CANADA
Montreal Gazette
BY GEOFFREY VENDEVILLE, THE GAZETTE JULY 10, 2014
The Redemptorists religious order must pay as much as $150,000 in compensation to each former student of the St-Alphonse Seminary in Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of members of the Catholic congregation, Quebec Superior Court ruled Thursday.
Victims of sexual abuse at the boys-only boarding school between 1960 and 1987 were to be awarded no less than $75,000 each, Judge Claude Bouchard decided.
A former student, Frank Tremblay, brought the class-action lawsuit forward four years ago in the name of all other victims against a teacher at the school, Raymond-Marie Lavoie, St-Alphonse College and the Redemptorists.
“This is a landmark decision,” said Tremblay’s lawyer, Robert Kugler. “The amount awarded, up to $150,000, is, I believe, more than any judge in Quebec has awarded to a victim of sexual abuse.”
At least 70 men said they were molested at the school when most were between the ages of 12 and 16, while authorities at the school turned a blind eye. As a result, many victims said they suffered from drug or alcohol addiction, depression and sexual confusion.
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