Ex-Montreal priest Brian Boucher to stay detained on child sex abuse material charges

A former Montreal priest who has been charged with possessing and accessing child sexual abuse material will stay detained until his next court appearance in November. Brian Boucher's lawyer told a judge Tuesday that her client has waived his right to a bail hearing. The 64-year-old was sentenced in 2019 to eight years in prison for sexually assaulting two boys, after being found guilty in one case and pleading guilty in the other. The abuse took place at two churches, between 1995 and 1999 in the case of one victim and between 2008 and 2011 in the other. Boucher was granted statutory release in 2024 and was serving the remainder of his sentence in the community at an approved residential facility before his arrest on the latest charges. The case returns to court on Nov. 23. Boucher worked in 10 Montreal-area churches between 1985 and 2015. He was formally stripped of his priesthood in 2020. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 8, 2026.