Jack Ramsay (politician) - Criminal Charges

Criminal Charges

On November 24, 1999, Ramsay was convicted of attempted rape of a 14-year old Cree girl, committed while he was an RCMP officer in Pelican Narrows 30 years previously. While questioning the girl as a crime victim, he had asked her to physically demonstrate her understanding of the concept of sexual intercourse.

He was sentenced to nine months imprisonment. The Reform Party voted to remove him from caucus the following morning, although he refused to resign his seat in the House of Commons on the grounds that he had not yet been sentenced and continued to protest his innocence of the crime. He subsequently appealed the conviction, and a new trial was ordered due to errors in the judge's instructions to the jury. His removal from the Reform Party caucus was also suspended pending the outcome of the appeal.

He continued to sit as a member of the Reform Party, and its successor the Canadian Alliance, until April 5, 2000, when he faced new criminal allegations related to a separate incident in which Ramsay was alleged to have confined a 15-year old girl and made threats of a sexual nature. He then sat as an "Independent Canadian Alliance" member from April 6, 2000 until June 27, 2000, at which point his membership in the party was terminated. He sat as an independent Member of Parliament until that Parliament was dissolved.

Ramsay's trial on the unlawful confinement charges began in May 2000. He was acquitted on these charges just two days later.

Ramsay ran in the 2000 federal election as an independent candidate, but was overwhelmingly defeated by Canadian Alliance candidate Kevin Sorenson.

In the retrial on the original charges, Ramsay pled guilty in October 2001 to a lesser charge of indecent assault, and was sentenced to one year's probation and community service. He subsequently sued the RCMP, the Attorney General of Saskatchewan and the Attorney General of Canada for malicious prosecution.