Former B.C. health officer convicted of child sexual abuse relinquishes licence for life

Dr. Albert de Villiers

A former Kelowna health official currently serving a five-and-a-half-year sentence for sexual interference with a young boy has agreed to permanently terminate his physicians’ licence, the regulatory body says.

Albert Stefanus De Villiers entered a consent agreement with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. on May 2, a summary of which was released to the public Tuesday.

The college says De Villiers voluntarily surrendered his licence and agreed to not re-apply for registration to practise medicine in B.C., or any other jurisdiction, ever.

The doctor was found guilty of sexual interference on Feb. 7, 2023, in Alberta court. A second charge of sexual assault was stayed, according to the college.

De Villiers’ crimes took place between 2018 and 2020 while he was employed as the top public health doctor in northern Alberta. His victim was seven years old when the abuse began.

The boy testified De Villiers showed him pornography and touched him several times at the doctor’s home in Grand Prairie.

At the time of his arrest in 2021, De Villiers was the chief medical officer of health for B.C.’s Interior Health authority.

The regulatory body says De Villiers’ “irrevocable commitment” to resign from the college is effective back to March 1, 2023.

The college says it considered the judge’s written reasons and his conviction of an indictable offence when deciding its own penalty against De Villiers, in addition to the court-imposed prison sentence.

“The inquiry committee concluded that Dr. De Villiers’s conduct was egregious and determined that his irrevocable commitment to resign as a registrant of CPSBC and to never reapply for registration in British Columbia or any other jurisdictions was appropriate in the circumstances,” the decision reads.

With files from The Canadian Press