One of Canada's most notorious pedophiles faces child porn charges 40 years after first sexually molesting little boys
Convicted in the 1980s, Shaun Joshua Deacon in Abbotsford provincial court this week facing new charges
If you dreamed up Shaun Joshua Deacon as a pedophile character for a crime drama, critics would probably say it was too on the nose, too stereotypical. He’s a walking cliché.
But the 59-year-old is indeed one of Canada’s most notorious child molesters and he is still at it despite the fact that the Abbotsford Police Department (APD) has a keen eye on him.
Deacon was in Abbotsford provincial court on Wednesday (June 25, 2025) accused of once again breaching conditions of a release on a file for possession and accessing child pornography from 2023.
Deacon was convicted for sexual offences against a five-year-old girl and three boys under the age of 13 in the 1980s. He abducted a child in Kelowna while awaiting sentencing one time and he has other sexual assault convictions in 1996 and 1998. He breached supervision orders, at least, in 2002, 2009, 2014, and 2018.
The Parole Board of Canada said that Deacon has a history of befriending adults to gain access to their children, and the B.C. Court of Appeal (BCCA) said he grooms children.
“His offences follow a predictable pattern; he ‘grooms’ children by winning their affection and confidence and then he sexually abuses them,” according to a BCCA decision from 2004 that dismissed his attempt to overturn a 10-year long-term supervision order (LTSO). An LTSO can be put on an offender if a court determines there is a substantial risk he or she will reoffend and there is a reasonable possibility of risk to the community. The maximum length allowable for an LTSO is 10 years.
No more chemical castration
When Deacon was released in 2004, the parole board ordered him to take drugs to control his sexual fantasies, so-called 'chemical castration.' He challenged the constitutionality of that order in the Federal Court of Appeal. He lost and his case and the constitutionality of the practice has not been tested at the Supreme Court of Canada. However, chemical castration is only legal for offenders on an LTSO and since an LTSO cannot be longer than 10 years, that forced medical treatment for Deacon would have ended in 2008. (A story on this legal and ethical quandary coming soon.)
In 2006, managers of a Kelowna halfway house took the unusual step of hiring a contractor to follow Deacon closely whenever he left the facility at a cost of $90,000 a year. He had five different shadows over the years.
"We had a requirement that the staff member could never be more than 25 feet from him, and the staff member was with him at all times,” according to Bob Enns, executive director of the Okanagan Halfway House Society in a CBC article from 2006. “We just felt that that was the best way we could demonstrate safety for our community.”
He was returned to prison for breaching conditions five times in the 20 months he was at the Kelowna facility before being transferred to Vancouver.
When he’s not behind bars, he violates release conditions repeatedly. In 2022 after he was released from Matsqui Institution having served a full sentence, the Abbotsford Police Department (APD) issued a warning about Deacon stating they were closely monitoring him. Then on April 5, 2022, he was arrested for shoplifting in Abbotsford and received three months jail.
Deacon has changed his appearances intentionally over the years in addition to aging. A decade ago he was described as white, 5’11" tall, 190 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes. He also has one-inch scars on his left palm and his right bicep.
He appeared via video link in Abbotsford provincial court Wednesday (June 25, 2025) morning using a walker to get around, looking unhealthy. He was remanded in custody and the matter was put over to Friday, June 27, for another appearance via video.
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Paul J. Henderson
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