Former Quebec NDP MP Roméo Saganash Charged With Sexual Assault in Winnipeg

NDP MP Roméo Saganash Saganash rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Sept. 27, 2018. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

Winnipeg police say former New Democrat MP Roméo Saganash has been charged with sexual assault.

Police say they arrested Saganash on June 27 in relation to an allegation from May 1 in Winnipeg and the matter is now before the courts.

Saganash represented the northern Quebec riding of Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou from 2011 to 2019, serving as the Indigenous affairs critic.

He has not responded to a request for comment The Canadian Press sent by email on Friday, but APTN, which first broke the news, reports he confirmed the sexual-assault charge to them. The federal NDP has not responded to a request for comment.

Saganash had been one of the residential school survivors working with a national advisory committee for missing children and unmarked burials set up by the federal government and National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in Winnipeg.

A spokesman for the centre said Saganash no longer holds that role, and did not say why or when he ended that position.

Saganash, A Cree lawyer, helped to negotiate the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. As an MP, he put forward proposed legislation to implement it in Canada.