Rev. Des McGrath, one of the founders of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW), has been found dead, just a day after failing to appear in a Newfoundland and Labrador court to face sex charges.
RCMP said the body of McGrath, 74, was found in his garage in the western Newfoundland community of Stephenville on Tuesday. The Mounties did not release further details.
The well-known Roman Catholic priest also ran as a candidate for the NDP in the district of Random-Burin-St. Georges in the 2004 federal election, coming in second.
FFAW president Earle McCurdy said his friend and mentor was inspired by the centuries-old oppression of fishers and the grinding poverty of rural communities.
McCurdy said McGrath gave dignity to ordinary people and "had a vision for how outport society could be better than what it had been for the people who lived there."
"His whole life was dedicated to that," McCurdy said.
While tributes poured in for the work McGrath did, his friends and supporters expressed shock over the revelation that McGrath was charged last month with sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy in 1982. The allegations stem from when McGrath was the parish priest in Lourdes on the Port au Port Peninsula on Newfoundland's west coast.
There is a publication ban on the name of the alleged victim, who is now an adult.
"Two policemen came to my door, a sergeant and a lieutenant. They had a real attitude problem and really tried to intimidate me. They told me they wanted to talk to me about Mount Cashel. I told them to get the hell out of my driveway.
I didn't want anything to do with them."
For Earle, the officers'mention of Mount Cashel reminded him of a trip he'd made to the police station in 1975.
That's when he first confided in a police officer about what was happening at the orphange.
"I was only 11 or 12 back then", he says.
"The police didn't help me then and I damn well didn't want them showing up at my door nearly 15 years later. I just didn't want to hear the name Mount Cashel ever again".
A day or two later, the lieutenant returned.
This time an officer who introduced himself as Constable Mark Wall accompanied him. The constable wasn't much older than Earle. While the senior officer listened, Wall did the talking.
Mark presented himself in a different manner all together," Earle recalls.
He said, "Hi, Billy, I'd like to have a talk with you about Mount Cashel, but if you don't want to that's OK."
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