2012: Grandview survivor finds healing through documentary filming.
PARRY SOUND - They were taken away from their families and incarcerated at a training school for girls. Many never broke any laws, but were sent to Grandview Training School by court judges who found them to be unmanageable, incorrigible and/or truant.
As a part of National Victims of Crime Awareness Week, Parry Sound Victim Services, in partnership with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Almaguin Highlands and West Parry Sound OPP Detachment as well as the Department of Justice Canada, is hosting a number of events across the district this week.
Moving Forward
Under the theme, Moving Forward, event topics include institutional abuse, domestic violence, cyber bullying, human trafficking, child sexual exploitation, male domestic violence and the role of the OPP Provincial Liaison Team.
“National Victims of Crime Awareness Week is an important event for our community, because it raises awareness of some of the issues we face in our society,” said Parry Sound Victim Services executive director Ann Swallow. “We hope the provision of these events will bring issues of victimization to the forefront so that we can work together to further educate ourselves while raising awareness so that we can all do our part in helping to end violence.”
At the West Parry Sound District Museum on Monday, a showing and discussion of the documentary, Until Somebody Listens, was presented by documentary producer and director Laura Sky and Grandview survivor Patricia Griffiths, who today is a District of Parry Sound Victim Services family court support worker.
1994
The documentary, filmed in 1994, examines the institutional abuse experienced by hundreds of girls that were sent to Grandview. Grandview originally opened in 1933 as the Ontario Training School for Girls in Cambridge (then Galt).
The facility was for girls, aged 12 to 18, but some as young as 10 stayed at Grandview with detention periods left to the discretion of the staff. The average stay was from four to 12 months, although some were kept there for four years.
It was renamed the Grandview Training school in 1967 and closed in 1976. Many of the girls experienced sexual, physical and emotional abuse.
The documentary looks at the lives of five members of the Grandview Survivors Support Group and chronicles their experiences from trauma to recovery.
Sky said she was supported and funded by the Grandview Survivors Support Group and the Trillium Foundation.
“The women were very resourceful,” she said. “They’re quite remarkable women. They have as many strengths as they do wounds and they really supported me to do it. I didn’t anticipate how much suffering I would experience through them and they were very supportive and that helped a lot.”
Griffiths, who attended the event along with about 18 others, was sent to Grandview when she was 15 for more than two years and was released when the facility closed in 1976.
“It was therapeutic the way Laura handled it, she was very sensitive,” Griffiths said of filming the documentary. “The documentary took a fair amount of time to make. We would have meetings in between filming and then it would be edited. Every step of the process (Sky) allowed us to watch the edits and anytime she had to make a cut she would check with us. She was very sensitive about what it meant to us and addressing our needs. That was more healing that anything else. It’s a long time ago now, I’m a recovering addict so I think there’s been a lot of healing and I’ve also gone into a field of work that is involved in helping other people heal. The whole process has been healing. It helped lead me on the path to healing.”
Other National Victims of Crime Awareness Week events in Parry Sound include: on April 25, OPP Liaison Team, presented by PC Kim Wright and Det. Sgt. Gilles Lachance at the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) building, 25 Church Street from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.; on April 25, Human trafficking, presented by author, speaker and advocate Timea Nagy, at the CAS building on 25 Church Street. This is Bring Your Own Lunch and Learn event (BYOLL). Meet, greet and eat from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Presentation starts at 1 p.m.; April 26, Child Exploitation, at the Land of Lakes School in Burks Falls, 92 Ontario Street, presented by Det. Const. Kristina Truax with Almaguin Highlands OPP Detachment Crim Unit and Det Const. Jermy Spence with Orillia OPP Child Sexual Exploitation Unit. This is a BYOLL event. Meet, greet and eat from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., presentation from 12:30 to 2 p.m.
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Grandview Training School for Girls.
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.
