One-time Nunavut resident Stephen Lowe accused of using acquaintances’ pictures to create ‘technology-facilitated sexual violence,’ Ottawa police say
A Nova Scotia man, who once lived in Nunavut, is facing 79 charges for the alleged online exploitation and harassment of dozens of victims.
A woman who used to live in Nunavut, but is not among the victims listed in court documents, said there are others who have filed formal complaints with the police.
Stephen Lowe, 60, made a brief video appearance in an Ottawa courtroom Friday from the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, where he has been held since his arrest in Feburary.
Police charged Lowe, who lived in Maitland, N.S., with four counts of harassment against two women and uttering threats. Another 75 charges — including harassment, uttering threats and possession of obscene material — were laid in May. The allegations have not been proven in court.
In court documents, Ottawa police allege the offences occurred in Ottawa and “elsewhere in Canada.”
Police laid the charges after investigating Lowe’s alleged use of “technology-facilitated sexual violence,” an Ottawa Police Service news release issued Friday said.
“The victims were depicted online in harmful ways,” said Ottawa Police Service Acting Staff Sgt. Robert Mills in an email to Nunatsiaq News on Friday.
“The complainants were depicted in what appeared to be deep fake/AI pornography that was posted on websites,” he added.
Deep fake pornography involves the transposing of a person’s picture onto the bodies of pornographic actors via a high-powered computer. Generative AI, which is a somewhat different technology, can be used for similar purposes.
A court-ordered publication ban prohibits the identification of victims or witnesses in the case. In court documents, they are identified by initials.
Nunatsiaq News spoke to a woman who used to live in Nunavut but is not identified in court documents as one of the victims of the alleged offences. Nunatsiaq News is identifying her as S.K. to protect her identity.
S.K. said approximately 30 people who said they are also victims of Lowe share and discuss the case on a group messaging app.
Lowe was S.K.’s neighbour when she lived in Nunavut between 10 and 20 years ago. During some of his time in Nunavut, Lowe was a freelance photographer. S.K. said he took graduation photos of her friend and was often hired by others.
S.K. described some of what she said were photo manipulations of herself that she had seen. In one manipulated image, there was a gun to her head while she was being tortured, she said.
As more people come forward, she said she hopes there will be more charges against Lowe. Some of the alleged victims live in Nunavut now, but there are others in B.C., Quebec and other parts of Canada.
The police investigation began in September when Ottawa police received a report from an alleged victim.
The multi-jurisdictional investigation led to the RCMP arresting Lowe at his home in Maitland, N.S., on Feb 12. He was transferred to the Ottawa Police Service on Feb. 17 and remains in custody at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre.
Nunatsiaq News tried to contact Lowe’s lawyer for a comment about the case but has not received a response.
Twenty-five victims have been identified. The offences are alleged to have occurred between August 2020 and December 2025.
Lowe lived in Nunavut off and on for about 20 years beginning in the early 2000s, according to a resume posted on his WordPress account. He worked for Nortext Publishing, the parent company of Nunatsiaq News, and Ayaya Marketing & Communications approximately 20 years ago.
About 10 people with Nunavut ties also provided information to Nunavut RCMP, who passed those reports along to Ottawa investigators, Det. Dakota Bashford, said in an interview Friday.
None of those people have been identified as victims in the court records, Bashford said.
Lowe has been charged with:
- Harassment by combination of prohibited conduct (25 counts)
- Uttering threats (25 counts)
- Publishing or possessing obscene material for distribution (25 counts)
- Printing, publishing, or possessing to publish child sexual abuse material (2 counts)
- Importing, selling, distributing, etc. child sexual abuse material (2 counts)
Another man, Gregry Van Beek, 38, of West Nipissing, Ont., near North Bay, Ont., was also charged, the Ottawa Police report said. It is unclear if the two men are connected.
Van Beek has been charged with:
- Harassment by watching and besetting (2 counts)
- Conspiracy to commit an indictable offence (1 count)
- Uttering threats (2 counts)
- Publishing an intimate image without consent (1 count)
Van Beek was arrested on May 2 and remains in custody.
Lowe’s next court appearance is on June 12 at the Ottawa courthouse.
