthiness,” Bond said Thursday. “The sexual violation of each of these women was egregious, whatever motivation or impulse might have led (him) to behave the way he did.”

All of the assaults occurred during the course of medical examinations. Five of the victims were longtime patients and three of them were assaulted on multiple occasions. All five victims who testified at trial last year stepped forward after police issued a media notice in November 2020 announcing his arrest on charges involving six other female patients.

The five women testified at trial about examinations that included pelvic exams in which Bissonnette repeatedly inserted and removed his fingers from their vaginas. They also spoke about exams involving the simultaneous insertion of fingers into the rectum and vagina, done without explanation or warning, and unnecessary breast exams.

Three of the five women testified they saw or might have seen Bissonnette with an erection during or after the examinations. One had been Bissonnette’s patient since she was a child, while another had been a patient since he delivered her as a baby.

At trial, Bissonnette denied any wrongdoing in connection with the five victims, arguing his examinations of the women were consistent with his training.

Crown attorneys had asked Bond to sentence Bissonnette to 18 years in prison for the seven victims, while defence lawyers Josh Weinstein and Lisa LaBossiere had argued he should be sentenced to nine years.

Defence lawyers presented support letters from former co-workers and patients describing him as meticulous, trustworthy and kind.

“In deciding on the appropriate sentence for sexual assaults committed by Dr. Bissonnette, I’m not assessing whether he was a good community member or not or a good doctor,” Bond said. “Clearly, the characteristics described in the reference letters co-existed with whatever motivations or impulses that led (him) to offend sexually against his patients.”

Bissonnette has not practised medicine since he was first charged. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba formally revoked his medical licence in January.

Defence lawyers argued the public shame Bissonnette has suffered and the loss of his career supported the imposition of a lower sentence. Bond rejected the argument, saying those kinds of “collateral consequences” should play no role in sentencing.

“Negative publicity and loss of livelihood are common consequences of criminal prosecution,” Bond said. “They cannot be seen as replacements for appropriate punishment.”

Evidence heard at Bissonnette’s trial and his subsequent conviction highlight the need for better public education regarding women’s health issues, prosecutor Renée Lagimodiére said outside court.

“The doctor/patient relationship is based on trust,” she said. “Dr. Bissonnette was able to sexually assault these women because many of them did not know what the exams entailed, or they did not feel comfortable speaking up, or they trusted that what he was doing was medically necessary.”

Bissonnette was first charged in November 2020 with sexually assaulting six patients. He was later charged with assaulting a total of 22 patients.

A trial involving six alleged victims in 2022 ended with all charges stayed after the Crown said late disclosure in the case left the prosecution with no reasonable likelihood of conviction. It was revealed during the trial that the local police department had lost notebooks from its investigation.

Charges involving a sixth alleged victim were stayed before Bissonnette’s second trial in 2023.