CANADA
Sun News

GIUSEPPE VALIANTE | QMI AGENCY

MONTREAL – A Quebec judge rejected a motion to delay a multi-million-dollar class-action lawsuit against a religious order accused of sexually abusing deaf and mute children.

The Clerics of Saint Viator wanted the judge to force the members of the class-action to prove – before the trial started – that they were legally allowed to sue.

Lawyer Pierre Boivin, who represents the alleged victims, said Canadian law gives victims a three-year window after a crime was committed in order to come forward.

However, in sexual abuse cases, jurisprudence allows victims a larger window, due to the trauma associated with molestation, Boivin said.

Boivin said that if the clerics got their way, members of the class-action would have had to prove that victims were abused significantly enough to be granted a larger prescribed time.