{"id":90860,"date":"2025-04-01T08:18:40","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T12:18:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=90860"},"modified":"2025-04-01T08:18:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T12:18:40","slug":"sexual-assault-trial-for-lake-st-martin-first-nation-chief-begins-in-winnipeg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/01\/sexual-assault-trial-for-lake-st-martin-first-nation-chief-begins-in-winnipeg\/","title":{"rendered":"Sexual assault trial for Lake St. Martin First Nation chief begins in Winnipeg"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brittany Hobson The chief of a Manitoba First Nation allegedly forced a young girl into a bathroom in his Winnipeg home, took photos of her and sexually assaulted her, court heard on the first day of the man’s trial. Christopher Traverse, who was the leader of Lake St. Martin First Nation at the time of his arrest last year, has been charged with sexual assault, sexual interference and child pornography stemming from the incident, which allegedly occurred in December 2023. Traverse has pleaded not guilty to the charges. A publication ban is in effect that restricts naming the girl or any other details that may identify her. The complainant, who was eight years old at the time of the alleged offences, provided testimony in provincial court on Monday in… <\/p>\n

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By Brittany Hobson The chief of a Manitoba First Nation allegedly forced a young girl into a bathroom in his Winnipeg home, took photos of her and sexually assaulted her, court heard on the first day of the man’s trial. Christopher Traverse, who was the leader of Lake St. Martin First Nation at the time of his arrest last year, has been charged with sexual assault, sexual interference and child pornography stemming from the incident, which allegedly occurred in December 2023. Traverse has pleaded not guilty to the charges. A publication ban is in effect that restricts naming the girl or any other details that may identify her. The complainant, who was eight years old at the time of the alleged offences, provided testimony in provincial court on Monday in... <\/p>\n

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Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nSexual assault trial for Lake St. Martin First Nation chief begins in Winnipeg - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/01\/sexual-assault-trial-for-lake-st-martin-first-nation-chief-begins-in-winnipeg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sexual assault trial for Lake St. Martin First Nation chief begins in Winnipeg - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Brittany Hobson The chief of a Manitoba First Nation allegedly forced a young girl into a bathroom in his Winnipeg home, took photos of her and sexually assaulted her, court heard on the first day of the man’s trial. Christopher Traverse, who was the leader of Lake St. Martin First Nation at the time of his arrest last year, has been charged with sexual assault, sexual interference and child pornography stemming from the incident, which allegedly occurred in December 2023. Traverse has pleaded not guilty to the charges. A publication ban is in effect that restricts naming the girl or any other details that may identify her. The complainant, who was eight years old at the time of the alleged offences, provided testimony in provincial court on Monday in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/01\/sexual-assault-trial-for-lake-st-martin-first-nation-chief-begins-in-winnipeg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-01T12:18:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/01\\\/sexual-assault-trial-for-lake-st-martin-first-nation-chief-begins-in-winnipeg\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/01\\\/sexual-assault-trial-for-lake-st-martin-first-nation-chief-begins-in-winnipeg\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Sexual assault trial for Lake St. Martin First Nation chief begins in Winnipeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-01T12:18:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/01\\\/sexual-assault-trial-for-lake-st-martin-first-nation-chief-begins-in-winnipeg\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":638,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/01\\\/sexual-assault-trial-for-lake-st-martin-first-nation-chief-begins-in-winnipeg\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/01\\\/sexual-assault-trial-for-lake-st-martin-first-nation-chief-begins-in-winnipeg\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/01\\\/sexual-assault-trial-for-lake-st-martin-first-nation-chief-begins-in-winnipeg\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sexual assault trial for Lake St. Martin First Nation chief begins in Winnipeg - 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