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2010: Until Someone Listens - Documentary Preview
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1. INTRODUCTION
In the previous chapters, I summarized the deficiencies or problems associated with the Nova Scotia response to reports of institutional abuse. The more challenging task is to make recommendations as to how such reports should be addressed by government in the future. Elsewhere, I described such recommendations as a 'blueprint for the future.'
What is obvious is that there is a serious need to consider the future of government responses to reports of institutional abuse. The Nova Scotia response represents only one in a series of government programs that have met with varying degrees of success. There is no reason to believe that allegations of institutional abuse elsewhere in Nova Scotia or, indeed, Canada will end here. On the contrary, there are indications that such allegations are continuing to surface.
Having said that, one must recognize that there are significant variables that prevent a government from simply superimposing one program - however successful - upon a different factual situation. These variables include, but are not limited to:
the kind of abuse alleged;
how the alleged abuse came to light;
whether current employees are implicated;
the size of the pool of potential claimants;
the extent to which allegations of abuse have already been tested in criminal or other judicial proceedings;
the existence of parallel investigations;
how recent the alleged abuse is;
the nature of the institutions involved and their residents;
the gender, colour, and cultural or ethnic background of those alleging abuse;
their psychological backgrounds;
whether such individuals are mentally or physically challenged;
the existence of factors affecting their access to legal services; and
the availability of government resources.
The approach, therefore, is to identify those considerations that properly underlie a government response, and to examine the components of both successful as well as unsuccessful approaches to the issues. In that regard, I examine the responses made to reports of institutional abuse in other Canadian jurisdictions, as well as a study of the topic prepared by the Law Commission of Canada. The responses of other jurisdictions are considered here. The Law Commission study is reviewed in the next chapter.
2. ONTARIO - GRANDVIEW TRAINING SCHOOL FOR GIRLS
The Government of Ontario operated a training facility for adolescent girls in Galt (now part of Cambridge) from 1932 to 1976. Originally known as the Ontario Training School for Girls - Galt, the facility was renamed the Grandview Training School for Girls in 1967. It housed girls between the ages of 12 and 18. Under the Ontario Training Schools Act,(1) the girls became wards of the Province and the parents of the girls relinquished their rights as guardians. The institution housed an average of 120 girls annually, with approximately one-quarter of them in a secure facility known as Churchill House. While some girls had committed minor crimes such as shoplifting, many were sent to the school because they had been pronounced "unmanageable" under the Juvenile Delinquents Act(2) for reasons such as truancy, the use of drugs or alcohol, or "sexual immorality." Many of the young women sent to Grandview had been physically, sexually or emotionally abused by family members; some were orphans, and some were from very poor homes whose families were unable to care for them.
A number of students at the school were abused during their residency there. The most significant period of abuse occurred in the mid-1960s to the early 1970s. The school was closed in 1976 after an investigation into the abuse. Residents alleged that they had been subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse at the hands of guards and other staff. Some of the allegations had been made contemporaneous to the abuse, but had not resulted in any legal proceedings at the time.
The abuse came to public light in 1991, when two women who were being treated by the same psychologist told him of very similar experiences of abuse that occurred at Grandview. The psychologist was shocked by the details, introduced the two women to each other and said that he would support them if they went public with their stories. The women 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 Waterloo Regional Police Service and the Ontario Provincial Police began a joint investigation into claims of physical and sexual abuse at the school.
In December 1992, a Victim Witness Program site was established in Kitchener, Ontario, with the express purpose of dealing with Grandview.(3) Some women retained lawyers and initiated civil suits. At the same time, a small group of women formed the Grandview Survivor's Support Group ("GSSG") to investigate options for seeking compensation on a collective basis. They also hired legal counsel (whose services were ultimately paid for by the Ontario Government). The group later expanded to include more than 300 women.
The Province decided to pursue, through mediation, an out-of-court strategy to settle Grandview claims. In May 1993, negotiations began between the Government and the GSSG. Over the next 10 months the executive of the GSSG and the group's legal counsel held extensive meetings with counsel from the Ministry of the Attorney General and the Government's Grandview Project Manager in an attempt to draft a compensation agreement. The Government provided funding during the negotiations for a crisis line dedicated to Grandview survivors and for continued participation in the discussions by the GSSG executive.
