…continued from Part 1; Suddenly, Nathan arrives at Canaan Land >
The first weekend after Nathan Schultz’s arrival at Canaan Land, we all travelled in the transport van to Saskatoon for church services. I didn’t get that same luxury when I began my Canaan Land sentence, as I wasn’t allowed to visit or call my family for the first 2 months I was there (including my birthday). But the rules seemed to bend for Nathan and he got to chat with his church-elder parents every weekend, mostly because we were attending Saskatoon Christian Centre’s services weekly.
On that first Sunday, he was escorted up to the 2nd pew with the rest of us. Then just before church service started, he said that he needed to return a borrowed item that he brought with him. He asked Jim if he could return the item, and Jim turned to me and instructed me to go with Nathan and come right back. So, I followed Nathan as he led the way. “Oh, my friend Derek just went into the foyer” Nathan said to me. “He usually works in the child care area so he probably had to start working right now. I’ll be right back!” Nathan said as he jogged down the foyer hallway and slipped away from me. In that moment, he disappeared out of sight into the child care area of the building.
In that moment, he disappeared out of sight into the child care area of the building.
I figured there’s no reason for me to chase after Nathan inside our own church, so I waited in the foyer as a friend started chatting with me. Moments later, Jim entered the foyer area and locked eyes with me. “Where’s Nathan?!” Jim demanded as he glanced around to try and spot him. I knew immediately that something was wrong, but I presumed it was because I fucked up by not being right beside Nathan as instructed. I stammered to explain that he had just taken off down the hallway and said he was going to be right back. Jim abruptly queried me; “where did he go”? At that same moment, Nathan emerged from the child care hallway. Jim glared at him in pure disdain. “You know you are not supposed to be around that area of the church!” Jim erupted at Nathan.
“You know you are not supposed to be around that area of the church!” Jim erupted at Nathan.
At that time, those words didn’t make much sense to me. It just didn’t add up, but Jim was clearly pissed at Nathan, and at me for not escorting him at all times inside church. Jim walked us back to our seats at the front of the church. It was now clear to me that there was something deeply wrong about Nathan being near children in our church. I just didn’t know what exactly was so wrong about that – he was the adult son of long-time elders of our church and had served in the children’s church ministries for years. I was beyond confused.
Jim or Nathan never did explain the situation to me. It was a secret, and I apparently wasn’t in the circle-of-privilege to be entrusted with what was really going on. As his roommate in Canaan Land, I noticed how well Nathan could gain people’s trust using charm and small-talk, which gave him an advantage. He was well-practiced at finding ways to skirt around a rule or ten, and some rules seemed to change for his benefit. He introduced me to Canaan Land “contraband” like Chris Sheppard CD’s, and he let me experiment with the plethora of cool electronics he was allowed to have in the Canaan Land program. He even devised a setup where he could flip a small switch on his DiscMan to change between playing gospel music to a hidden broadcast of “contraband” techno music from a FM transmitter tucked under his bed in our room.
Decades later, I learned of the horribly damning reasons why Nathan was sent to Canaan Land. It was an absolute shock to now realize that they made me share a bedroom and close quarters with the person from children’s-church in Saskatoon Christian Centre who committed heinous acts against multiple girls. That certainly explains why Jim royally freaked out when Nathan disappeared that Sunday.
It was an absolute shock to now realize that they made me share a bedroom and close quarters with the person from children’s-church in Saskatoon Christian Centre who committed heinous acts against multiple girls.
I almost wish I threw more logs at him or made him carry larger heavier trees or made him as miserable as I could have during our Canaan Land months.
That Sunday when he slipped away from me in church reminds me that he has seemingly ‘slipped away’ from all accountability for the harms he caused multiple girls from that same church who hid him away in Canaan Land. It was a feeble attempt by far too many complicit adults to cover-up the unconscionable actions of the son of high-ranking church-elders instead of getting help for him and his victims. Canaan Land was by no means equipped to treat or rehabilitate sex offenders, so the months he spent in that program wouldn’t have actually helped or addressed anything. For all we know, he may have escalated his behavior and could still remain at large.
One thing is for certain; his abuses desperately needed to be addressed and stopped the first time it happened instead of becoming a series of offenses. If it were not for the silence and complicity of the church officials and adults who knew about his instances of abuse, it would have stopped at the first victim. Instead, Nathan’s offenses against young girls in our church festered into an ongoing pattern in a legacy of abuses.
Instead, Nathan’s offenses against young girls in our church festered into an ongoing pattern in a legacy of abuses.
Continue the story of Nathan Schultz in the 3-part series
on the Legacy of Abuse Podcast >