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Man accusing ex-VANOC CEO of sexual abuse was attending a different residential school at the time: court documents

The Province
December 30, 2014

http://www.theprovince.com/news/John+Furlong+sexual+abuse+accused+attending+different+residential/10691004/story.html

VANOC'S Chief Executive Officer John Furlong speaks to the media as VANOC releases its final financial statements at a press conference in Vancouver December 16, 2010.
Photo by Ric Ernst

Court documents related to a lawsuit against former Olympic CEO John Furlong suggest one of the plaintiffs attended a school in a different community at the time of alleged sexual abuse.

The plaintiff, a man who has asked that his name not be published, alleged Furlong sexually abused him while he was at Immaculata School in Burns Lake in 1969 and 1970.

But court documents indicate the man filed a claim for compensation under the Indian residential schools settlement that said he attended Lejac Residential School in Fraser Lake from 1966 until 1975.

The case is one of three lawsuits that allege Furlong sexually abused students while teaching in northern B.C. in the late 1960s and early 1970s, though in each case Furlong has denied any wrongdoing.

A lawsuit filed by Beverly Abraham has been dropped, leaving the man’s claim and a lawsuit by a woman named Grace West scheduled for trial in March.

In West’s case, the Catholic diocese that ran Immaculata School in Burns Lake has said in court documents that it has been unable to locate records to indicate she attended the school during Furlong’s tenure there.

None of the allegations against Furlong have been proven and his lawyer declined to comment.

The Canadian Press has a policy of not naming the victims of alleged sexual assault, however the former lawyer for West and Abraham has said they agreed to have their names made public. The plaintiff in the third lawsuit did not.

 




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