Kids see group homes as 'gateways to jail': child advocate
2007: Almost half of Ontario's young offenders in detention for minor crimes came through the child welfare system, a report from the Office of Child and Family Service Advocacy shows.
The trend is a concern for child advocates across the country and Ontario Child Advocate Judy Finlay said many of the province's young people are beginning to think of group homes as "gateways to jail."
"We're taking them out of very difficult family circumstances, bringing them into state care and then we're charging them for their behaviour. It's very concerning to me," Finlay said.
The report, which was obtained by CBC News, lays much of the blame on group homes that rely too heavily on police to resolve problems that could be handled by staff.
Kids have been charged for everything from refusing to read a book or hitting someone with a tea towel, Finlay said. One group home in Ontario called police 400 times in a single year.
Don't call police for minor disturbances: minister
Ontario's Children and Youth Services Minister Mary Anne Chambers says calling police in to deal with trivial problems is never justified and would not happen if those children were living at home.
"It's veryimportant to understand that these kids should be treated as though they're in homes, not in institutions," said Chambers. "When we have children in, for example,the province's child protection system, we the province are their parents."
While some in the child welfare field have said low wages and poor training of group home workers are part of the problem, Chambers rejected the claims.
"I don't think you should need any special training to understand that some of those behaviours are quite minor, maybe a little anti-social, but minor," said Chambers, adding that rates of pay in group homes are "not shabby."
Another problem facing the often troubled and vulnerable children entering group homes is the lack of mental health support, says Jeanette Lewis, the executive director of Ontario's Association of Children's Aid Societies.
"The childrens' mental health centres are facing some very long waiting lists and child welfare clients, even though they are children who are wards of the state, often do not get to the top of these lists," saidLewis, adding she wasn't surprised by the child advocacy office's statistics.
Teen says workers provoked him
Ontario is not the only province that needs to fix the system, Finlay's report says.
A sampling of facilities across Canada found that 57 per cent of young offenders had a connection to the child welfare system, the report said. In British Columbia, a recent study put that number at 73 per cent.
While some teens acknowledge the more serious charges may be warranted, they complain that too often, staff lack the training to deal with troubled kids and resort to calling police.
Ateen, who can't be named under federal law, said workers would often provoke him. After he was charged, group home workers had an easy way to threaten him by suggesting abreach of his bail or probation conditions would meana return to a young offenders facility.
"They threaten you and say you better read that book or you're going back to jail. Come on, what kind of system is this?" the teen said.
Finlay is calling on the province to collect data on police calls from group homes and the charges that result.
She also wants to see a mental health worker attached to each group home and higher standards for an industry that costs taxpayers more than $200 million a year.
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2017: Province ignored whistleblowers who warned about child abuse at its training schools.
In late 1972, Ontario probation officer William Brewer started hearing stories from young people in his care about organized, staff-condoned fighting amongst students in provincial schools for troubled youth.
Shocked by what he was hearing about what allegedly went on inside these "training schools" — residential institutions for troubled children operated by the province — Brewer wrote to his superiors at the Ministry of Correctional Services.
https://www.thespec.com/news-story/7987797-province-ignored-whistleblowers-who-warned-about-child-abuse-at-its-training-schools/
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2019: Were You a Resident of an Ontario Training School?
THUNDER BAY, Ontario, Oct. 15, 2019 /CNW/ -- Were you a resident of an Ontario Training School? If yes, you may be a class member and a class action may affect your rights.
The class action has now been certified by the court. The lawsuit seeks money on behalf of the following group: All persons who were alive as at December 8, 2015 who resided at any of the Training Schools between January 1, 1953 and April 2, 1984.
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/were-you-a-resident-of-an-ontario-training-school--813108388.html
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2018: $600M Ontario training school lawsuit certified as class action
A lawsuit against the Ontario government arising from alleged sexual and physical abuse at the province’s now-defunct training schools has been certified as a class action.
The provincial government did not oppose certification of the suit, launched by Kirk Keeping, a man who alleges he was badly abused at one of the schools.
“This is an important milestone for the boys and girls from the training schools,” Keeping said in a statement. “We have all lived with this for years and we are glad this case is moving forward.”
The $600-million claim, which has not been proven, takes in 13 of the facilities on behalf of “all persons who were alive as at Dec. 8, 2015, who resided at any of the training schools between Jan. 1, 1953, and April 2, 1984, during the time periods set out for each facility,” according to the certification order from Superior Court Justice Danial Newton in Thunder Bay.
https://torontosun.com/news/provincial/600m-ontario-training-school-lawsuit-certified-as-class-action
https://niagaraatlarge.com/2019/03/26/calling-out-cases-of-alleged-abuse-in-ontarios-training-schools-for-children-and-teens/
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2018: Police looking into case of student at notorious Ontario ‘training school’
TORONTO — Police are taking a preliminary look at what might have become of a boy at one of Ontario’s notorious training schools amid questions from a survivor who believes a supervisor might have beaten his friend to death decades ago.
In a brief interview, acting Det. Sgt. John Linney with police in Cobourg, Ont., confirmed the initial investigation into the fate of James Forbes.
“It’s in the infancy,” Linney said this week. “The first thing we have to figure out is if he’s still alive or not.”
https://globalnews.ca/news/4665954/ontario-training-school-police/
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2018: ‘Yeah, I’m alive’: Student survived Ontario training school beating 55 years ago.
TORONTO – The mystery that has haunted Rick Brown since he watched the brutal beating of a young friend at an Ontario training school 55 years ago was finally solved this week: James Forbes survived that night.
In fact, at 68 years old, Forbes is living not far from Brown and doing well – if still getting over the shock of a call from an officer inquiring after him.
“Yeah, I’m alive,” Forbes said he told the officer, his voice cracking up. “It brought tears to my eyes.”
After the call, Forbes said he sat his wife down and told her about his training school days.
https://globalnews.ca/news/4736057/ontario-training-school-beating/
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The Grandview Training School for Girls (known as the Ontario Training School for Girls - Galt prior to 1967) was established in 1933, in Galt, Ontario, Canada, as the first provincially run reform school for incorrigible and delinquent girls aged 12 to 18. The girls became wards of the province and the parents relinquished their rights as guardians. The facility housed an average of 120 girls annually, with 30 or so held in a secure facility known as Churchill House. Girls were typically sentenced under the federal Juvenile Delinquents Act (JDA, 1908) and the provincial Training School Act (TSA, 1931, 1939). The so-called "training school" was created primarily to rehabilitate working-class girls perceived to be destined for adult criminality. While many of the girls had committed minor crimes, many were sent to the facility because they had been pronounced "unmanageable" under the Juvenile Delinquents Act for reasons such as truancy, drug or alcohol use, or "sexual immorality".
The school consisted of five brick buildings situated on 72 acres of land.[1] Following the closure of the facility in 1976, many former residents came forward with accusations of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse by the staff. The abuse didn't become publicly known, however, until 1991, when two women who were being treated by the same psychologist each told him of very similar experiences of abuse that occurred while they were incarcerated at Grandview. The psychologist introduced the two women to each other and they subsequently made appearances on television, asking others who had been at Grandview to contact the police or the provincial government. In the summer of 1991, the Ontario Provincial Police and Waterloo Regional Police Service began a joint investigation into the allegations.[2]
In December 1992, in order to assist those who had come forward, a Victim Witness Program was established in Kitchener, Ontario. At about the same time, a small group of women, which would later expand to over 300, created the Grandview Survivor's Support Group to investigate collective compensation.