In early 1994, a Draft Agreement was formulated by the Government and the GSSG executive and put to a vote by the members of the GSSG. Over 127 women participated in the vote, and the Agreement was ratified by over 80%. After Government approval, the program was announced in June 1994.
The Agreement allowed all former residents of Grandview to apply for specified benefits and financial compensation from the Government through an alternative dispute resolution process rather than individually pursuing civil suits. It was a group agreement, but it permitted individual women to choose whether or not to participate in the program. Individuals were required to obtain independent legal advice (for which the Government provided $1,000 per applicant) before electing to seek compensation under the Agreement. Those who elected to do so had to provide a complete release of any claim they might have had against the Government of Ontario for damages arising out of their mistreatment at Grandview. Participation in the Agreement, however, did not restrict the individual's rights to bring criminal charges or civil claims against individual perpetrators of abuse.
An application cut-off date was set for January 2, 1996. Applications received after that date were not automatically rejected, but were considered on a case by case basis.
The purpose of the Agreement was outlined in its Overview:
The purpose of this Agreement is to engage in a process to afford any eligible person real opportunities to heal and to introduce real hope for a better future ... [It] is designed to address the consequences of "abuse" and "mistreatment" as those terms are defined, of those who were actually resident at Grandview ... It is an objective of the various components of this Agreement to facilitate a path of healing and recognition of self-fulfilment for its beneficiaries. It is hoped that the coordination of the various components, will, as an integrated whole, produce a more accountable and effective response for survivors of institutionalized and sexual abuse.
(a) Details of the Compensation Package
The Agreement provided for three different types of benefits: general benefits (intended to benefit society as a whole), group benefits (for all former residents of the institution), and individual benefits (for those who claimed specific incidents of abuse). An Eligibility and Implementation Committee ("EIC") was established as an advisory body to oversee and superintend the implementation of the benefits package. This committee was composed of two GSSG-appointed members, one Government-appointed member and a chair jointly appointed by the Government and the GSSG. The Agreement also provided funding for the GSSG to enable it to continue to offer support to its members through meetings, outreach and a newsletter.
(i) General Benefits
General benefits were not necessarily confined to benefits to former residents of Grandview. They were defined in the Agreement as "programs, actions or commitments that the Government may undertake or foster and which may provide benefits to survivors of sexual, physical and institutionalized abuse generally."
The Agreement included specific provisions for legislative and research initiatives.
The main legislative initiative outlined in the Agreement was a bill to amend various provincial laws to extend or eliminate limitation periods for commencing civil proceedings in relation to sexual abuse. The Government also reviewed its hiring, training and abuse-reporting practices for programs involving youth in institutional settings or under state supervision.
Three research initiatives were contemplated in the Agreement. First, there was a proposal to evaluate the effect and effectiveness of the Agreement itself. This work was later conducted by Deborah Leach.(4) Results of her study are referred to in the applicable contexts below. Second, a recommendation was made to conduct research to better understand the dynamics of the consequences of abuse and to determine when and how to provide effective intervention. In this regard, the Government supported the production of a video and a booklet entitled "Until Someone Listens." Third, every applicant was given the choice to tell of her experiences at Grandview and have her history recorded.
The idea of establishing a Healing Centre was also discussed but not acted upon. Instead, some money was put aside for a needs assessment. However, these funds eventually went back to the Government's general revenue fund.
