Duff Friesen sentencing set for Jan. 7 in Saskatoon case

A Saskatoon judge will decide on Jan. 7, 2027, how to sentence Duff Arthur Friesen, the former principal of a private Christian school who was convicted in September of assaulting three students with a wooden paddle. The Crown is seeking an 18-month community sentence, while the defence is asking for six to nine months.

Court of King’s Bench Justice Daryl Labach heard sentencing arguments on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, and reserved his decision, CKOM reported.

A jury found Friesen, 69, guilty on Sept. 18 of three counts of assault with a weapon and acquitted him on two others, following a two-week trial. The charges related to his time as principal of Christian Centre Academy, which was later renamed Legacy Christian Academy and is now Valour Academy. The school was closely tied to what was Mile Two Church, now Encounter Church, and both operated from the same building on Pinehouse Drive, CBC News reported.

Five former students testified at the trial that they were struck with a paddle in what the school called “scriptural discipline.” The offences date back roughly two decades, to the early 2000s, when the complainants were children.

Crown prosecutor Sheryl Fillo told the court Friesen’s moral culpability is very high because he led the school and chose to carry out the paddling himself. She said the 18-month conditional sentence she is seeking accounts for how old the offences are and the fact that he has no unrelated criminal record.

Fillo asked for a curfew from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. with some exceptions, no contact with the complainants or their families, a ban on alcohol and non-prescription drugs, and 100 hours of community service, CBC News reported.

Defence lawyer Daniel Mol argued for six to nine months served in the community. He told the court this was not a case of random violence and that Friesen has already suffered public humiliation and lost his reputation, friendships, teaching licence and income.

Former students also gave victim impact statements. One said the abuse caused her to fall behind in school and never finish Grade 12, and that she needed therapy to stop carrying shame that was never hers. Another, in a statement read by the Crown, said she still has nightmares about the school more than 20 years later.

During the trial, Mol had argued for acquittal, saying the witnesses’ memories of dates and details were not reliable enough. Fillo countered that the complainants were children at the time and that the Crown does not have to prove the exact date of an offence, CJME reported.

This is the second time Friesen faces sentencing over his years at the school. In a separate trial that ended in December 2025, a jury convicted him on one of four counts of assault with a weapon, and he received a six-month conditional sentence.

A conditional sentence is a jail term served in the community under strict conditions such as house arrest or a curfew. A breach can send the offender to custody for the rest of the term.

Friesen is one of four men connected to the school who have faced criminal charges since a group of former students came forward, CBC News reported.

Former students have also filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against the church and several former staff, including Friesen, seeking more than $25 million. A judge dismissed the claim in 2025, ruling there had been an abuse of process, but the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal ruled in the former students’ favour in September 2026, CBC News reported. None of the claims in the lawsuit have been proven in court.

Both sides asked Justice Labach for a sentence served in the community, and the length is the main question he will decide on Jan. 7. More local court and community news is on our Saskatoon news page.

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