A Saskatoon provincial court has convicted John Olubobokun, the former director of Christian Centre Academy (later Legacy Christian Academy, now Valour Academy), on nine counts of assault with a weapon. Judge Lisa Watson delivered the verdict on July 21 after a detailed two-and-a-half‑hour ruling, rejecting Olubobokun’s testimony as not credible and finding that the Crown proved each assault beyond a reasonable doubt.
Olubobokun, 65, served as director from 2003 to 2007. Students testified he struck them multiple times with a wooden paddle, despite his claims that disciplinary paddling had ceased following a 2003 Supreme Court decision limiting corporal punishment in schools.
The trial began in June 2024 and resumed in March 2025, with nine former students recounting incidents during their time at the academy. Defence witnesses, including Olubobokun himself, denied paddle use or his personal involvement. However, Judge Watson found that paddling had persisted under his leadership, and she pointed to inconsistencies and evasive conduct in his testimony.
The physical and emotional toll on victims was evident. One of the students, Caitlin Erickson, described the verdict as an emotional validation: “This was the first time … to have a judge sit there and be like, this was not OK, and this was abuse”.
Olubobokun will be sentenced on July 28. He also faces a separate trial in September on seven additional assault charges.
This landmark conviction underscores a growing trend of historical abuse cases being prosecuted in Canada, particularly within private educational institutions, where corporal punishment once was commonplace.