In 1999, then Member of Provincial Parliament, Jim Flaherty apologized in the House of Commons, on behalf of the Ontario government, to the Grandview Survivors Support Group for the abuses suffered.[3] This has spurred others to come forward with similar complaints of mistreatment at the province's 11 other training schools.[4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandview_Training_School_for_Girls
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The Most Heartbreaking Job in Canada
JUNE CALLWOOD DECEMBER 1 1953.
https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1953/12/1/the-most-heartbreaking-job-in-canada
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Ontario Training Schools
Koskie Minsky LLP is advancing a class proceeding, which is now certified, against the Province of Ontario on behalf of all persons who were alive as at December 8, 2015 who resided at any of the Training Schools between January 1, 1953 and April 2, 1984 during the time periods set out for each facility:
Pine Ridge School, Bowmanville (formerly The Ontario Training School for Boys) between January 1, 1953 and its closure in 1979;
Cold Springs Forestry Camp between January 1, 1963 and its closure in 1976;
Hillcrest School, Guelph (formerly known as Ontario Training School for Boys, Guelph) between January 1, 1953 and its closure in 1978;
Brookside School, Cobourg (formerly Ontario Training School for Boys, Galt, and Ontario Training School for Boys, Northumberland and Ontario Training School for Boys, Cobourg) between January 1, 1953 and April 2, 1984;
Trelawney House, Port Bolster (formerly known as Ontario Training School for Girls, Port Bolster Trelawney House) between August 1959 and its closure in 1973;
Kawartha Lakes School, Lindsay (formerly Ontario Training School for Girls, Lindsay) between 1962 and its closure in 1979;
Glendale School, Simcoe (formerly Ontario Training School for Boys, Simcoe) between 1962 and July 30, 1974;
White Oaks Village, Hagersville (formerly Ontario Training School for Boys, Hagersville (Junior School) between 1966 and its removal from the regulations under the training schools legislation in 1978;
Sprucedale School, Hagersville (formerly Ontario Training School for Boys, Hagersville (Senior School) between 1966 and April 2, 1984;
Cecil Facer School, Sudbury between 1971 and April 2, 1984;
Project DARE – Portage Lake between June 1971 and 1976;
Project DARE – Wendigo Lake, South River (formerly Project DARE Wendigo Lake) between 1972 and April 2, 1984;
Syl Apps Youth Centre (formerly Ontario Training School for Girls, Galt (Reception and Diagnostic Centre); Reception and Diagnostic Centre, Galt; Reception, Diagnostic Treatment Centre, Galt; and the Reception and Assessment Centre, Oakville) between 1958 and April 2, 1984.
The class action does not cover individuals who were admitted to: (1) Ontario Training School for Girls, Toronto; (2) Central Wardship Planning Unit; (3) Elmcrest School; and (4) Champlain School.
Furthermore it does not cover:
The time period prior to 1953, or any Family Law Act claims.
An Amended Statement of Claim reflecting the claims now being advanced will be posted shortly.
The Plaintiff alleges that members of the class were physically, sexually and psychologically abused at the Schools. It is alleged that the Province of Ontario breached its fiduciary and common law duties to the class through the establishment, operation, and supervision of the Schools. In particular, it is alleged that the Province of Ontario failed to care for and protect class members, which resulted in loss or injury, including psychological trauma, pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.
For more information, please contact us at 1 866 860 9364 or email trainingschoolsclassaction@kmlaw.ca
https://kmlaw.ca/cases/ontario-training-schools/
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2017: Sexual, physical abuse 'rampant' at Ontario training schools, suit alleges.
TORONTO -- A man who says he was badly abused at one of Ontario's now-defunct training schools is spearheading a proposed class-action against the province that seeks $600 million on behalf of other children and youth sent to the provincial facilities.
In his unproven statement of claim, Kirk Keeping, 64, alleges the schools were festering cesspools of sexual, physical and psychological abuse perpetrated by unsupervised and unqualified staff on hapless kids.
"The training schools contained a toxic environment in which degrading and humiliating treatment of children in the Crown's care was the norm," the claim states. "Physical, sexual and psychological abuse was rampant, and residents of training schools were systematically denied their dignity and basic human rights."
The provincial training schools for boys and girls aged eight to 16 operated between 1931 until they were finally shut down in 1984. Those sentenced to the facilities were children found begging on the streets, runaways, truants, those deemed "incorrigible," those convicted of petty offences, or those who, for various reasons, had inadequate adult supervision. Once there, they became wards of the Crown and were cut off from any family support.
While the idea was to provide support, correction and vocational training for troubled youth, the claim alleges the reality was far more sinister -- one of "fear intimidation and brutality."
Staff forced children to beat up on other children or meted out physical punishment themselves. Youth were thrown into solitary confinement in shackles, not allowed to go to the washroom, were forced to scrub floors with toothbrushes or sleep on floors, and were forced into sexual acts, according to the claim.
Attempting to report the abuse would lead to retaliation in the form of longer sentences, the claim alleges.
Keeping, of Thunder Bay, Ont., was an unmanageable runaway when a judge in 1968 sent the 15 year old to Pine Ridge in Bouwmanville. During his two years there, he was sexually abused by a woman in the kitchen where he was given work and later, on a dairy farm, he says, by a man.
"I've held it inside myself for going on 50 years and it's been a long time," Keeping, now a father and grandfather, told The Canadian Press from Thunder Bay. "I grew up in a time when things like that were kept in the closet and you were ashamed -- you didn't want people to know things like that."
He said he lived in fear for a lot of years -- even after he left Pine Ridge -- and still suffers from nightmares and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The suit filed last week in Ontario Superior Court in Thunder Bay, has yet to be certified as a class action or proven in any court.
"I just feel it's time," Keeping said. "It's time that people understood what happened to us young boys in that training school."
Among other things, the claim states, the provincial government knew or ought to have known what was happening in the schools but failed to do anything about the situation.
It seeks $500 million in general damages and another $100 million in punitive damages, alleging the province was negligent, failed in the expected standard of care, and breached its duty toward its young charges.
"The Crown conducted its affairs with wanton and callous disregard for the class members' interests, safety and well-being," the claim states.
Attorney General Yasir Naqvi said he couldn't discuss a lawsuit that is before the courts but expressed sympathy for the victims.
"As a parent and as an Ontarian, my heart goes out to all the children who suffered those abuses," Naqvi said on Tuesday. "Those parents entrusted their children to those institutions and those type of abuses should never have happened."
According to a report from former Quebec judge Fred Kaufman in 2002, Ontario reached settlements with survivors of three schools -- St. Joseph's, St. John's and Grandview -- decades ago. Former premier Dalton McGuinty formally apologized to some of those students in 2004.
The new suit seeks to represent those who attended 12 others in places such as Oakville, Galt, Lindsay, Port Bolster, Bowmanville, Simcoe, Hagersville, Cobourg and Guelph.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/sexual-physical-abuse-rampant-at-ontario-training-schools-suit-alleges-1.3718044
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‘Justice is long overdue’ for training school survivors, says MP who spent three ‘painful’ years at one.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/01/19/justice-is-long-overdue-for-training-school-survivors-says-mp-who-spent-three-painful-years-at-one.html
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2016: Survivors of Ontario 'training schools' say their suffering is being erased by redevelopment project
Clarington is set to refurbish and repurpose the Jury Lands, home for more than 50 years to a correctional facility for children who were deemed 'unmanageable'
CLARINGTON, Ont. — Survivors of a shadowy chapter in the history of Canada’s prison system say the legacy of the alleged abuse they endured as children is being ignored, if not erased.
They point to a recent decision by the town of Clarington, Ont., to refurbish and repurpose the Jury Lands, most commonly known as the site of Camp 30 — a prisoner-of-war camp for captured high-ranking Nazis during the Second World War.
For more than 50 years, it was also the site of the Pine Ridge Training School — a correctional facility for children, mostly boys, aged eight to 18 who were deemed “unmanageable.”
The schools — about a dozen in Ontario — were shuttered in the early 1980s.
Wikipedia: The revitalization plan will see the site, located about 75 kilometres east of Toronto, transformed into an economic centre, complete with offices, restaurants and shops.
But the plan is not sitting well with some of those who allege they suffered horrific physical and sexual abuse in the hands of their minders.
“It’s not fair that this real estate company is going to put all this money into it and glorify what it wasn’t,” said Steve G., of Markham, Ont., who, on his lawyer’ advice, did not want his last name used.
“I’d have every boy’s name or girl’s name on that wall somewhere,” he said in a recent interview.
Steve G. said he was sent to Pine Ridge as a young teen after being caught breaking and entering. He said he had a “difficult” childhood: his parents separated when he was young, his mother was a “partier” and he was forced to steal to provide for his sister.
