SASKATOON — A man convicted of sex crimes 35 years ago is back in the race for Saskatoon's Catholic school board.
Denis Robert Hall had withdrawn from the campaign last week after reports surfaced about his past.
But Hall says his family has received an outpouring of support from the community.
That, combined with his name still being on the ballot, led him to decide to officially re-enter the race.
The Roman Catholic Dioceses of Saskatoon has not responded to requests for comment.
Hall was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 1981 for having sex with girls between 14 and 16 years old, but was pardoned for his crimes in 1994.
At least one of the girls was a member of a community basketball team sponsored by Holy Rosary Cathedral in Regina.
"Should I be elected, I would join the other trustees and do my very best to make sure that every single student has the best education available," Hall said in a statement Monday.
"I'm very sorry," he said in an interview with Saskatoon radio station CKOM. "I can't excuse what I did, but I did it. I don't know what I was thinking."
Hall's son, Robert, said his father's teaching licence was restored in 1984 and he resumed teaching throughout Saskatchewan until the early 2000s.
"He always told me he needed correcting, and he got corrected," Robert Hall said.
