Former IH top doc who's facing child sex charges remains employed, made $361k last year

Charged doc still employed

Photo: Interior Health

Dr. Albert de Villiers

Interior Health's former chief medical health officer who's facing criminal charges for two separate allegations of child sexual abuse remains employed by the health authority, and he was paid more than $361,000 last fiscal year.

Dr. Albert de Villiers served as IH's top doctor until June 2021, when he was charged with sexual assault and sexual interference of a young child, stemming from incidents alleged to have occurred between 2018 and 2019 in Grande Prairie, Alta.

De Villiers was the senior medical officer of health for Alberta's north zone before he moved to Kelowna for the IH job in August 2020.

When the charges were first laid against him, Interior Health's Executive Compensation disclosure shows that Dr. de Villiers took a “general paid leave,” beginning June 9, 2021.

But it appears he returned to work on Oct. 4, and was “reassigned to [medical health officer] duties.”

Interior Health has omitted Dr. de Villiers name from its list of medical health officers on its website.

Interior Health confirms Dr. de Villiers returned to work on Oct. 4, 2021 and was “reassigned to administrative duties." But it's not clear what those duties entail.

Throughout the 2021/2022 fiscal year, from March 31, 2021 to March 31, 2022, Interior Health paid Dr. de Villiers a total of $361,656. This was a 75% increase from $205,636 he made the year prior.

A note on the Executive Compensation disclosure says Dr. de Villiers “did not meet criteria for inclusion” in IH's 2021/22 executive compensation freeze, which took effect in August 2020. His substantial raise was a “performance-based increase.”

The total $361,656 of compensation is significantly higher than his base salary of $189,958. Additional compensation came in the form of benefits ($22,860), pension ($27,267), overtime ($22,433) and an additional $89,008 for “615 hours of general leave.” This $89,008 appears to be additional pay during the time he took the leave from his job in June 2021.

Castanet reached out to Interior Health for clarification, and for the rationale as to why Dr. de Villiers remains employed by IH.

“Interior Health employee policies and processes align with federal and provincial laws, including employment standards, human rights, occupational health and safety, privacy legislation, and principles of procedural fairness and, where relevant, union collective agreements,” IH said in response.

“We are not able to provide further information due to privacy obligations and the fact this matter is before the courts.”

More recently, Dr. de Villiers was hit with more criminal charges. Last month, he was charged with invitation to sexual touching, making sexually explicit material available to a child and voyeurism. These crimes are alleged to have occurred between January 2017 and December 2019 in Alberta. Police said someone came forward in January 2022 to report these latest allegations.

None of the allegations Dr. de Villiers is facing has been proven in court. He's set to face trial on the original charges in January, while no trial dates have been set for the more recent charges.