RCMP and other agencies are investigating after an exorcism and other activity allegedly took place at a children’s Bible camp near Saskatoon. Aside from the alleged exorcism conducted earlier this summer, it is unclear how the man in question was approved to work with children at Redberry Bible Camp, located 70 kilometers north of Saskatoon. On the man’s own Facebook page, he details a recent, long history of pornography and drug addiction, domestic violence and being fired from his previous job as a camp counselor. “This is just crazy. Absolutely amazing,” said Ailsa Watkinson, a University of Regina professor emeritus of social work specializing in child protection. “If this was my child, I would be horrified.” The RCMP confirmed they are investigating “two reports of an incident involving a Redberry Bible Camp staff member and a pre-adolescent boy on the evening of July 13, 2022.” RCMP urge anyone with more information to contact their local detachment or call 310-RCMP. Redberry Bible Camp board president Wayne Dick said they are looking into the incident. Dick told CBC News that the staff member in question was no longer on site with the 100-plus kids who attended the camp each week in August, but provided few other details. “I will tell you that we are investigating the situation … I’m not willing to discuss it at this point,” Dick said in a phone interview earlier this month. “I assure [the worker] he is not in the camp.’ CBC News was unable to reach the worker through social media, family and other contacts. Questions are being raised about hiring practices at Redberry Bible Camp north of Saskatoon. A worker who allegedly performed an exorcism on a child this summer has a long history of domestic violence, drug and sex addiction and was fired from a previous camp, according to the worker’s own Facebook post. (Don Somers/CBC) A government official who reviewed a report of the complaints he received agreed in an interview with CBC News. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about the case. The July incident reportedly took place inside one of the camp’s cabins, the official said, where two witnesses reported a child in medical distress lying on the floor, bleeding from the nose, making noises and convulsing. The boy’s exact age is unknown, but Redberry’s website says he was hosting a “Junior Teen Camp” for 12- to 14-year-olds at the time. Some children went to get help and returned with the staff member, according to the report. According to the government source, the complainants said the man decided to perform an exorcism on the child as the other children watched. It’s unclear how long the ceremony lasted, but at the end, the complainants say the man told the children that he was rid of the demon that had possessed the child. He then gave his business card to each of the children, the source said. He told the children they needed to stay in touch with him for the rest of their lives because only he knew how to exorcise the demon they had all encountered, according to the report. Some of the children were so terrified that they called their parents, the official said. Even though the six-day camp was less than half over, parents took their children home that night and the next morning. The RCMP and other agencies were notified. University of Regina social work professor emeritus Ailsa Watkinson said parents and the public deserve answers about the alleged exorcism at Redberry Bible Camp, as well as the camp’s hiring practices. (Jason Warrick/CBC) CBC News asked Redberry board president Wayne Dick if other staff were involved, how the man was hired, if the child was given any medical care and if exorcisms are accepted at Redberry, but he did not immediately respond. Dick said he has some of that information, “but I can’t give it to you now.” Redberry is run by the conservative evangelical Saskatchewan Mennonite Brethren and has been in business since 1943. Partners listed on its website include other Christian groups and the Saskatchewan Camp Association, which provides accreditation. Lise Milne, a University of Regina professor of social work and chair of child and youth health and well-being, called the bill “very upsetting.” “Parents would reasonably expect that by sending their child to camp, they would be in a safe environment and treated in a way that did not threaten their physical or emotional health and well-being,” Milne said. He praised the whistleblowers for speaking up. Milne said that’s not always the case. She said handing out business cards to minors in your care is highly inappropriate and that thorough background checks should be done, “especially with regard to previous camp positions.” This now usually includes a review of the applicant’s social media, “which in this case would have revealed some very disturbing history”. It’s unclear whether online or social media searches are being conducted for potential Redberry staff, but the staff member in question is sharing his life story in a pinned post at the top of his own public Facebook page. The man said he was exposed to pornography and sexual trauma at the age of eight at a friend’s house. “Pornography was my first drug and from the age of nine I didn’t know I’d be hooked for 12 years,” he wrote. He said his high school years were filled with drug and sex addiction, jealousy and rage. “My family was afraid of me, I had ‘friends’ who were afraid of me and I had victims at school who were afraid of me, I felt like I had turned into a monster, someone I sometimes couldn’t recognize,” she said. He wrote. He said his drug use worsened after he was diagnosed with cancer and admits he “regularly abused my girlfriend at the time with poisonous words of death”. One night, after a “drunken cocaine party,” he went to his girlfriend’s house, he wrote. “In my drunken rage, I sabotaged everything, I physically abused my girlfriend, screaming so loudly she woke up the neighborhood, my girlfriend ran out of the house, banging on the doors of anyone who would listen, and the next thing I knew my parents and the police showed up “, He wrote. He initially denied assaulting her, but was fired from his job as a camp counselor when his girlfriend showed up there with visible bruises and other injuries, according to the post. It is unclear whether he was charged or convicted. A Saskatoon police official said they do not disclose criminal records. The official said police will conduct criminal record checks on employers or people who want to work with children, but “will not take a position on the applicant’s suitability and offer no comment or opinion. It is entirely at the employer’s discretion.” as to whether the candidate can be considered for the position or not.’ The man wrote that sometime after this incident, he traveled to Mazatlan, Mexico for a six-month “disciple training school.” He said that helped him, but his time there came to an “abrupt end” when he “stumbled sexually,” he wrote. This led to more drug use and depression, as recently as spring 2020, he wrote. When COVID-19 hit, he was forced to reevaluate his life and renewed his relationship with Jesus, he wrote. In another Facebook post last year he said his broken leg was supposed to take nine months to heal, but it was better in just 24 hours. Attached photos of foot cast and x-ray. “Just a beautiful reminder that Jesus heals!!” He wrote. He continued to post religious monologues from an unknown location on his Facebook page until his account was deactivated last week. The videos, but not his biography, remain on YouTube. “God saved me from a life of fornication. God saved me from a life of wickedness,” he said in a 57-minute video posted in May that has garnered fewer than 150 views in three months. It’s unclear when the RCMP, other agencies or Redberry officials will release more information or complete their investigation.
