Crown drops sex assault charge against former CUPE Manitoba leader National union forced then-president out over alleged incident at 2019 convention in Brandon By: Colin Slark Posted: 7:00 PM CST Monday, Dec. 19, 2022

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This article was published 18/12/2022 (640 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A sexual assault charge that led to the ouster of the former president of Manitoba’s largest union was dropped Monday morning.

The Crown issued a stay of indictment on the charge against Abe Araya stemming from an incident in Brandon more than three years ago. Araya agreed to a one-year peace bond to not contact or have any communication with the complainant.

Araya, who was elected president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Manitoba in November 2019, was arrested in Winnipeg in January 2021.

“From our perspective, this is an appropriate resolution for both parties,” Araya’s attorney Saul Simmonds said in a Brandon courtroom Monday. “It keeps them separated, lets them both go on with their lives.”

After the charge was stayed Simmonds also agreed to drop a motion of abuse of process he had previously filed.

He told the Brandon Sun he wishes this resolution could have been met earlier in the process.

“From our perspective, we were mystified as to the reasons that Mr. Araya was charged in the first place,” he said.

“It would be our position that the original investigation done by the independent (investigator) established that on a balance of probabilities — which is a much higher standard — that there was no basis to any of the allegations made against Mr. Araya. We were ready to go to trial, we had many witnesses who would have testified, and this resolution is a long time coming.”

Now Araya looks forward to spending the holidays without the matter hanging over his head and was glad to receive closure, his attorney said.

”We were ready to go to trial, we had many witnesses who would have testified, and this resolution is a long time coming.”–Saul Simmonds, lawyer

As the Free Press reported at the time, Brandon police opened an investigation in March 2020 after receiving a complaint about an incident alleged to have happened in that city in February 2019 during a union conference, leading to his arrest Jan. 21. 2021.

A police spokesperson at the time said neither Araya or the complainant were from Brandon, and were staying at a local hotel “for work purposes” at the time of the alleged incident.

After Araya’s arrest, CUPE’s national governing body requested he step down from his leadership role. He declined and was removed, along with the rest of the Manitoba executive.

In May 2021, CTV Winnipeg published a report online detailing the contents of an internal investigation of a grievance filed by the complainant about the 2019 incident, as well as another alleged event at another union conference in 2015.

That investigation by workplace lawyer Pamela Clarke concluded the allegations were not established, could be refuted and could have been made under false pretences.

Araya’s trial had originally been scheduled to begin this week.

”We have undertaken to create a safer space for all workers to participate in their union.”–Karine Fortin, CUPE

After the charges were dropped, CUPE national spokesperson Karine Fortin told the Brandon Sun in an email the union’s first priority remains the safety and well-being of all members.

“We have undertaken to create a safer space for all workers to participate in their union. The results of the court proceedings do not change that. CUPE Manitoba has a new president and a new executive that are committed to fighting sexism and other forms of gender-based violence in our union and in society.”

On Oct. 22, 2021, CUPE Manitoba elected Gina McKay as its new president, representing approximately 37,000 workers in the province in a variety of roles and settings, including health-care facilities, personal-care homes, school divisions, municipal services, social services, child-care centres, public utilities, libraries and family emergency services.

Araya was originally from CUPE Local 110, which represents about 400 custodians, maintenance workers and painters in the Winnipeg School Division.

When the national union removed Araya, it put an administrator in place to look after the Manitoba branch’s affairs. And because an administrator and an executive cannot exist at the same time, the executive was dissolved. There was never any suggestion that anyone on the executive had done anything in connection with the criminal allegations, a union spokesperson said at the time.

— Brandon Sun, staff