A Calgary judge will decide Friday whether or not to approve a multi-million dollar payment to the victims of Philip Heerema, formerly of The Young Canadians.
Heerema received a 10-year prison sentence in 2018 after pleading guilty to charges including sexual assault, sexual exploitation, child pornography and luring.
Heerema admitted he used his position with the Young Canadians School of Performing Arts — which performs each year in the Calgary Stampede Grandstand Show — to lure and groom six boys into sexual relationships between 2005 and 2014, as well as in 1992.
The Stampede has agreed to pay $9.5 million in damages and Justice Paul Jeffrey will decide today whether to approve it.
The majority of the money will go to the roughly two dozen complainants who were most impacted by the abuse.