EDMONTON (CANADA)
Edmonton Journal [Edmonton AB, Canada]
August 21, 2024
By Jonny Wakefield
[Photo above: David Gordon, Keith Eisenkrein (Sieben) and Stephen Bounds are among the plaintiffs in a series of lawsuits claiming they were sexually abused while attending Edmonton’s St. Mary’s Salesian Junior High in the 1970s and ’80s. Supplied]
Three more men have come forward claiming they were sexually abused by priests and staff at a defunct Catholic boarding school in Edmonton.
St. Mary’s Salesian Junior High is the subject of three new statements of claim filed in Court of King’s Bench this month, seeking millions in compensation for alleged abuse at the north side school.
The plaintiffs are David Gordon, Axel Montaner and Keith Eisenkrein, who attended St. Mary’s in the 1970s and ’80s. The three came forward after another former student, Stephen Bounds, filed a sex abuse claim last year.
The three say their parents enrolled them in the schools — which catered to students with behavioural and learning disabilities — on the promise they would come out “good Christian gentleman.” Instead, they say, the experience damaged them for life.
Mallory Hogan, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, called the alleged abuse at St. Mary’s “pervasive.”
“I put myself in the shoes of these men, who were boys when they were victimized, and you look at the number of abusers and the institutions that are allowing this to happen, and ask yourself — who would they have gone to for help?” she said.
The lawsuits — which contain allegations that have not been proven in court — name seven alleged abusers, at least three of whom are dead. Also named are a variety of institutional defendants, including the Salesian Order, Edmonton’s Catholic Archdiocese, Edmonton Catholic Schools and the provincial ministry of education.
St. Mary’s, at 5252 137 Ave., operated from 1955 to 1991. It was eventually demolished to make way for a shopping centre.
Montaner attended St. Mary’s from September 1977 to June 1978. He claims Patrick Saavedra — a Salesian brother who taught at the school and died in 1984 — groomed and sexually abused him when he was 13 years old.
Montaner claims Saavedra frequently kissed him on the lips, and, in one instance, fondled him while nude. He claims another teacher — Joseph Daniel Gagnon, also dead — watched the abuse.
Montaner told Postmedia he was “confined and completely isolated” at St. Mary’s, and at first welcomed the attention from the priest. The alleged abuse impacted the “wiring” of his young brain and influenced every decision he made later in life, he said.
“It is foreign to me after a life of complete self-reliance, to have a dedicated group championing me towards some eventual justice, or rather, all the forgotten boys at St. Mary’s who didn’t matter for decades,” he said.
Gordon’s stint at St. Mary’s began at the same time as Montaner. He claims that in the spring of 1978, Thomas Shively, a Salesian brother or priest, sexually abused him by exposing his genitals and engaging in forced masturbation.Article content
His claim states that Edmonton Catholic Schools, the archdiocese and the ministry of education had a “collective responsibility … to control Shively’s conduct,” but failed to do so.
Edmonton Catholic Schools said the school was operated independently by the Salesians and the school division “did not play a role in any aspect of the operations of St. Mary’s Salesian School.”
Shively continues to work as a teacher and education administrator in California, Gordon’s claim alleges.
Eisenkrein attended St. Mary’s between 1983 and 1987.
He claims he was groomed and sexually abused by Saavedra, Marc Desjardins and Steven Whelan, the school’s principal. Desjardins — who is also named in Bounds’ lawsuit — was arrested in 1984 and charged. He eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault and two counts of gross indecency involving four boys at the school. He has since died.
Whelan, meanwhile, was found civilly liable in the U.S. for sexually abusing a boy in the early 1970s at St. John Bosco High School in Richmond, Calif. At last report he was living in a Salesian provincial house in Berkeley.Article content
Eisenkrein described one alleged incident in which he awoke in a room, sedated and face down on a cot, with pain in his rectal area. He claims Whelan was in the room along with two other unknown adults.
“On three to four additional occasions, the plaintiff remembers Whelan carrying him to his bed, while he was sedated, and waking up with pain” in his rear end, the claim states.
Eisenkrein’s lawsuit also accuses Father Michael Gergen and Father Felix Martocchi of physical abuse.
Each of the plaintiffs are seeking between $4.8 million and $5.5 million in damages. Hogan said that while the school is long gone and many of the alleged abusers dead, there is still hope for the plaintiffs.
“The institutions aren’t dead,” she said. “We know very well that these institutions were excellent record keepers.”
Postmedia reached out to Shively, Whelan and Gergen for comment but did not receive a response. Eisenkrein’s lawsuit states he has been unable to determine whether Martocchi is still alive.
The Alberta Ministry of Education declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.Article content
Defendants typically have 20 days to file statements of defence if they are in Alberta, and up to two months if they are outside Canada.