When he first arrived at the school, Steve G. recalls looking at the white picket fence, which he would jump over in a number of escape attempts in the coming months.
Then came “the hole,” a solitary confinement cell where he would spend days at a time — his feet shackled, his wrists cuffed.
Wikipedia: “It was a caged room — three walls of concrete and bars. I had a bed, toilet, sink, that was it,” he said. “That was your introduction to training school.”
Once, he was sent to “the hole” after an escape attempt in which he caught poison ivy.
“I had blisters all over me. I couldn’t move. And the hole temperature was about 110 (Fahrenheit, or 43 Celsius),” he said. “I remember it was so friggin’ hot. And I was sittin’ there at the sink, filling it up with water and splashing myself.”
The emotional and mental abuse was even worse, he said.
“They’re trying to ruin you. Break you down.”
Steve G. also alleges that he was sexually assaulted twice after he was transferred from Pine Ridge to the Sprucedale Training School in Hagersville, Ont.
He had escaped to Toronto, where he overdosed, and then was taken to he hospital, where he was eventually picked up by a couple of guards from the school, he said.
They allegedly put him in a pickup truck and drove out of the city.
“They beat me, they sodomized me, they did what they wanted with me,” he said, adding that he doesn’t remember all of the specifics because he was recovering from the overdose.
Steve G.’s allegations of sexual and physical abuse have not been tested in court. He said he is in the early stages of launching a lawsuit against the province.
As an adult, Steve G. said he’s struggled with alcohol and drug addictions. He’s had seven convictions, some for drinking and driving, and, on several occasions, he’s attempted suicide, he said.
They beat me, they sodomized me, they did what they wanted with me
But in the last few years, Steve G. said he’s turned his life around. He’s started going to church, is more open about his past, and he’s in a happy, stable, long-term relationship.
But he said he’s upset that Pine Ridge will only be recognized for its role in the Second World War, while the hundreds of children who were allegedly abused there will be forgotten.
Loretta Merritt, a lawyer who has represented hundreds of training school survivors in civil court, said only one person has been convicted related to abuse at Ontario’s network of secular training schools.
In January 2000, Raymond Arthur Elder, a former supervisor at White Oaks Training School in Hagersville, was found guilty of two charges, including gross indecency and breach of trust. Both charges related to oral sex acts which Elder had admitted to, and which involved one victim.
Elder was acquitted on nine other charges. He did not respond to requests for comment.
Sanford Cottrelle was at White Oaks, a training school for younger boys, when Elder was working there as a housemaster.
Google Maps: He was interviewed by police years ago about his time at the school, but was never called upon to testify at Elder’s trial.
“(Elder) would get a hold of me and he would nibble on my ear,” Cottrelle alleged in an interview.
He also alleged he was beaten by a staff member when he was on his way to bed. The attack came out of nowhere, he said.
“I don’t know what it was, if it was because I was a native kid or what,” Cottrelle said.
Since leaving the schools, Cottrelle says life hasn’t been easy. He’s been through the prison system, where he said he heard about more cases of abuse from inmates who had attended training schools in the province.
For much of his life, he says he’s had suicidal thoughts, starting from the time he was at White Oaks.
Merritt said that many of the training school survivors are now in prison, some for violent crimes.
“I’ve been in most of the maximum-security facilities in this province, with some guys who have criminal records that go on for 10 pages,” she said.
Catherine Classen, a clinical psychologist at the University of Toronto who specializes in therapy for people who have experienced trauma, called Ontario’s training school legacy a “tragedy” on several fronts.
It was a caged room — three walls of concrete and bars. I had a bed, toilet, sink, that was it. That was your introduction to training school
“If we actually would address the impact of trauma in childhood, of abuse in childhood, we would empty our prisons,” she said.
“So many of these behaviours really are about these people trying to cope in the best way they know how, and we never really help them figure out better ways of coping.”
Sometimes, Classen said, trauma survivors can be so consumed by what they experienced, they relive it in real time, through flashbacks.
Merritt said that’s something she sees in her clients in prison.
“I see the 12-year-old who was beaten and sexually abused and had no one and nowhere to turn. That’s who I’m meeting with,” she said.
“That’s where they go, when they talk to me. They go back to that child they were and they talk about what happened to them.”
Merritt said her clients that have taken the province through the civil courts have received payouts that range from tens of thousands of dollars to just over $100,000.
Representatives from the Office of the Attorney General, Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and Ministry of Children and Youth Services declined to comment on the training school system.
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/survivors-of-ontario-training-schools-say-their-suffering-is-being-erased-by-redevelopment-project
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2018: Lawsuit arising from alleged abuse at Ont. training school certified as class action.
TORONTO -- A lawsuit against the Ontario government arising from alleged sexual and physical abuse at the province's now-defunct training schools has been certified as a class action.
The provincial government did not oppose certification of the suit, launched by Kirk Keeping, a man who alleges he was badly abused at one of the schools.
"This is an important milestone for the boys and girls from the training schools," Keeping said in a statement. "We have all lived with this for years and we are glad this case is moving forward."
Related Stories
Training school survivor haunted for decades: What happened to James Forbes?
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/training-school-survivor-haunted-for-decades-what-happened-to-james-forbes-1.3798782
Police to try to find out what happened to Ontario training school boy
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/police-to-try-to-find-out-what-happened-to-ontario-training-school-boy-1.4178610
The $600-million claim, which has not been proven, takes in 13 of the facilities on behalf of "all persons who were alive as at Dec. 8, 2015, who resided at any of the training schools between Jan. 1, 1953, and April 2, 1984, during the time periods set out for each facility," according to the certification order from Superior Court Justice Danial Newton in Thunder Bay, Ont.
Keeping, in his mid-60s, alleges the schools were festering cesspools of sexual, physical and psychological abuse perpetrated by unsupervised and unqualified staff on hapless kids.
"The training schools contained a toxic environment in which degrading and humiliating treatment of children in the Crown's care was the norm," the claim states. "Physical, sexual and psychological abuse was rampant, and residents of training schools were systematically denied their dignity and basic human rights."
Newton set out six questions to be answered at trial. They include whether Ontario failed to protect the children and youth from "actionable" mental or physical harm and whether the province is liable for any harms done them.
Toronto-based lawyer Jonathan Ptak said about 21,000 people are survivors of the schools.
"We are pleased that the case now has been certified as a class proceeding, so that we can now litigate this case on the merits," Ptak said in a statement.
The certification decision obviates the need for a two-day hearing that had been scheduled for next week.
The reform schools for boys and girls aged eight to 16 operated between 1931 until they were shut down in 1984. Those sentenced to the facilities were children found begging, runaways, truants, those deemed "incorrigible," those convicted of petty offences, or those who, for various reasons, had inadequate adult supervision.
While the idea was to provide support, correction and vocational training, the claim alleges the reality was far more sinister -- one of "fear intimidation and brutality."
Staff forced children to beat up on other children or meted out physical punishment themselves. Youth were thrown into solitary confinement in shackles, not allowed to go to the washroom, were forced to scrub floors with toothbrushes or sleep on floors, and were forced into sexual acts, according to the claim.
Attempting to report the abuse would lead to retaliation, the claim alleges.
One survivor, Rick Brown, has told The Canadian Press that he believes a supervisor at the Brookside training school in Cobourg, Ont., may have beaten one of his young class mates James Forbes to death in 1963. Police recently said they were looking at opening an investigation.
The suit seeks $500 million in general damages and another $100 million in punitive damages, alleging the province was negligent, failed in the expected standard of care, and breached its duty toward its young charges.
According to a report from former Quebec judge Fred Kaufman in 2002, Ontario reached settlements with survivors of three schools -- St. Joseph's, St. John's and Grandview -- decades ago. Former premier Dalton McGuinty formally apologized to some of those students in 2004.
The new suit seeks to represent those who attended schools in places such as Oakville, Galt, Lindsay, Port Bolster, Bowmanville, Simcoe, Hagersville and Guelph.
