VANCOUVER (CANADA)
B. C. Catholic [Archdiocese of Vancouver, British Columbia]
December 14, 2022
The latest report on clerical sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Vancouver has been released and names a late priest with an accusation of sexual abuse in 2008.
The Archdiocese of Vancouver has issued its semi-annual update on clerical sexual abuse, releasing the name of a priest who was the subject of sexual abuse allegation received in 2008.
The latest report of the Implementation Working Group, the archdiocesan committee responsible for implementing the approved recommendations received from the 2019 Case Review Committee, was released Tuesday and said an accusation of sexual abuse had been received in April 2008 against Father Georges Chevrier, OMI, pastor of Our Lady of Fatima in Coquitlam from 1971 to 1977.
The individual who reported the abuse has been receiving counselling and other forms of support, said the report, and legal proceedings only started several months ago.
The archdiocese also recently learned that accusations against Father Chevrier have been made in other jurisdictions. With the help of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the archdiocese is investigating the allegations and will make its findings known in a future report.
Father Chevrier died in St. Albert, Alta., in 2003.
Since 2019 the IWG has been implementing many of the 31 recommendations arising from the historic original 2019 report generated by the Case Review Committee and presented to Archbishop Michael Miller. It has published several updates with the names of priests who have criminal convictions, lawsuits settled, or other public cases.
In addition to the information about Father Chevrier, the report provides updated information on two priests named in earlier reports, Father Placidus Sander, OSB, and Father Harold McIntee, OMI.
In 1993, sexual abuse accusations were brought against Father Sander, who was named in the June 2022 update. Father Sander, who died Oct. 15, 2021, had been acquitted in court but civil action was recently launched. One victim has reached a settlement in his civil action and one additional victim is still taking legal action. One complainant has reached a settlement in his civil action and one additional complainant is still in the midst of legal action.
Father McIntee, who was named in the Nov. 25, 2019, report, was mentioned this fall in a CBC podcast as having taught and potentially abused students at a residential school in Saskatchewan. While the File Review Committee, which looks into allegations, and the IWG originally chose not to include or review residential school abuse allegations that did not lead to charges, convictions, or admissions, the new update says reporting is being expanded, “especially when there are accusations against a priest who lived and served in the Archdiocese of Vancouver.” Father McIntee lived in Vancouver and worked for a time as a chaplain at Youville Residence senior care facility.
Meanwhile, a B.C. Supreme Court certification hearing took place in August to consider a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging sexual abuse at two Vancouver schools run by Christian brothers.
The lawsuit alleges that between 1976 and 1983 six men who abused children at the Christian Brothers’ Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John’s were transferred to Vancouver College and St. Thomas More Collegiate in Burnaby, where “a pattern of systemic child abuse” continued, the lawsuit says.
None of the claims have been proven in court.
Among the defendants named in the lawsuit are the two high schools and the Archdiocese of Vancouver.
St. Thomas More filed a response saying it was not aware of any instance of abuse by a Christian Brother at the school and denied any pattern of systemic child abuse.
Vancouver College has denied vicarious liability for alleged abuse of students by current or former Christian Brothers.
The Archdiocese of Vancouver has denied that the accused Christian Brothers acted under its authority or employment and that it knew or should have known that Christian Brothers facing allegations of abuse at Mount Cashel were transferred to Vancouver College and St. Thomas More.
The class-action lawsuit does not fall under the work of the IWG committee which is focused on improving systems and finding more effective ways to care for victims of sexual abuse a spokesperson stated.
To report abuse by clergy or lay person in the Archdiocese of Vancouver, visit rcav.org/reporting.