Former Scouts Canada employee sentenced to 4 years for sex crimes

A former Scouts Canada employee is now in custody after being sentenced to four years in jail.

John Rietveld, 70, was charged with buggery, indecent assault on a male, two counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual interference with someone under 16, and two counts of invitation to sexual touching with someone under 16. 

On July 18, he pleaded guilty to one count of indecent assault. The remaining charges were withdrawn following his sentencing.

When he was first charged in 2021, police accused him of historical sexual assaults occurring between July 1, 1978 and March 31, 2006.

The original charges involved an incident with a boy between 1978 and 1980 in Niagara Falls, Ont., and Mississauga.

The alleged incidents involving a girl took place between 2004 and 2005 in Perth, Ont., and Ottawa.

Scouts Canada has previously confirmed Rietveld worked as the youth organization's national executive director of communications between 1987 and 1998. He started working for Scouts Canada in 1975.

In his sentencing decision, Justice Timothy Lipson agreed with the Crown's position Rietveld was morally blameworthy of causing physical and mental pain, which included psychological damage. 

Lipson said Rietveld "tarnished the reputation" of Scouts Canada but counted his old age, guilty plea and acknowledgement of criminality to his family when the crime was first reported in 2018 as mitigating factors against his sentence length. 

Rietveld sat alone in the front row of the courtroom during his sentencing wearing a blue polo, grey pants and glasses. 

In the 1990s, his name appeared in Ottawa Citizen, Vancouver Sun and Macleans stories about the organization's efforts to prevent child abuse.

Those measures included the introduction of mandatory police background checks and training for volunteer screening.

"We rely on what we think is a fairly progressive screening program, one that other organizations are looking to as an example," Rietveld is quoted as saying in a 1999 Vancouver Sun article, which detailed how Scouts Canada made every effort to create a safe environment.

Rietveld would then shift to become executive director of revenue development from 1999 to 2001, and then president and executive director of the Scouts Canada Foundation from 2002 to 2011.

Following a 2011 CBC investigation of Scouts Canada, the organization issued a blanket apology for how it handled sexual assaults. 

A 2011 independent review done by auditing firm KPMG found 65 incidents where Scouts Canada failed to inform police about allegations, and another 64 where it wasn't clear if police were informed.

The audit looked at 486 records from 1947 to 2011 where adult scout leaders were suspended or terminated on allegations of sexual misconduct against children and youth. Scouts Canada has previously confirmed Rietveld's name was not flagged as a result of the review.