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/lawsuit-arising-from-alleged-abuse-at-ont-training-school-certified-as-class-action-1.4205620
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/12/08/they-say-they-suffered-cruel-and-sadistic-abuse-as-kids-at-ontario-training-schools-and-the-province-paid-them-to-keep-quiet.html
https://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/it-felt-like-a-prison-for-kids-w5-investigates-allegations-of-abuse-at-ontario-training-schools-1.4327718
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Cornwall inquiry urged to debunk rumours of pedophile ring.
The Canadian Press · Posted: Feb 26, 2009 7:05 PM ET | Last Updated: February 26, 2009
Murky allegations that a pedophile clan operated with impunity in eastern Ontario were cast as fabrications spread by a misguided police officer and embraced by a panic-stricken community during four days of final submissions at the Cornwall inquiry.
Public agencies ill-equipped to handle sex abuse allegations, the equation of homosexuality with pedophilia and the presumption of guilt of accused abusers were all cited as factors in how rumours of the sex ring took root.
While the mandate of the inquiry, which has cost $40 million to date, was to examine the institutional response to decades-old allegations of abuse, the majority of the submissions, which began Monday, focused on discrediting the clan theory.
Many suggested the blame for the sensational story, which provincial police found no evidence of in an earlier probe, could be placed on former Cornwall police officer Perry Dunlop.
On Thursday, Commissioner G. Normand Glaude was urged to conclude in his report, due July 31, that the allegations were a paranoid myth.
'The story is false'
"There is no doubt that this commission was formed largely in response to the persistence of this story," David Sherriff-Scott, lawyer for the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall, submitted to the inquiry. "The commission, therefore, should unequivocally and unreservedly put the story to rest and declare that, after more than three years of probing, the story is false."
Vulnerable witnesses were easily manipulated by Dunlop into concocting an explosive tale of ritual sexual abuse. And supporters of Dunlop, who was seen as a local hero for his crusade against pedophiles, became a group of "media-savvy conspiracy theorists" who "exacted maximum damage on those targeted," the inquiry heard.
"It is important for you to set out exactly how these allegations were constructed and by whom," Cornwall Police Service lawyer John Callaghan told Glaude. "It's important, because the conspiracy theorists will never die. Long after you leave town, the bloggers, the gossip hounds, will continue to gather behind some grassy knoll in Cornwall and tell of a conspiracy."
Closing submissions from the diocese and Cornwall police took the position that two witnesses, one known as C8, the other a man named Ron Leroux, fabricated stories of a pedophile ring.
"It was [then] propagated by the reckless incompetence and lack of judgment of Perry Dunlop, who could not discern fact from fiction," Sherriff-Scott told the inquiry.
Allegations of abuse
It began in 1992, Sherriff-Scott said, when a 35-year-old former altar boy alleged he had been sexually abused by a priest and a probation officer. The man reached a settlement with the diocese for $32,000 and didn't pursue charges against either man.
Dunlop leaked the allegations to the local Children's Aid Society, and the information eventually appeared in the media. The man launched a complaint against Dunlop.
"Mr. Dunlop became convinced that he was being scapegoated, bullied, harassed and isolated," which caused him to mistrust all public institutions, Sherriff-Scott said. "In the ensuing storm, he simply fell apart."
By early 1994, Dunlop was on sick leave, suffering from mental health challenges and was on multiple medications to deal with conditions such as depression, the inquiry has heard.
Still, he pursued his own investigation, believing a pedophile ring was being operated by prominent locals and being covered up by even more high-profile officials, Sherriff-Scott said.
It was in this environment that Dunlop interviewed C8, who led him to Leroux.
Leroux told Dunlop he witnessed a clan of pedophiles who wore robes, burned candles and sexually abused young boys during weekend meetings in the 1950s and early 1960s.
In June 2007, Leroux told the inquiry that he fabricated the tale.
"Mr. Dunlop, who had been radicalized by his experiences and suffering from the problems he was having, was too lacking in judgment to do anything but snap at this story," Sherriff-Scott said.
Dunlop's former police force was less generous in their submissions, making no mention of Dunlop's mental distress.
Instead, they painted a picture of a man who, along with his lawyer, allegedly took the lead in actively changing Leroux's statements and adding names to a list of alleged pedophiles to fulfil personal vendettas.
Only 1 convicted
In 1997, provincial police launched an investigation and laid 114 charges against 15 people but found no evidence of a pedophile ring.
Of the men charged, only a bus driver was convicted. Four died before their cases came to trial, four were acquitted, four had the charges against them withdrawn and two had the charges against them stayed because of delays.
Two community groups told the inquiry this week that "inept" public institutions created a void that sent alleged abuse victims flocking to Dunlop, who became the "alternate constabulary."
Dunlop, who has since moved to British Columbia and no longer works in law enforcement, refused to testify at the inquiry and was jailed for seven months on civil and criminal contempt convictions.
The group Citizens for Community Renewal also suggested belief in a pedophile clan was able to gain a foothold due in part to rampant homophobia in the community.
The lawyer for the estate of an accused child sexual abuser who committed suicide said public hysteria flourished because of the lack of a presumption of innocence for people accused of such crimes.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/cornwall-inquiry-urged-to-debunk-rumours-of-pedophile-ring-1.849104
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Former teacher is fourth known person involved with child-porn case to have taken his own life.
Nicolas Boudreau is evacuated after swallowing a substance at the Quebec City Courthouse on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017.
Four years after police first alleged that hundreds of suspects had bought child pornography from a Toronto firm, fallout from the investigation is still rippling, with the suicide this week of a Quebec man who poisoned himself in a courtroom rather than go behind bars.
Project Spade, which netted 50 arrests in Ontario, 58 across the rest of Canada, 76 in the United States, and 164 in the rest of the world, according to the release. These arrests included 40 school teachers, six law enforcement officials, nine religious leaders, nine doctors and nurses, 32 children volunteers and three foster parents. Azov Films had made its way from Etobicoke to 92 countries around the world, heard the court in Toronto.
The three-year investigation revealed 386 child victims, all prepubescent, with some as young as five years old.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/man-poisons-himself-after-being-sentenced-in-child-pornography-case/article36374086/
https://www.thewhig.com/2016/08/17/child-porn-images-will-revictimize-kingston-police/wcm/6d8766ab-9664-fd1c-c6df-598dd57e71b1
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2013: Project Spade, massive international child porn bust centred on Toronto, nets 348 arrests in ‘horrific sexual acts’
School teachers, doctors, nurses, pastors and foster parents are among those facing charges in the wide-ranging operation that can be traced back to a business operating out of Toronto’s west end, police said.
Police say the sheer amount of images and videos seized in their investigation — 45 terabytes worth — was staggering.
“This is equivalent to a stack of paper as tall as 1,500 CN Towers,” said Beaven-Desjardins.
Toronto police revealed details this morning of an international child sex abuse and pornography investigation that stretched across six continents and has led to hundreds of arrests, including 50 in Ontario and 58 in the rest of Canada.
At a news conference Thursday, police said 348 people have been arrested and 386 children rescued from situations around the world where they were at risk. Twenty-four children in Canada were among those rescued, they said.
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/at-least-386-victims-rescued-after-project-spade-a-massive-child-porn-bust-that-started-in-toronto
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/11/14/child_porn_bust_the_men_who_were_charged.html
https://globalnews.ca/video/968642/project-spade
https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2013/11/14/canada-child-pornography-bust-robertson.cnn
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/hundreds-arrested-in-international-child-porn-case-1.2426176
https://www.macleans.ca/general/huge-child-porn-ring-busted-toronto-police-say-348-arrested-in-project-spade/
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2001: Cornwall pedophile investigation ends.
A four-year investigation in Cornwall, Ont., has ended without turning up evidence of an organized pedophile ring, or of a cover-up.
FROM CBC RADIO NEWS: Breach of Trust
Project Truth was the third investigation into the allegations. It produced 115 charges from gross indecency to sexual assault.
Of 15 people charged, seven either remain before the courts or are awaiting trial.
But the Ontario Provincial Police have brought the investigation to an end without producing evidence of an organized ring of pedophiles.
