Boucher, 63, is serving the remainder of his eight-year sentence in the community under supervision and with several conditions.
He was convicted in January 2019 on charges of sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching for offences that took place in Montreal between 1995 and 1999, and between September 2008 and September 2011 on two teenage boys while he was their priest.
Since his statutory release on July 23, 2024, one of the victim’s family reported incidents in which Boucher attended a location when they were present “on several occasions” and that the victim, who is now an adult, “expressed discomfort because of eye contact with you,” according to a redacted Parole Board decision dated Dec. 29, 2025.
“You were also in the presence of the victims in other areas of the [redacted], which you were explicitly prohibited from doing by the CMT [case management team]. You also visited a nearby McDonald’s without the CMT’s knowledge. The CSC assess that you lack judgment, engage in at-risk situation regarding contact with the victims and deliberately ignore the CMT’s directives increasing your risk.”
Most offenders serving time in federal penitentiaries are entitled to automatic statutory release under supervision after they have served two-thirds of their sentence.
The Parole Board has now imposed a new geographical restriction to prevent Boucher from being within a designated section of Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grace borough and a section of the Town of Mount-Royal, except for medical reasons.
The restriction remains in effect until his statutory release expires.
The victims are entitled to peace of mind and to attend those locations without fear of being disturbed by their abuser, the decision stated, and instead of keeping his distance, he remained in the same place, which had a negative impact on the victim.
Risk of reoffending under scrutiny
The Parole Board decision includes scathing assessments of Boucher’s behaviour and post-sentence future. While he was deemed to be at a low risk of reoffending, psychological assessments put the risk at a higher level.
Despite participating in programming and counselling sessions, he shows little progress: “you continue to demonstrate a high level of denial and lack of empathy; the CMT indicates that you still fail to recognize your problems related to your sexual offences, and that while you recognize the need to work on some aspects of your personality, you ‘remain completely closed off,’ to working on the reasons leading to your incarceration,” the decision stated, citing assessments by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC).
The CSC concluded that his “long history of manipulation and denial” makes supervision in the community nearly impossible without the Parole Board imposing the new geographical restriction.
Boucher must continue to abide by several previous conditions, including that he reside at his community correctional centre until the end of his mandate, no contact with the victims or their families, and not to occupy a job or volunteer position that puts him in a position of authority over people under 18 years old.
He must also inform his parole supervisor of all relationships with people who have a parental role over individuals under 18, and to not contact minors unless he is accompanied by an adult who knows about his offences and with prior written authorization from the parole supervisor.
Last year, Boucher was acquitted of charges of sexual assault, voyeurism, and criminal harassment against another inmate in the prison where he was serving his eight-year sentence.
He was later served with a recognizance order to keep the peace and was banned from communicating or being in the presence of the inmate.