MONTREAL – It was only when Bill Surkis sent his computer to a repair shop to check for a virus that police were notified of suspicious videos on his hard drive.
Based on that evidence, the former regional director of B’nai Brith in Quebec was charged Friday with two counts relating to the possession and accessing of child pornography between July and November, 2008.
Surkis, 69, who was also the academic dean of John Abbott College for 22 years, and the executive director of the Holocaust Memorial Centre, spent the night in jail before being released with a long list of conditions Friday afternoon.
He is forbidden from being in the presence of minors or in any park or playground where minors congregate. It was not clear whether this condition also applies to his own grandchildren.
He is forbidden from using his computer or any other equipment to access the Internet except for work purposes, and he is barred from going to Internet cafés.
Surkis has been working recently as a political consultant.
And he was ordered to give up his passport and remain in Quebec unless given written permission by the prosecutor.
Surkis’s lawyer, Steven Slimovitch, said his client was very upset by the charges.
“He understands how serious the accusation is,” Slimovitch said. “We will not make light of this.”
If found guilty, Surkis will face a mandatory minimum sentence of 14 days and a maximum sentence of five years in jail.
That said, Slimovitch pointed out that Surkis has no prior accusations or history of using child pornography. And althoug the videos were found on his computer, Slimovitch said, his client is not accused of making, selling or trafficking the videos.
Slimovitch, who is also National Legal Counsel for B’nai Brith Canada, said the news will likely come as a shock to the Jewish community.
“He’s a community leader,” he said. “I assume everyone will take a step back and look at this seriously.”
Heidi-Lore's Musings 
Bwahahahaha!! This one deserves to be disseminated as far and wide as possible.
Ok, here we are almost 5 months hence, this one has been buried. Almost impossible to access, many links already scrubbed. Only update available as follows.
http://www.cjad.com/news/565/997602
Evidence will show Bill Surkis’ innocence: lawyer
Thu, 2009-09-24 10:09.
Shuyee Lee
Bill Surkis’ lawyer has sent all the evidence to the crown in relation to kiddie porn charges against his client.
And he says it’ll prove Surkis’ innocence.
The former dean at John Abbott and former head of B’nai Brith faces charges of accessing and possessing child pornography.
Surkis’ scheduled court hearing was held last week instead since his lawyer was away this week for personal matters.
They set a new date in November to give the crown enough time to go over the evidence, showing that Surkis had child porn on his computer for educational purposes only, allowed under the criminal code.
“It wasn’t for some kind of deviant process,” defence lawyer Steven Slimovitch tells CJAD News.
“The government will see that everything Mr. Surkis did, the way he downloaded it, the way he stored the material, the way he accessed the material, the way he brought his computer to the store, all show that he was doing everything in a completely open process.”
Police say they found over 20 kiddie porn videos on Surkis’ computer hard drive after they were tipped off by a computer repair shop checking the equipment out for a virus.
The alleged incidents date back to a period between July and November 2008.
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So it’s the old “educational use” defense is it? Be interesting to watch what happens now to the Nova Scotia catholic bishop with the same problem. I bet that story is going to keep playing for a long while yet.
They love to get their goy dupes exposed, helps with the societal breakdown project, but when one of their own screws up, it’s main the fire engine! Organ trafficing, child kidnapping, kiddie porn, what a lovely bunch these “respected community leaders are! Bnai Brith are satanists, one and all.