"It doesn't mean it was a ring, just because the same person may or may not have been victimized by two different people," said Det.-Spt. Jim Miller.
Cornwall Police Chief Tony Repa's spokesman Blake Paquin said the OPP conclusion lifts a cloud of suspicion from the police.
'I think the whole thing is a great victory for pedophiles'"Allegations were made against the Cornwall Community Police Service of a cover-up in these matters," he said. "The chief is very pleased with these findings."
But others are definitely not pleased, among them Perry Dunlop, the veteran Cornwall cop who first sounded the alarm over the allegations.
"I think the whole thing is a great victory for pedophiles," he said.
Dunlop was disciplined after he spoke out about alleged abuse to Children's Aid workers. A subsequent investigation by Cornwall police led to no charges.
FROM MARCH 18, 1999: MPP demands inquiry into pedophile ring
FROM MAY 28, 2001: Naming names in the Cornwall sex abuse scandal
Ottawa West-Nepean member of the provincial parliament Gary Guzzo, a PC backbencher, has been an outspoken critic of the investigations and the province's role in them.
He has accused the government of participating in a cover-up and said he will push for yet another investigation into the alleged pedophile ring.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/cornwall-pedophile-investigation-ends-1.276455
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2009: Huge $ 53 MILLION DOLLAR INQUIRY fails to find pedophile ring in Cornwall.
Cornwall inquiry fails to dispel or confirm pedophile ring
The Canadian Press.
CORNWALL, Ont. - Rumours that swirled for years that children were abused at the hands of a pedophile ring in eastern Ontario were neither put to rest nor given credence Tuesday by a $53-million public inquiry report four years in the making.
The Cornwall inquiry's official mandate was to examine institutional responses to historical claims of sexual abuse, and the sensational allegation that fuelled it went unresolved in the more than 1600-page report.
"Throughout this inquiry I have heard evidence that suggested that there were cases of joint abuse, passing of alleged victims, and possibly passive knowledge of abuse," Commissioner G. Normand Glaude wrote.
-
Related Links:
Cornwall abuse inquiry set to deliver report
Ont. can now better rein in inquiry costs: AG
Cornwall sex abuse inquiry gets extension
Ontario-wide strategy needed for male sex abuse victims, inquiry told
Cornwall inquiry urged to debunk rumours of pedophile ring
Cornwall inquiry hears past problems have largely been fixed
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Presuming guilt fuelled sex ring rumours, lawyer says.
"I want to be very clear that I am not going to make a pronouncement on whether a ring existed or not."
The Ontario Provincial Police spent four years investigating allegations of sexual abuse, an investigation Glaude criticized in the report. Police laid 115 charges against 15 people under Project Truth, though only one was convicted.
The police declared there was no evidence of a ring, but that failed to quell the suspicion and fear in the community.
"There is good reason why certain members of the public were less than satisfied with the OPP's unequivocal position about the non-existence of a ring," Glaude wrote.
"I find that the OPP did not conduct a full-scale investigation into the linkages between victims and perpetrators."
Glaude made the point, however, of noting "much of what I have heard about linkages remain allegations that have not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt."
The report found institutional response to reports of sexual abuse was, in large part, inadequate and failed to protect the vulnerable. Among the commissioner's recommendations was to expand training and mandatory education for professionals such as public servants, those in the justice system, teachers and others having contact with children or adults who may have been sexually abused.
At closing submissions in February, groups including the local diocese and police service urged the commissioner to debunk the pedophile clan theory once and for all.
While the commissioner did not answer that call, he did find that allegations that officials at the Ministry of the Attorney General conspired to cover-up allegations of sexual abuse were unfounded.
And perhaps the most sensational of all the stories -- that a clan of powerful men sexually abused boys at a cottage during strange rituals while clad in robes -- was given little weight.
The source of the tale was Ron Leroux, who both police and Glaude found not to be credible and who later recanted his allegations at the inquiry. He was a "highly suggestible individual" who adopted ideas that one crusading police officer put to him as his own, Glaude wrote.
Leroux told his story to former Cornwall police officer Perry Dunlop, who was conducting an unsanctioned, off-hours investigation. Dunlop's probe began after he discovered an alleged abuse victim withdrew a complaint against a priest in 1993 after reaching a settlement with the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese.
Dunlop was right to disclose the settlement to the Children's Aid Society, said Glaude. However, Dunlop's distrust of public institutions, including police and prosecutors, eventually overwhelmed what was a genuine desire to help children, he wrote.
Further, the commissioner found it "troubling" that Dunlop could not accept, at some point, that Leroux was not the "definitive source" he had hoped for in his investigation.
Dunlop, who lives in British Columbia and could not immediately be reached for comment, spent seven months in jail for contempt when he refused to testify at the inquiry of his own making, saying he no longer had faith in the system.
Provincial police did investigate Leroux's specific clan allegation, but failed to properly pursue links between alleged perpetrators, Glaude added. He noted problems with defining a "ring," and said given the information police had at the time, it is "difficult to say whether the OPP should have declared that it had found some evidence of a `pedophile ring."'
The very real abuse that many people suffered may have been the result of an organized group or it could have been an "unfortunate coincidence," which could have arisen from the fact that many alleged abusers were part of a particular institution, such as the local diocese or justice system, Glaude wrote.
Part of the inquiry's funding has been going toward counselling for victims of sexual abuse, support that is scheduled to end on Jan. 15.
Glaude said he hoped the Ontario government would reconsider that decision and called on it to fund counselling for up to five years.
Attorney General Chris Bentley said there was no question there would be more money to help victims, but did not specify an amount.
"Be clear, we're going to make sure those that suffered terrible wrongs and have been victims, to support them," said Bentley, who also defended the inquiry's work, despite the $53-million price tag.
"This community needed to be heard. Those who were victimized needed to be heard," he said.
"I would ask people not to forget the importance of allowing victims to have their story, have their pain, truly heard."
In finding there were systemic failures in how institutions responded to allegations of sexual abuse of children, Glaude said "for some, this resulted in revictimization by the institution from whom they sought help."
"The response of institutions became a further source of harm."
Most of the problems Glaude found with institutions such as the probation office, the diocese and the police stem from his assertion that they failed to fully investigate claims of child sexual abuse.
He highlighted several cases in which he said institutions, when confronted with evidence an official was abusing children, failed to attempt to find other victims or other abusers within the institution.
Glaude also highlighted expert evidence that abusers tend to associate themselves with particular institutions that give them ready access to children.
Bishop Paul-Andre Durocher of the Diocese of Alexandra-Cornwall was at the release of the report to offer an apology.
"I am truly and deeply sorry for the pain that has been visited upon some of our young people and their families," he said.
"On behalf of the Catholic diocese that I lead I want to apologzie to you for the suffering and indignity caused by those in a position of trust and authority who have robbed you of your innocence."
https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/cornwall-inquiry-fails-to-dispel-or-confirm-pedophile-ring-1.464739
https://www.ctvnews.ca/cornwall-inquiry-fails-to-quash-pedophile-ring-rumours-1.465003
https://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/2009/12/16/huge_inquiry_fails_to_find_pedophile_ring_in_cornwall.html
:::
BACKGROUND.
2001: The pedophiles of Cornwall.
The little city of Cornwall, Ont., is not a place you'd expect unspeakable secrets to lurk. But for the past seven years, it has been racked by a dark drama that has shredded reputations and driven men to suicide. The villains, it's alleged, are that most loathsome form of human life -- pedophiles. The pedophiles allegedly include Catholic priests and the city's leading citizens.
The so-called pedophile ring has sparked endless charges of cover-ups and corruption in high places. The local MP is demanding a provincial inquiry. Some people even think the police may be in cahoots with the guilty. "The hysteria has been palpable," says Jacques Leduc, a respected lawyer who has lived in Cornwall all his life. "It has been a rather dark moment in our region's history."
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-pedophiles-of-cornwall/article759924/
Garry Guzzo, the headline-making MPP, agreed to sit down with me the other day to answer a question: What, exactly, is being covered up in Cornwall?
This is the gist of his answer.
