The Montreal Gazette - Canada November 25, 2010
Quebec judge allows class-action against religious order
Dozens of ex-students allege they were abused
By SUE MONTGOMERY, The Gazette
A Superior Court Justice has given the go-ahead for former students of a Roman Catholic secondary school near Quebec City to sue the priests who allegedly sexually abused them.
Lawyer Pierre Boivin said it's the first time in Quebec a class-action suit has been filed against a religious order -Congregation du Tres-Saint-Redempteur -and the amount could reach into the millions of dollars.
So far, dozens of alleged victims of the former boarding school, Seminaire St. Alphonse, have come forward, but Boivin said he believes once word spreads, it could reach into the hundreds. "We think it's just the tip of the iceberg," he said.
The lead plaintiff in the suit is seeking $750,000 in damages for the sexual, emotional, physical and psychological abuse he says he suffered several times a week at the hands of a priest in charge of the students' dormitory.
Rev. Raymond-Marie Lavoie, 70, was arrested last December by the Surete du Quebec and charged with 18 sexual crimes involving 11 minors. His preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 31 in Quebec City.
The suit covers all students of Seminaire Saint-Alphonse, in Ste. Anne de Beaupre, who were sexually abused by priests of the Congregation du Tres-Saint-Redempteur between 1960 and 1987. The priests had nothing to do with the school after 1987, and it is now a private school called College St. Alphonse.
The lead plaintiff, who attended the college between 1981 and 1985, alleges the abuse took place in the school's dormitory and in a vacation home used by the priests in St. Title des Caps.
The suit, which is asking for at least $100,000 in damages for each victim, alleges the priests conspired among themselves, discussing which students they would abuse.
At least five priests were involved in pedophilia at the school, which had between 200 and 250 students, the suit claims. One of the accused priests was Rev. Francois Plourde, the school's former director, who has since died.
Former students of College Notre Dame and College St. Cesaire, which was run by Brothers of Holy Cross, are awaiting authorization from Quebec Superior Court to sue their alleged abusers. Dozens of men have come forward, saying they were sexually abused by brothers teaching at the college, which was also a boarding school for boys.
Boivin said he's confident the Quebec City case will go to trial in the next couple of years.
This article was found at:
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Quebec+judge+allows+class+action+against+religious+order/3880749/story.html
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Order of Quebec’s Brother André admits to sex abuse, agrees to $18-million payout
ReplyDeleteby INGRID PERITZ October 06, 2011
The Congregation of the Holy Cross is one of Quebec’s most high-profile religious orders, its name associated with the landmark St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal and the name of Brother André, the Holy Cross doorman who became a saint.
But on Thursday the Roman Catholic congregation made headlines for scandal, not glory. The order, whose roots date to the French Revolution and whose clergy were entrusted with the education of the sons of Quebec’s best families, agreed to pay up to $18-million to former students who were sexually abused in its care over a span of decades.
The congregation also agreed to issue a blunt apology. It admitted to the suffering caused by abusive teachers and staff in positions of authority and said, “such acts should have never happened.” “Some members of our Congregation have broken their vows and failed in their mission,” Jean-Pierre Aumont, Canadian provincial superior of the Congregation of Holy Cross, said in a statement. “As leader and representative of this Congregation, I am deeply pained by these transgressions.”
The payout in the out-of-court settlement was described as the largest in Quebec for a religious congregation, and was greeted with a measure of relief by former students who have been speaking out for years about abuse. The best-known of the institutions involved in the abuses is Collège Notre Dame, a greystone-sheathed boarding school across the street from the imposing St. Joseph’s Oratory; both institutions still belong to the Holy Cross order. (Catholic brothers no longer teach at the private school, however; as for St. André, he died in 1937, decades before the abuses cited in the lawsuit).
Sébastien Richard was sexually abused by a priest at the age of 13 while getting math tutoring at Notre Dame in the 1970s. A former choirboy, he says the sexual touching, though he thought little of it at the time, led to years of behavioural problems and difficulty dealing with authority. “This settlement is important so that we break the silence in Quebec,” said Mr. Richard, 48. “Unfortunately with our strong Catholic past there are a lot of people who were victims of abuse. We want to tell people who are ashamed of what happened that they are victims, and they shouldn’t be ashamed.”
