Man accused of sexually assaulting youths at N.S. correctional facility faces 66 charges

A 75-year-old man is charged with sexually abusing more than 300 young people across nearly 30 years in Nova Scotia.

HALIFAX — A 75-year-old man is facing 66 charges following a lengthy investigation into sexual assault allegations at the Nova Scotia Youth Centre in Waterville, N.S.

The RCMP says Donald Douglas Williams, who was a swim instructor at the correctional facility between 1988 and 2017, was arrested at his home in Dartmouth, N.S., on Saturday.

Police believe Williams assaulted more than 300 youths between the ages of 12 and 18 at the centre between 1989 and 2015.

“This instructor held a position of authority, and the young people he victimized should have been able to trust him and feel safe with him,” said Staff Sgt. Rob McCamon, the acting officer in charge with Major Crime and Behavioural Sciences, during a news conference Wednesday morning.

The charges laid against Williams relate to 30 alleged victims and include the following:

• three counts of sexual assault causing bodily harm
• 28 counts of sexual assault
• 32 counts of sexual exploitation
• sexual interference
• invitation to sexual touching
• assault

Police say his alleged victims were all male, except for one female, and more charges are expected in the coming months.

“Sexual assault is a devastating crime with traumatic lifelong impacts on those who have experienced it,” said McCamon.

“We know that for survivors, sexual offences can cause long-lasting intense fear, shame and stress.”

McCamon became emotional while discussing the case, calling it a “very sad situation.”

“Any time you’re dealing with something of this magnitude there’s a lot of emotion attached to that, and whenever you speak to survivors, or even witnesses of crime, you have to deal with that emotion, so it becomes very heavy,” he told reporters. “I expect this file was very difficult on our investigators.”

Williams has been released by the courts on conditions and is due to appear in Kentville provincial court on Sept. 26.

Operation Headwind

The arrest comes following a multi-year investigation called Operation Headwind.

The RCMP says it started investigating the allegations in 2018 and established Operation Headwind in 2021.

“By 2022 it had expanded to a 14-member unit dedicated solely to the investigation,” said McCamon.

The RCMP says officers interviewed more than 450 people across Canada, reviewed more than 9,800 documents seized during searches, and completed more than 1,200 tasks related to the investigation.

“When you’re dealing with historical sexual assaults there’s a lot of work that needs to be done, and in an institutional setting like this there was a lot of written communications and documentation that needed to be gone through,” McCamon explained when asked why it took so long to lay charges.

“It takes a lot of time to review that information and make it useable and understandable to move forward with charges, so it took a lot of time to get through that, not to mention the amount of people that needed to be spoken to and interviewed that weren’t necessarily next door here in Nova Scotia, were in different places across Canada, sometimes institutionalized still.”

Meanwhile, police are asking anyone who may have been a victim or who has information about the alleged assaults to contact the RCMP.

“We believe there are more survivors and people in the community who know about the abuse that occurred at the youth centre,” said McCamon. “If you, or someone you know, experienced sexual assault while at the Nova Scotia Youth Centre, it’s not too late to report what happened.”

Anyone with information can call the Operation Headwind tipline at 902-720-5313 or toll-free at 1-833-314-3475. Police say the line is monitored Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. A confidential voicemail is available outside of those hours.

Emails can be sent to [e-mail].

Anonymous tips can be made to Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).