For decades, Catholic priests and leading citizens practised weekly homosexual orgies of ritual abuse on altar boys recruited from the church. Every Friday night, this group would meet at the island home of one of them. The boys were draped in white sheets, and candles were placed in their rectums. "I can't be certain where it stops," he told me, referring to the abusers and the cover-up.
According to Mr. Guzzo, who was once a judge, the ring was multilayered, highly organized, and intergenerational. For all these years, the abusers have managed to manipulate the system to cover up their crimes. The cover-up may even extend to the attorney-general's office.
That cover-up, possibly combined with police incompetence, is the reason why the special OPP investigation called Project Truth has produced such miserable results. "There's only one answer," Mr. Guzzo told me. "And the answer's cover-up."
I asked why he was so certain of the truth that he said he would use his parliamentary privilege to name names in Ontario's Legislature. (He's now changed his mind.) "Because I have heard it from so many different victims."
Strangely, none of these victims have told it to the police. Or at least not in a version that would make a charge stick. Not one of the charges laid to date in the endless Project Truth investigation involves white sheets, or candles, or orgies.
The OPP is on record that, despite the numerous charges it has laid, it has not found one shred of evidence for a pedophile ring. For two years, it even ran an ad campaign begging victims to come forward -- anyone who had any complaint of sex abuse by anyone, any time, any place, in the vicinity of Cornwall. Several dozen people did. But there were no common victims. And most of the accused, in this town of 47,000, didn't know each other.
By January, Project Truth had laid a total of 115 charges against 14 men for various sex offences. The men include four priests, a former butcher, a school-bus driver, and a man who owns a diner. Mr. Guzzo maintains that Project Truth has missed the ringleaders, especially the local archbishop, who has been mounting a vigorous press defence this week after the CBC named him on national radio.
Mr. Guzzo says he has spoken with 78 alleged victims of the ring (a few of whom, he says, he does not believe) and has many sworn statements from them. He wouldn't show them to me. But he has shared them with at least one reporter, who repeated the most lurid of these claims in Tuesday's Ottawa Citizen.
The nut of Mr. Guzzo's evidence is a lengthy 1996 statement from Ron Leroux, a 54-year-old painting contractor now living in Maine. "I have witnessed a 'clan' of pedophiles," it says, and then goes on to list a long string of priests and town dignitaries. This document is the source of the ritual orgy story. "During this party, I observed a ceremonious ritual of candles in the altar boys' rectums with sheets over them. These altar boys were walking around with the candle in the rectum and the sheet over them with no clothes on, during this ceremony, several members of the clergy were fondling these young boys, and molesting them." And so on.
Perhaps coincidentally, this document has been featured for years on various crackpot Web sites, including one claiming that the Catholic Church is controlled by predatory homosexuals.
Even though Project Truth missed the big guns, says Mr. Guzzo, the charges laid to date prove that something went seriously wrong in the justice system. "How can you explain how two previous investigations missed all 115 charges?" he demands.
One explanation may be that the police failed to advertise for victims. In any event, the rap sheet has shrunk dramatically. There are no longer anywhere near 115 charges, and only six of the 14 accused now face trial. Four men have died, one had his charges dropped, one was found not guilty, and so on. Next up is the bus driver, who's accused of a string of assaults against both sexes in the 1990s.
Last January, the case against one man was thrown out in mid-trial after it transpired that key evidence against him was hopelessly tainted. Still, many people in Cornwall think he's guilty, because he once acted as a lawyer for the Catholic Church in an earlier sex-abuse case.
I asked if that man was part of the ring, too.
"He's on the periphery, I guess," Mr. Guzzo says.
That's how it goes with conspiracy theories. When you're a true believer, everything always fits. And the more bizarre it is, the truer it must surely be. mwente@globeandmail.ca
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-pedophiles-of-cornwall/article761542/
:::
2010: Cornwall sex abuse victims given large settlements.
Some victims of the Cornwall sex abuse scandal are receiving large financial settlements after decades of allegations that a cover-up of a pedophile ring existed in the eastern Ontario city, CTV Ottawa has learned.
The sex abuse scandal was uncovered in the early 1990s. A public inquiry ended in December 2009 after four years. The inquiry found the Catholic Church, police, the Ontario government and the legal system all failed to protect children from sexual predators.
Now, Ontario's attorney general has confirmed to CTV that several financial settlements have been reached with victims, and more lawsuits are outstanding.
Although confidentiality agreements could mean taxpayers will never learn the true cost of the settlements, a former MPP predicts the payouts will total tens of millions of dollars.
:
"I would look at somewhere between $70-100 million," said Garry Guzzo, a former Conservative MPP who blew the whistle on the scandal and pushed for a public inquiry.
:
"It's a lot of money coming from very few taxpayers, and the people of the Catholic Church are taxpayers."
While sources have told CTV the payouts are in the millions, alleged victim Steve Parisien says some individuals are getting less than $20,000.
"I think parishioners and taxpayers have a right to know how much has been paid out," he said.
A lawyer representing dozens of the victims wouldn't reveal how much money was paid. However, he confirmed several settlements have been reached with the Catholic diocese, the Ontario government and other Catholic organizations.
:
There are also several cases in the works against the Children's Aid Society.
:
Cornwall's Catholic Diocese says it has settled all 16 of the lawsuits against the Catholic Church. The last lawsuit was settled a few weeks ago.
Bishop Paul-Andre Durocher says the total payouts from those lawsuits amount to $1.2 million. He adds none of those settlements involved confidentiality agreements.
"There's no doubt in my mind that these victims deserve this money," said Guzzo.
"You know the confidentiality agreement - never going to trial, never allowing it to become public - there's an element of hush money."
Although Parisien hasn't received a settlement, he is hoping to get some compensation for his experience.
He says while no amount of money will change his life, it will help validate what he went through.
"Just for my loss of wages - that's all I seek. I don't want nothing else from these people, they've done enough damage. And they have to sleep with themselves at night."
https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/cornwall-sex-abuse-victims-given-large-settlements-1.521190
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2013: Ex-foster children suing CAS, former foster parents.
Five former foster children are suing the Prince Edward County Children’s Aid Society and four former foster parents for millions of dollars in damages stemming from sexual abuse while they were in the society’s care.
The civil suits total $14 million ($2.8 million per plaintiff). Of the four former foster parents being sued, two are now serving prison terms for sexual abuse of children placed in their care. A third convicted predator’s case is now before the Ontario Court of Appeal.
The claims were filed March 28 by Belleville lawyer John Bonn, on the behalf of the five female plaintiffs, now in their late teens and early 20s. All complainants listed claim that “PECCAS is liable for the abuse that each of them suffered while in the care of PECCAS.”
The society is now part of the newly-amalgamated Highland Shores Children’s Aid Society, which also spans the societies of Hastings and Northumberland Counties.
“PECCAS is responsible in fact and in law for its own negligence and breaches of its statutory and fiduciary duties as well as for the negligence and breaches of duty committed by its servants, agents and employees,” states the claim, a copy of which was obtained by The Intelligencer.
One statement of claim states, “PECCAS caused (the plaintiffs) permanent and extensive injuries and losses” ranging from alcohol and substance abuse to inability to trust, impairment of mental health, nightmares of abuse, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts.
https://www.intelligencer.ca/2013/04/07/ex-foster-children-suing-cas-former-foster-parents/wcm/6595249f-4cb2-fd1f-bd66-2c83a3d3e216
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2014: Three CAS cases settled
Three former County foster children have reached out-of-court settlements with the Highland Shores Children’s Aid Society for damages stemming from sexual abuse sustained while they were in the society’s care.
An order dismissing further action against the child welfare agency has been approved by a judge at the Prince Edward County superior court where the lawsuit was filed in April 2013. Court staff confirmed only three of the five cases have been settled to date, leaving two outstanding plaintiffs.
Confidentiality provisions restrict the plaintiffs’ Belleville lawyer, John Bonn, from divulging details on the dollar amount of the compensation dispensed.
“It’s an order of the court dismissing the action on behalf of three of the plaintiffs, as against the children’s aid society,” Bonn said of the settlement. “They have resolved matters to their mutual satisfaction.”
