Little Warriors drops keynote speaker accused of sexual misconduct

Little Warriors drops keynote speaker Little Warriors has dropped a keynote speaker accused of sexual misconduct. Nicole Lampa reports.

An Alberta woman is questioning the choice of a keynote speaker for an event put on by Little Warriors — an organization focused on fighting and treating child sexual abuse, and advocating for survivors.

The speaker was pulled from the bill earlier this week, however, the organization knew about the speaker's alleged sexual misconduct months ago.

Chelsea Meyers, a sexual assault survivor, has donated her time and money to Little Warriors over the last 10 years.

The local charity raises awareness and provides information about child sexual abuse. It also has a treatment facility known as the Be Brave Ranch to help children cope with the effects of sexual abuse.

That’s why Meyers says she was shocked last week to discover who Little Warriors had booked as keynote speaker for its upcoming Be Brave Luncheon.

"When I saw their Facebook post announcing their excitement over having him as their keynote speaker, which immediately raised red flags for me," Meyers said.

Paul Hutchinson is a producer and investor for the movie Sound of Freedom, which came out last summer.

It's a story about American vigilante Tim Ballard, who founded Operation Underground Railroad (OUR) which rescues children from sex traffickers in Colombia.

After the movie was released, reports surfaced about Ballard’s own alleged sexual misconduct.

Hutchinson was also a part of OUR in 2016. He allegedly touched the breasts of a trafficking victim in Mexico during an undercover operation.

In a statement to CTV News Edmonton, a spokesperson for OUR said:

"An Operation Underground Railroad employee flagged the incident involving Mr. Hutchinson to the president, Matt Osborne, and he promptly notified the Mexican federal police."

The story about Hutchinson came out in Vice in the fall, a few months after the movie came out.

A credible source tells CTV News Edmonton Hutchinson was booked as the keynote speaker for Little Warriors around the same time.

"It was very triggering to see that they would even consider having someone who's been accused of molesting someone as a guest speaker," Meyers said.

Hutchinson's representative insists his actions were necessary during the undercover sting. Hutchinson has also said Mexican police assured him the woman was an adult.

An OUR spokesperson said:

"The Mexican police investigated the incident and did not press charges as the woman was an adult.

Mr. Hutchinson has never been employed by OUR in an official capacity and OUR ceased any affiliation with him shortly thereafter.

The actions by Mr. Hutchinson do not represent OUR's standard operating procedure and were inappropriate, regardless if the woman was an adult or not."

Criminologist and former undercover officer Dan Jones agrees.

"You're going to be compromising the sexual integrity of another human being while you're doing that, which is absolutely inappropriate from an undercover perspective."

Meyers says she left a complaint on Little Warriors' Facebook last week about its choice of Hutchinson as a speaker.

She says she received this response from a person behind the account, saying, in part:

"There is gravity to the rescues and operations that many cannot understand.

"While operating undercover, Paul must act entirely like the traffickers are expecting.

"All Paul's undercover work was done with integrity and honor."

After she complained again, Little Warriors wrote back: "We are sorry to hear you are having issues with our event. This individual has no criminal proceedings or charges against him."

And then Meyers was blocked.

On Monday, Meyers says she spoke with a Little Warriors staff member over the phone and they insisted they were still going ahead.

"I felt like I was being silenced all over again, that my concerns didn't matter," Meyers said.

Several more complaints popped up on X, saying the event should be cancelled immediately.

Tuesday night, Little Warriors pulled Hutchinson as the keynote speaker, and the organization's CEO, Jennifer Martin, issued a statement:

"Our goal for having one of the movie producers speak at our fundraiser was only to increase awareness and the need to address this horrific issue.

"Recognizing concern by some just late last week regarding our speaker, we very quickly made the decision to change our program so we can focus on the key issue at hand, which is the protection of children and healing those who endure the trauma of sexual abuse."

"I think it's the least they could do but it also feels like too little, too late," Meyers said.

"Considering they work with children, parents literally send their children to them to heal. They should know the bigger picture, they should know what's going on. This isn't an organization I would trust with my children anymore."

In a statement from Little Warrior's CEO provided to CTV News Edmonton Thursday night, she says the organization contacted many of its supporters by phone and email to get their perspectives.

She went on to write.

"We had no knowledge of controversy when conversations with the speaker began last August. Later our understanding was that he was fully cleared of what occurred during an undercover operation. When concerns were raised that being fully exonerated was not enough for some just recently, we were happy to quickly take those perspectives into account.

"In response, we made the decision to cancel the speaker. So, the concerns expressed to us were very much heard, as well as promptly addressed.

"Everything about agencies whose missions involve advocating, prevention, awareness and treatment for child sexual abuse trauma can be triggering to survivors. We always want to do our very best to carry out our mission, combat this terrible offence and heal those impacted, while also being transparent and mindful around this very difficult topic."

The organization says it will be hosting a new speaker for its upcoming luncheon but did not say who it will be.