MONTREAL —Former Jewish community official Bill Surkis will likely spend 45 days in prison for his conviction on child pornography charges.
Both the Crown and defence agreed at a sentencing hearing Oct. 28 that the 71-year-old Surkis should receive the minimum sentence allowed by law for conviction on one count each of accessing and possessing child pornography, downloaded from the Internet. The time would be served on weekends.
Prosecutor Cynthia Gyenizse and Surkis’ lawyer, Steven Slimovitch, also agreed that he should serve 240 hours of community service and be subject to three years of probation.
Surkis, a former executive director of B’nai Brith Canada, Quebec region, and before that, of the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre, will be sentenced Dec. 9.
Still to be settled are certain probation conditions, such as whether Surkis can have a computer at home and whether he should be listed on the national sex offender registry.
He apologized and expressed remorse for his crimes at the hearing, saying he was ashamed and broken.
Former federal cabinet minister Gerry Weiner was among eight people who wrote letters of reference on behalf of the defence, supporting Surkis’ character. However, a pre-sentencing report described Surkis as having always been interested in pornography involving adults and migrating to child pornography out of curiosity.
Surkis was arrested in July 2009 after an electronics store technician reported to police that he had found child pornography on the hard drive of a computer Surkis had brought in for service.
Surkis pleaded guilty to the two charges last May, but insisted that he had accessed the material while doing research for an educational project. He had previously served for 22 years as academic dean of John Abbott College.
Since leaving B’nai Brith a few years ago, he has worked as a consultant on fundraising and other projects for community groups.
Surkis was found to be in possession of more than 20 videos of adult men having sex with girls between the ages of six and 14, that had been accessed on the Internet between July and November 2008.
Compiled by CJN Staff