John de Ruiter in an undated photograph.Supplied
Two of the women who brought forward sexual assault allegations against Alberta spiritual leader John de Ruiter say the Crown told them this week that all charges against him and his wife will be stayed because of court delays and misconduct by the prosecution.
Mr. de Ruiter and his wife, Leigh Ann, were each facing six charges for alleged sexual assaults on multiple women who formerly belonged to Mr. de Ruiter’s vast circle of followers.
The de Ruiters were charged in 2023, and a trial was scheduled for September.
One of the women they were accused of assaulting, who can’t be identified because of a court-ordered publication ban, told The Globe and Mail she was contacted by the Crown earlier this week for an “urgent, time-sensitive meeting.”
There, she says, she was told the charges against the de Ruiters were being dropped because of the length of time the case had taken to get to trial, and unspecified misconduct by the Crown.
“He said, ‘We owe you an apology.’ And I said that that was laughable,” the woman said.
Another complainant in the case, whose identity is also protected, confirmed that she, too, was contacted by the Crown this week, and was told all the de Ruiters’ charges were being stayed for the same reasons. The women were told that the stays end the prosecution against the de Ruiters.
The de Ruiters had pleaded not guilty to all charges. Dino Bottos, a lawyer for the couple, declined to comment.
Acting chief Crown prosecutor James Pickard, the prosecutor currently handling the case, passed a request for comment to Alberta Justice spokesperson Michelle Davio. She declined to comment.
The first woman who spoke to The Globe said she has been in touch with the other complainants in the case.
“There’s a lot of confusion. We feel like there’s no accountability,” she said. “It doesn’t seem right. It feels like something is not being shared with us, like the whole story just doesn’t actually make sense to us.”
She added that the women feel like they are now “victims of the system.”
For decades, Mr. de Ruiter, 66, has been the messianic centre of a community of devout followers from around the world who believe he’s an advanced spiritual entity, and “the living embodiment of truth.” The group is sometimes called the College of Integrated Philosophy, or Oasis.
The Oasis Centre, where John de Ruiter held meetings with his followers, in Edmonton in 2017.JASON FRANSON/The Globe and Mail
Questions about Mr. de Ruiter’s relationships with his female followers had been percolating for years when he was arrested in January, 2023, and charged with four counts of sexual assault.
At the time, Edmonton police said Mr. de Ruiter had “informed certain female group members that he was directed by a spirit to engage in sexual activity with them,” which would “provide them an opportunity to achieve a state of higher being or spiritual enlightenment.”
Additional sexual assault charges were laid against Mr. de Ruiter and his wife later that year. At the height of the case, the de Ruiters faced a total of 14 sexual assault charges between them, in relation to eight different women. Mr. de Ruiter himself faced eight charges; his wife faced six.
The case has been largely out of the public eye since the charges were laid, but it has rarely been out of court – where it has been the subject of voluminous motions and applications being argued before trial.
The Crown stayed two of the charges against Mr. de Ruiter in July, 2025, and at least five Crown prosecutors have worked on the case.
The trial had been scheduled and adjourned multiple times, most recently in December, 2025, just weeks before it was to begin. It was set to be heard before a jury in September, and expected to span several months.
The first woman who spoke to The Globe said having the sexual assault case before the courts for years with multiple trial dates has affected every aspect of her life, and has caused problems in her work, relationships, well-being and healing.
“I’m not allowed to talk about anything. I had to stay silent, which as someone who had to take a vow of silence within [Mr. de Ruiter’s group] is really difficult,” she said. “To stay silent this whole time and feel like it’s for a purpose, and then to have this happen, I don’t know. I feel betrayed.”
The nature of Mr. de Ruiter’s relationships with his followers was the subject of a 2017 feature by The Globe and Mail. A Globe investigation in 2023 showed Mr. de Ruiter and his community have been congregating in an isolated area of rural Alberta.
Mr. de Ruiter has been out on bail since shortly after his arrest, and has been living with a number of court-ordered conditions in the community, including not to be alone with women.