Bonn added “there was no trial in this matter. They can’t talk about the terms of the resolution because there are confidentiality provisions in effect.”
When it was filed in 2013, the civil suits totalled $14 million ($2.8 million per plaintiff).
Each plaintiff initially claimed $350,000 for pain and suffering, in addition to $1 million each for loss of future earnings and another $1 million for punitive damages. They sought $100,000 in future care costs, plus $100,000 for special damages and $250,000 for aggravated damages.
Two outstanding plaintiffs will be addressed shortly, Bonn said.
“We continue to work on those,” he said. “We intend to mediate those.”
The suit directed at the CAS also targets four former foster parents, two are now serving prison terms for sexual abuse of children placed in their care. A third convicted predator’s case is now before the Ontario Court of Appeal.
“Like most of these issues, they’re difficult all the way through and deal with unpleasant issues, but the fact that we’ve been able to reach some form of agreement means that each side is able to live with it at some level,” Bonn said Tuesday.
Bonn filed the claims on behalf of the five female plaintiffs, now in their late teens and early 20s.
“With litigation done, it would bring an end to this piece of their involvement with the CAS,” Bonn said.
All complainants listed claim the Prince Edward County CAS (PECCAS) is liable for the abuse each of them suffered while in the care of PECCAS.
The County society is now part of the newly-amalgamated Highland Shores Children’s Aid Society, which also spans the societies of Hastings and Northumberland counties.
Mark Kartusch, the society’s executive director, was also tight-lipped about the settlement.
“I can’t disclose any of the details,” he said Tuesday. “However, we do hope this helps these youths move forward.”
Kartusch wouldn’t go as far as viewing the settlements as a form of closure for the plaintiffs.
“How does one ever have closure?” he said. “We believe in these young people and their future and want to support them in that.”
Before the 2013 merger, PECCAS was subjected to an extensive government probe which revealed a bevy of damning findings.
The investigation led by the Ministry of Child and Youth Services in Dec. 2011 – following a rash of child sex abuse charges against County foster parents – showed the agency was rife with significant internal conflicts recklessly placing vulnerable children in homes not properly screened and some cases not screened at all for months.
Kartusch said the agency has found better footing since the findings triggered amalgamation.
“I think we’re moving forward but will not forget the past,” he said.
Some concerns linger.
“I’m concerned that this may cause people to lose confidence in fostering or foster families,” he said, adding few bad apples aren’t representative of the whole bunch.
The 2013 statement of claims alleged “PECCAS is responsible, in fact and in law, for its own negligence and breaches of its statutory and fiduciary duties as well as for the negligence and breaches of duty committed by its servants, agents and employees,” states the claim, a copy of which was obtained by The Intelligencer in April 2013.
One statement of claim states, “PECCAS caused (the plaintiffs) permanent and extensive injuries and losses” ranging from alcohol and substance abuse to inability to trust, impairment of mental health, nightmares of abuse, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts.
“They (plaintiffs) have incurred medical expenses and will continue to require therapy and medical attention,” the 2013 statement of claim adds.
Two of the former foster parents initially targeted in the claim were Walter Joseph Holm, 46, and his wife, Janet Holm, 49.
They pleaded guilty to several charges, including possession of child pornography, sexual assault and invitation to sexual touching and were sentenced in November 2011 to four- and three-year prison terms respectively.
Three of the five plaintiffs, now ages 21, 23, and 19, are linked to the Holms. It’s not known if they were the three of five now concluded.
Justice Geoff Griffin blasted the Holms for turning their home into a “sexual cult” while fostering 25 teenagers over the course of nine years.
The three plaintiffs further implied that PECCAS was “vicariously liable for the actions” of the Holms.
https://www.intelligencer.ca/2014/10/21/three-cas-cases-settled/wcm/3fd07287-3f2a-1755-7386-1c8c2353c943
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Crown Ward Class Action (Children who suffered abuse before and while they were Crown wards, including in foster care and foster homes, and while in the care of the Children’s Aid Society (“CAS”)).
https://kmlaw.ca/cases/crown-ward-class-action/
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2012: When Robert Horsburgh confessed to having sex with his foster daughter more than 30 years ago, then-Dufferin Children’s Aid Society (CAS) executive director Gary Putman saw no reason to inform police.
In those days, reporting illicit sex wasn’t something CAS workers did, Putman told The Banner.
“I have no regrets in what I did. I did exactly what would have been expected in that time, given that situation,” Putman said.
Although Horsburgh, who grew up in foster homes, had committed illicit sexual intercourse with a foster daughter — a criminal offence that was repealed in 1988 — Putman said CAS had yet to establish protocols to work jointly with police.
https://www.orangeville.com/news-story/1481994--no-regrets-for-not-reporting-sex-with-foster-child/
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Catholic Children's Aid Society failed teen impregnated by foster dad.
She thought she was finally home.
Shunted about in the care of the Catholic Children’s Aid Society from the time she was six years old, bounced around more than 22 different foster homes in the previous two years alone, the young teen was relieved when they placed her in the Scarborough home of Howard Smith and his family.
He was a rising star at the TTC, she was given her own room in their four-bedroom house and was initially treated as well as the couple’s two children. She thought she was safe at last.
But in reality, the 14-year-old had been placed in a hornet’s nest. And by the time the CCAS finally heeded her pleas and rescued her, she was 15 and pregnant with Smith’s child.
https://torontosun.com/2013/01/29/catholic-childrens-aid-society-failed-teen-impregnated-by-foster-dad/wcm/934e92f3-a164-45dc-b3d1-85e9a660ab32
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2011: Foster parent charged with sex offences.
https://www.niagarathisweek.com/news-story/3311746-foster-parent-charged-with-sex-offences/
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Drugs, theft, alcohol and inappropriate relationships alleged at Children’s Aid group home.
https://globalnews.ca/news/5334666/drugs-theft-alcohol-abuse-alleged-childrens-aid-group-home/
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Ontario lawyer fired after claiming 14- and 15-year-old girls are 'sexually mature'.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/ontario-lawyer-fired-after-claiming-14-and-15-year-old-girls-are-sexually-mature-1.4350351
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In a rare legal case, Toronto teen gets green light to sue children’s aid for negligence.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2019/08/23/in-a-rare-legal-case-toronto-teen-gets-green-light-to-sue-childrens-aid-for-negligence.html
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2019: Teen ‘sexual cult’ in Ontario foster home known to Children’s Aid Society, victim says
https://globalnews.ca/news/5360057/teen-sexual-cult-ontario-foster-home-childrens-aid-society/
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2019: Foster parent facing sex charges.
https://www.chch.com/foster-parent-facing-sex-charges/
https://www.sachem.ca/news-story/9732832-dunnville-foster-parent-charged-with-sex-offences/
https://www.norfolktoday.ca/2019/11/21/dunnville/
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Children’s Aid executive facing 20 charges in child abuse case
MK, whose identity is protected under a publication ban, spoke to CBC News about her abuse while in foster care in Prince Edward County, Ont. The former head of the county Children's Aid Society has been criminally charged for overseeing an agency that placed children with foster parents who were later convicted of sexual abuse. (Richard Agecoutay/CBC)
Ontario Provincial Police have taken the unusual step of charging the head of a Children's Aid Society for overseeing an agency that placed 10 children with foster parents who ended up being convicted of sexual abuse.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-county-foster-care-abuse-negligence-charges-1.4723516
https://globalnews.ca/news/4182170/childrens-aid-executive-charged/
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Woman charged with sex assault of minors worked at male CAS group-home at time of alleged offences
https://globalnews.ca/news/4916584/woman-charged-with-sex-assault-of-minors-worked-at-male-cas-group-home-at-time-of-alleged-offences/
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2019: The retrial for Neil Joynt, the 78-year-old former teacher and long-time hockey billet, accused of sexual assaulting two boys in the 1960s and ’70s, began Monday in Napanee superior court.
Warning: This story contains explicit details some readers may find disturbing. Discretion is advised.
In October 2016, Joynt was convicted of two counts of indecent assault against two boys that he taught, and was sentenced to eight months in jail. He was found not guilty of assaulting a third boy.
