Former Manitoba doctor facing sex assault charges now being sued by former patients

A former Manitoba doctor already facing criminal charges alleging he sexually assaulted patients is now being sued by a group of women who say their complaints about similar incidents weren't handled properly.

Arcel Bissonnette is accused of assaulting female patients when he worked in Ste. Anne, a town southeast of Winnipeg, from 2004 to 2017. 

A statement of claim filed in Manitoba's Court of King's Bench on May 29 alleges Bissonnette sexually assaulted and battered five women who were his patients at a clinic and hospital in the community. None of the allegations have been proven in court.

In one of the alleged incidents, a patient said she immediately reported what happened to the clinic's director — but he delayed addressing it with Bissonnette for months.

When he did, the court filing said the clinic offered to set up a meeting where Bissonnette would apologize to the woman, but she refused.

In another, Bissonnette allegedly sexually assaulted a 16-year-old patient who made an appointment to ask about starting birth control, the statement of claim said.

The plaintiffs alleged after they filed complaints with the clinic or health authority about what happened, the efforts made to follow up on those complaints were either insufficient or nonexistent.

"The plaintiffs state that the clinic and/or health authority knew, or ought to have known, that Dr. Bissonnette was a danger to patients in his care," the filing said.

The lawsuit said the women didn't bring the claim against Bissonnette sooner "given the fear, embarrassment and trauma that they suffered."

It also details an alleged incident where a woman says Bissonnette did a "painful and excessively long pelvic examination" on her and gave her medication "which incapacitated her," both without explanation.

The woman alleges she was also hospitalized for seven days without any explanation. She was only released after her mother called her former doctor in Winnipeg, who intervened to provide a correct treatment plan, the claim said.

Alleged 'stalking behaviours'

That same woman alleges she was also "subjected to stalking behaviours" from her former doctor, including driving by her house and staring at her when encountering her in public.

Once the woman fully understood the impact of those alleged incidents on her mental and emotional health, she tried several times to contact the Ste. Anne police department in 2017 to report them.

By the time she heard back from police, she had already moved out of province and was asked to provide a video statement for RCMP, the court filing said.

The lawsuit is seeking general and punitive damages, alleging the former physician's conduct was "intentional and done with the knowledge that it would cause each of the plaintiffs, one of whom was a minor at the time, humiliation, indignity and physical, emotional and mental distress and injury."

The statement of claim said the women involved will all require therapy and suffer from effects including post-traumatic stress, alcohol addiction, suicidal thoughts and negative impacts on family and social relationships.

The lawsuit also named Shared Health and Southern Health as defendants. Both declined to comment via email on Tuesday, while Shared Health also noted it did not exist as an organization until 2019. Bissonnette's counsel could not be reached.

Outside of the lawsuit, Bissonnette faces more than 20 counts of sexual assault and has pleaded not guilty to all of them. His trial began last month for five of those counts, while another 10 are scheduled to be tried in February 2024.

Other charges were stayed after Crown prosecutors told court they couldn't go ahead with the trial following new evidence coming into play. The former doctor was barred from practising after the initial charges were laid against him.