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Second Class-action Suit Targets Congregation De Ste-croix over Abuse

By Sue Montgomery
Montreal Gazette
October 31, 2013

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Second+class+action+suit+targets+Congr%C3%A9gation+Croix+over/9109273/story.html

After paying $19 million in damages and issuing a lukewarm apology to the men they abused as children in their schools, the Congregation de Ste-Croix may have to dip into its funds again.

Lawyers representing more alleged victims of the congregation filed a motion Thursday in Quebec Superior Court asking permission for a class-action suit on behalf of people abused in six other institutions run by the congregation’s priests and brothers, including the iconic St-Joseph’s Oratory.

Lawyer Alain Arsenault said 25 people have already come forward since the first lawsuit, which was settled earlier this year.

That class-action suit, which began with just one former student, compensated 206 victims of sexual abuse at the hands of the brothers, each receiving on average $60,890 in damages. The abuse took place in College Notre Dame, College de St-Cesaire and Notre-Dame-de-Pohenegamook, and involved 80 perpetrators who were members of the religious order.

Two of the religious brothers now face criminal charges in connection with the abuse.

The motion filed Thursday asks that the suit cover all victims from the Oratory, two orphanages, Ecole Notre Dame des Neiges, College de Ste-Croix (which is now Maisonneuve CEGEP) and College de St-Laurent (now St-Laurent CEGEP).

The money distributed earlier this year to victims is believed to be the biggest class-action settlement against a religious order in Canada, but Arsenault believes this suit could be even larger.

“This is meant to throw a wider net and capture all that wasn’t caught the first time around,” Arsenault said at a press conference to announce the action. “The first one involved mostly brothers but this time around, there will be priests.”

He said of the 25 victims who have come forward so far, 15 are alleging abuse at the hands of a priest.

The lead plaintiff, identified only as J.J., claims he was sexually abused once or twice a week over a period of two years while he attended Ecole Notre Dame des Neiges. He’s asking for $350,000 in damages.

His family lived in a building owned by the congregation which was near St-Joseph’s Oratory. J.J. was often at the Oratory and claims to have been abused several times by a priest. He never spoke to anyone about it, until the abuse committed by other members of the congregation hit the news.

That first came to light in 2008 when a former brother of the order came to The Gazette with documents showing that abuse had taken place and that even the Vatican was aware of it. In one instance, an abused student was paid $250,000 to keep quiet.

Some brothers, such as Claude Hurtubise, who is still alive and living in Laval, were named by 37 victims in the first class-action suit as being their abuser.

But despite the media coverage about the abuse, the congregation doesn’t seem any more willing to address the issue.

A Roman Catholic priest was fired this week from the Oratory after he tried to talk to his colleagues about an 18-year-old who told him he had been abused by a priest from another parish.

Contact: smontgomery@montrealgazette.com

 

 

 

 

 




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