Former N.S. swim instructor facing 66 sex-related charges makes 1st court appearance

A 75-year-old former swim instructor, who is facing dozens of sex-related charges, made his first court appearance in Kentville, N.S.

Donald Douglas Williams of Dartmouth, N.S., is accused of alleged crimes against 30 youths at a Nova Scotia corrections facility between 1989 and 2015.

Williams was arraigned in court Tuesday, and has applied for a Nova Scotia Legal Aid lawyer. The case is scheduled to return to court Oct. 21 where Williams is expected to provide an update on whether he’s secured a lawyer and potentially enter a plea.

The Crown says it will proceed with an indictment on all 66 charges.

“Given the nature of these allegations, the Crown proceeded by indictment, which means there are more serious allegations and it means the maximum penalty for these offences is higher than by summary conviction,” said Crown attorney Rob Kennedy.

The charges include 28 counts of sexual assault and 32 counts of sexual exploitation.

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According to RCMP, the accusers are 29 men and one woman — all of them between the ages of 12 and 18 when they were being held at the centre. All the complainants are now adults.

The alleged crimes took place within the walls of the Nova Scotia Youth Centre in Waterville, N.S., where Williams worked as a swim instructor between 1988 and 2017.

The investigation into the complaints of historical sexual assaults at the Nova Scotia Youth Centre in Waterville began in 2018, and was known as Operation Headwind.

In July 2023, the Mounties confirmed they were investigating at least 70 cases of alleged sexual assault at the centre.

Investigators were dispatched across Canada to interview 450 survivors and witnesses, and they reviewed more than 9,800 documents.

The Crown says it’s one of the largest sexual abused investigations in the province’s history.

“The volume of documents that the police reviewed pursuant to this investigation is in the hundreds of thousands,” said Kennedy.

Kennedy adds that 30 victims are moving ahead with the legal process, and that additional charges could be laid as the investigation continues.

There was also a class action lawsuit filed through the courts.

— with files from The Canadian Press