Joynt never served jail time, since he appealed his conviction the day of sentencing.
According to Crown counsel Roberto Corbella, the retrial was granted because the judge failed to deliver two pieces of information to the jury — a summary of the evidence and failing to provide the jury with prior consistent statements of a witness.
https://globalnews.ca/news/6094291/retrial-kingston-teacher-billet-sex-crimes-minors/
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Abuse by Children's Aid Societies, Group Homes and Other Residential Facilities.
A caregiver standing in the shoes of a parent owes a fiduciary duty to the child. When a caregiver sexually assaults a child, that duty is breached and the harm is particularly devastating. Courts have imposed high standards on those responsible for overseeing foster parents to carefully screen potential foster parents and to monitor children in foster care carefully.
Cases to Watch
May 25, 2017
A Sudbury boy’s stolen childhood
Sep 25, 2014
Former Scout leader Scott Stanley is to be sentenced on Oct. 29 after pleading guilty to pleaded guilty to 16 sex offences against four boys, aged 12 to 15, in 2012 and 2013
Aug 1, 2014
71-year-old Toronto man William Robert (“Bob”) Metcalfe charged In historical sexual assault investigation
Jun 27, 2014
Ex-Scouts Canada Scott Stanley leader pleads guilty to sexually abusing 4 boys
May 14, 2014
Former SW Ontario priest Gabriele DelBianco gets 4 years on sex charges involving 2 teen girls
May 6, 2014
Former minor hockey coach and Big Brother Michael Kachanovsky charged with sexual assault
Apr 22, 2014
Gordon Stuckless, Gardens sex abuser, pleads guilty to 100 charges
Mar 21, 2014
2 Ottawa private school teachers guilty of sex assault cover-up
Mar 7, 2014
Former RCMP officer and minor hockey coach Alan John Davidson charged with sexual assault of minors
Mar 1, 2014
Geraldton priest Roger Pronovost charged with sexual assault
More Cases to Watch
Jul 10, 2019
Former TVDSB vice principal Michael George Dennis accused of sexual relationship with student
The Ontario College of Teachers is moving forward with a disciplinary hearing for a former St. Thomas vice principal whom they accuse of having a romantic relationship with a female student. The professional misconduct allegations again...
Jun 27, 2019
Charges against Prince Edward County Children’s Aid Society executive director Bill Sweet regarding sexual abuse in foster homes he was responsible for.
Sweet is currently facing 10 counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and 10 counts of failing to provide the necessities of life. Sgt. Carolle Dionne, provincial media relations co-ordinator for the OPP, said his charges stemmed not because he fostered any children of his own but because he oversaw a Children’s Aid Society where several foster children were abused.
Jun 25, 2019
Former Catholic priest Barry McGrory found guilty of historic sex assaults
Defrocked Catholic priest Barry McGrory has been found guilty of sexually abusing two teenage boys in a church rectory during the early. “Mr. McGrory used his position as a parish priest,” the judge said, “to exploit vulnerable and naïve young men for his own sexual satisfaction.”
May 24, 2019
Lawsuit targets convicted sex offender Ron Léger, Catholic religious order and Archdiocese of St. Boniface
Lawsuit targets convicted sex offender Ron Léger, Catholic religious order and Archdiocese of St. Boniface
May 24, 2019
Paul Bruce Harper, 21, of Garden Hill First Nation, faces multiple counts of sexual assault, sexual interference, aggravated assault and assault. Three people have been charged with sexual, physical abuse of 17 children and there may be 150 victims
Paul Bruce Harper, 21, of Garden Hill First Nation, faces multiple counts of sexual assault, sexual interference, aggravated assault and assault. Three people have been charged with sexual, physical abuse of 17 children and there may be 150 victims
May 16, 2019
Former Sudbury teacher going to jail for sex crimes
Former Sudbury teacher Damir Bulic has been sentenced to two years less a day for sexual crimes involving a student. He was found guilty of four counts of committing an indecent act in the presence of a person under 16 years old and one count of sexual invitation to a minor.
Mar 20, 2019
Former priest charged with historical sexual assault
A former eastern Ontario priest, Deslauriers was convicted more than three decades ago of abusing boys and has again been charged in another case of historical sexual abuse. Click here to read more on CBC News Network.
Sep 27, 2018
Loretta Merritt speaks to CBC News and The London Free Press on the London Diocese sexual abuse case settlements
Irene Deschenes reported being sexually abused by Father Charles Sylvestre in 1994 and later settled a civil suit. Now, Deschenes is going to court to reopen her settlement because she claims it was based on misinformation. Survivor of Catho...
Sep 06, 2018
John Bain was arrested regarding historical sexual assaults against young persons which took place in the 1970s. He was employed as employed as a music teacher from 1976 to 2006 in Clearview Township
https://www.collingwoodtoday.ca/police-beat/former-music-teacher-charged-in-historical-sexual-assault-investigation-1028738
May 14, 2018
Ontario Club Coach and Teacher Thomas Grieve Charged With 30 Counts of Sexual Assault
https://volleymob.com/ontario-club-coach-charged-with-30-counts-of-sexual-assault/ The 39-year old coach and teacher has been arrested and faces 30 charges of sexually assaulting children under the age of 16. Grieve is a former volleyball coa...
Apr 18, 2018
Durham Region teacher Thomas Grieve is accused of 15 counts of criminal sexual conduct with children under the age of 16, according to information released Tuesday, April 17 by Durham police.
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/04/17/whitby-elementary-school-teacher-faces-sexual-assault-charges.html
Jan 31, 2018
A Canadian gymnastics coach Scott McFarlane is facing a number of sexual abuse charges
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/gymnastics-coach-charged-with-allegedly-sexually-assaulting-teen-girl/article37786102/ A Canadian gymnastics coach Scott McFarlane is facing a number of charges after one of his teenaged athletes came f...
Sep 13, 2017
Teacher Brian Hathway at Guelph's College Heights Secondary School (Upper Grand District School Board) has been charged with several sex-related offences involving a youth.
Guelph Police issued the following release late afternoon on Tuesday: "On Sept. 8, 2017, the Guelph Police Service commenced an investigation into allegations against a 49-year-old Guelph teacher in relation to sexual offences involving a yo...
May 25, 2017
A Sudbury boy’s stolen childhood
Loretta Merritt speaks to the Sudbury Star on what may be the first case against a Children’s Aid Society in Ontario.
May 09, 2017
Oakville's Jared Gould Arrested for Sexual Offence
Gould was a coach with the Minor Oaks Hockey Association.
Mar 08, 2017
North Huron Man Facing Sexual Assault Charges Back In Court
BlackburnNews.com A pre-trial meeting was held for a North Huron man facing 39 historical sexual assault charges involving youth. Martin Cretier was in court last week as... ...
Mar 08, 2017
Jaclyn McLaren, Ontario teacher pleads guilty to sex crimes involving students
Ontario teacher charged with sex crimes against minors to appear in court CP24 Toronto's Breaking News The charges include multiple counts of sexual assault on a person under 16, sexual interference with a person under 16, invi...
Nov 28, 2016
Former Ottawa priest Rev. Barry McGrory, 82, charged in historical sexual assault case
A retired Ottawa priest, who has admitted he suffered from a powerful attraction to adolescents as a young cleric, appeared in court Friday on historical sexual assault charges. The man newly alleging he was victimized by McGrory was 15 years old ...
Nov 18, 2016
Main suspect faces 40 charges in sexual abuse case
Police identified another man, 48-year-old Geoffrey Burnet of Kitchener, Ont., who was arrested and charged with making and distributing child pornography. Police said Burnet is a former elementary school teacher in several boards in southern Onta...
Oct 31, 2016
Son of late Grenville headmaster arrested for sex assault
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/10/07/son-of-late-grenville-headmaster-arrested-for-sex-assault.html
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SEE MORE:
http://www.sexualabuselawyer.ca/sexual-abuse-and-assault-survivors/details/abuse-by-children%27s-aid-societies-group-homes-and-other-residential-facilities
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