A 60-year-old employee with Children's Services in northern Alberta has been charged with child pornography offences.
Henry Victor Haineault, of Fort McMurray and employed by the Children's Services office in High Level, is charged with two counts each of possessing and accessing child pornography.
Police found pornographic photos involving children on his work computer in the High Level office and on his computer at his previous job with Athabasca Tribal Council Child and Family Services, said Cpl. Cameron Dunn, with the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams.
The investigation began in November 2017, leading to the seizure of Haineault's work computers and devices in January 2018.
Dunn said police were initially contacted by the Athabasca Tribal Council, which was concerned about images it found on a USB device.
ALERT's Internet Child Exploitation technicians found thousands of child pornography photos on the devices, Dunn said.
Haineault was arrested on April 11 in Leduc.
While the charges relate to online offences, Haineault also worked directly with children. Police encourage anyone with information about the case to contact them.
"Haineault's employment and potential access to children certainly increased the concern that we have in cases like this," Dunn said. Haineault was already on administrative suspension when they received the complaint, but "he had recent access to children up until that complaint."
At the Alberta legislature, the minister for children's services, said the government co-operated fully with the investigation, while ensuring that the needs of the vulnerable children it serves were prioritized.
"It makes anyone sick to think that the people that we expect to take care of these vulnerable kids would potentially do that," said Danielle Larivee when asked about the charges on Wednesday.
Larivee said the accused was put on administrative leave when the investigation started. When the charges were laid, he was terminated by the department.
"At this time, that person is no longer employed by the Government of Alberta."
ALERT is funded by the Alberta government and is a compilation of the province's most sophisticated law enforcement resources committed to tackling serious and organized crime.