The settlement applies to victims who attended Notre Dame from 1950 to 2001, along with two other schools outside Montreal during shorter periods. Claimants will be eligible for between $10,000 and $250,000 each depending on the extent of the abuse – from touching to full sexual encounters – as well as the after-effects.
Lawyer Alain Arsenault, who represents the victims, described the settlement as historic, both for the size of the payout and the number of former students expected to come forward to file claims, which could reach 85. “The congregation has recognized that there were pedophiles among them, and that has never been done before,” he said in an interview. “This order is one of the most important in Quebec. It’s Brother André, it’s St. Joseph’s Oratory. It has moral and religious prestige.”
The existence of widespread abuse and the silence of the Catholic brothers came to light after an exposé by The Gazette in Montreal in 2008. Robert Cornellier’s brother, René Jr., attended Notre Dame in the early 1970s and fruitlessly denounced sexual abuses he suffered to the school authorities in 1993. But he never told his family and led a troubled life before his death in 1994. On Thursday, Robert, tears filling his eyes, said the congregation’s apology was perhaps the most important victory.
“They’re finally recognizing, after 18 years, that my brother was a victim, and that they are guilty in some way for what they did,” he said. “For us that may be the most important thing today. His death wasn’t in vain.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec/order-of-quebecs-brother-andr-admits-to-sex-abuse-agrees-to-18-million-payout/article2193814/
Sir,
ReplyDeleteIn class action suits, is there any way the victims can keep their identity secret from the press and society in general?
Different rules may apply in different jurisdictions. If you are considering joining a class action I suggest you ask that question of the law firm conducting the action.
DeleteAbuse allegations at Quebec orphanage: Health authority, religious order agree to $65M settlement
ReplyDeleteHundreds of alleged victims came forward during six-year process
by Rachel Watts · CBC News · May 24, 2024
Jean Simard says it's taken him 25 years of therapy to deal with the abuse he suffered at the hands of staff at a Quebec City orphanage when he was as young as 12 years old.
Around 50 years later, he is among the former residents of the orphanage represented in a class-action lawsuit that has just reached a $65-million settlement deal with the local health authority and the religious order — the Soeurs de la Charité de Québec — that ran the Mont D'Youville orphanage.
The lawsuit represents people who say they were victims of physical, sexual and psychological abuse between 1925 and 1996.
For months, Simard says he was beaten two to three times a week by a man at Mont D'Youville.
"He savagely beat me," said Simard. "Hitting me with the strap on my back.… He would ask me to kiss him after he hit me. He was really a pervert and a sadist."
Simard says he ran away from the orphanage and committed crimes, resulting in him being transferred to other "more secure centres" before he was sent to prison for eight-and-a-half years.
He says the news of a settlement came as a relief.
"We felt we'd been re-victimized throughout the process," said Simard, speaking with Radio-Canada.
"The objective was to be compensated for our suffering."
After six years of work on this case, lawyer Robert Kugler says parties reached the historic settlement through mediation.
Launched by law firms Kugler Kandestin and Quessy Henry St-Hilaire, the lawsuit was approved in 2020.
The class action against the religious order and the local health authority means they will not have to go to trial in September.
"It is the largest settlement of a class action of this nature in Quebec history which is excellent, yet at the same time it's an indication of just how many people were affected by abuse at this institution," said Kugler.
"In a way, this historic amount is a historic sad story because it's an indication of just how many children were mistreated."
He says the law firms took on this case when one former resident of the orphanage was willing to speak out.
"Instead of doing it only for himself, he agreed and we agreed to make it a class action in order to enable what we assumed were many others to access justice as well, instead of continuing to suffer in silence," said Kugler.
To date, nearly 600 survivors have come forward, but Kugler says he expects more.
He says over the years, the organizations responsible for the school tried to blame other entities such as insurance companies, school commissions or the attorney general of Quebec.
As part of the settlement, which has yet to be approved by a judge, the health authority and the religious order did not admit guilt and have not apologized.
Following the approval of the settlement, Kugler says lawyers will work with the victims to determine how much money each plaintiff will receive.
to see the links embedded in this article go to
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/65m-settlement-alleged-abuse-mont-d-youville-orphanage-1.7213090