A B.C. priest says he knew his controversial past would surface when he renounced his Order of Canada over the award being bestowed upon abortion rights doctor Henry Morgentaler.

But Father Lucien Larre says he had to speak out anyway.

"I have trouble with Dr. Morgentaler getting the Order of Canada,'' Larre says.

He says giving Morgentaler the honour "degrades'' it and for people who are opposed to abortion, "it's nothing, it's a worthless award.''

"I'm protesting the decision of the committee and I didn't know any other way of doing it. Although I have tremendous respect for the Order of Canada I feel I have to return it,'' Larre says.

The Catholic priest is no stranger to controversy himself.

He received the Order of Canada in 1983 for founding the Bosco Centres for emotionally disturbed and addicted adolescents.

But Larre was later convicted of assault and administering a noxious substance -- convictions he says related to the high-risk youth he worked with, and he was eventually pardoned for both crimes.

And Larre candidly talks about sexual abuse allegations that arose against him when he worked in Regina many years ago, saying they were false allegations for which he was acquitted.

He says he has been haunted by the allegations ever since but that won't stop him from speaking out about Morgentaler, who is due to be inducted into the Order of Canada for his work to repeal the country's abortion laws and make the procedure a matter between a woman and her doctor.

"I no longer have a criminal record but it doesn't matter, it keeps haunting me forever,'' Larre says. "No matter where I go or what I do they say, oh, that's the guy who used to abuse the children in Regina.''

He says he knew the matter would come up when he thrust himself into the spotlight over Morgentaler's award.

"But I thought, I have to do it anyway.''

He says the assault charge stems from 1974, when he slapped a 19-year-old woman who was abusing drugs and breaking the law.

"Although it was wrong in hindsight, I never thought I was committing a criminal act at the time,'' he says.

Fifteen years later he was charged.

He says the other charge of administering a noxious substance arose after he and a nurse pressured three teens to ingest a handful of unidentified vitamins, sugar pills and placebos in an effort to teach them a lesson about taking drugs.

"That's a serious offence if you give somebody strychnine or a poison of some sort but this was totally different.''

As for the sexual abuse allegations, Larre points out that he was acquitted in a court of law.

"The kids who were accusing me of that were just doing it, trying to get a better deal. They were already in jail and so on and somehow they felt that if they said bad things about me, they would get brownie points.''

Morgentaler's appointment to the Order of Canada garnered a similar reaction from Catholic officials.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver sent out a statement condemning the decision and urging those opposed to contact the Governor General's office in protest.

Edmonton's Catholic archbishop has also written to Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean asking that the decision to recognize Morgentaler be reversed.