BishopAccountability.org

Montreal religious order could pay $20M in sex abuse class-action suit

CBC News
November 05, 2015

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-deaf-school-class-action-suit-clerics-st-viateur-1.3306645

Students at the all-boys school for the deaf alleged repeated abuse by teachers and support workers at the institute over a 42-year period.

A class-action lawsuit launched by former students of a church-run institute for the deaf in Montreal has been tentatively settled out of court for $20 million.

The former students had alleged that they were sexually abused by members of the Clerics of St-Viateur who worked at the school, formerly known as the Montreal Institute for the Deaf.

Students who attended the all-boys institute between 1940 and 1982 claimed that violent sexual assaults were commonplace.

Quebec's Superior Court authorized a class-action lawsuit against members of the Clerics of St-Viateur in March 2012.

Allegations by the suit's 64 claimants focused on 28 religious staff and six lay workers, only a handful of whom were still alive at the time it was launched.

Lawyers representing the former students said that if the settlement in principle is approved, it will be the highest ever to be paid out by a religious congregation for the sexual abuse of minors in Quebec.

In a statement, the Clerics of St-Viateur said it hoped the settlement would prevent "additional suffering" by the former students.

"We pray for them and their families and condemn any sexual abuse, including acts against minors," said Father Nestor Fils-Aimé.




.


Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.