(ii) Group Benefits
Group benefits consisted of a dedicated crisis line, money for the removal of self-inflicted tattoos and scars, and a general acknowledgement by the Government recognizing the efforts of the GSSG to bring to the attention of provincial authorities the allegations of abuse and to develop a non court-based process to assist the victims. The crisis line and money for the removal of tattoos and scars were available to all former residents of Grandview. Individuals applying to have a self-inflicted tattoo removed were required to swear a statement declaring when they attended Grandview and that the tattoo was inflicted during that time.(5)
The crisis line which was established by the Government of Ontario during the negotiations leading up to the Agreement was continued pursuant to the terms of the Agreement. Again, it was available to any former resident of Grandview without proof that she had been subjected to conduct at the school that could have caused or contributed to her crisis. The crisis line existed for four years and was closed March 31, 1997. Ms. Leach reported that a large majority of the women who accessed the service felt it made a positive difference in their lives. However, some felt that the counsellors were not always sufficiently knowledgeable about institutional abuse or Grandview.
The Government allocated $120,000 for a tattoo removal fund and $50,000 for a scar reduction fund. Fifty-two women had used this benefit as of December 1996, the latest date for which information was available. Ms. Leach found that the impact of tattoo removal was significant in improving self-esteem and the ability to live in the present.
The general acknowledgement referred to above was read out in the provincial legislature by the Attorney General, the Honourable Jim Flaherty, on November 17, 1999. It included an apology to all the Grandview survivors.
(iii) Individual Benefits
A number of individual benefits, including direct financial compensation, were available to former residents of Grandview whose assertions of abuse were accepted. Individuals had to apply for these benefits. Their applications were reviewed by an adjudicator who determined whether the claimant was in fact the victim of abuse and/or mistreatment (as defined in the Agreement) which caused injury or harm and, if so, what financial award was appropriate. An applicant whose claim was validated was also entitled to apply for a variety of additional non-financial benefits that were purchased by the Government from existing service providers on a case-by-case basis. The total Government expenditure on awards and benefits was $16,400,000.(6) The various available benefits are described below.
Successful claimants were entitled to a financial award for pain and suffering as a result of abuse and/or mistreatment. "Abuse" and "mistreatment" were defined as follows:
1.1 ABUSE means an injury as a result of the commission of a criminal act or act of gross misconduct by a guard or other official at Grandview or in some circumstances by another ward and includes physical and sexual assault or sexual exploitation. It is acknowledged that sexual abuse includes arbitrary or exploitative internal examinations for which no reasonable medical justification existed and which resulted in demonstrable harm.
Act of abuse is the act that causes injury.
1.2 MISTREATMENT means an injury as a result of a pattern of conduct that was "cruel" and for which no reasonable justification could exist (arbitrary) and includes conduct that was non physical but had as a design the depersonalization and demoralization of the person with the consequent loss in self esteem, and may involve discipline measures unauthorized by any superior authority. This is conduct that is plainly contrary to the policies and procedures governing conduct at Grandview and the purpose of the governing legislation. Proof must establish a pattern of conduct directed towards the individual personally and errors of judgement will not be sufficient. This conduct may include taunts, intimidation, insults, abusive language, the withholding of emotional supports, deprivation of paternal visits, threats of isolation, and psychologically cruel discipline or measures which were not officially permitted in the management and control of the residents of the facility.
The general environment of Grandview, the discipline and regulation of the conduct of the wards in accordance with policies and procedures established for the governance and management of the institution cannot constitute mistreatment.
The act of mistreatment is the act or acts that cause the injury.
In order to qualify for a financial award, an applicant had to demonstrate injury or harm which justified compensation beyond a nominal damages award. The range of available awards was from $3,000 to $60,000.(7) The precise amount conferred upon an applicant depended on the nature, severity and impact of the abuse and/or mistreatment. In determining the amount, the adjudicators were directed to use a prescribed matrix as a guide. This matrix set out the minimum and maximum award ranges for various categories of misconduct, and also itemized the type of evidence expected as proof. The adjudicators had the discretion to fix the award within the range prescribed. The matrix is reproduced in full below.
https://novascotia.ca/
2007: Redress Packages for Institutional Child Abuse: Exploring the Grandview Agreement as a Case Study in 'Alternative' Dispute Resolution
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my mom was a survivor of grandview her name then joyce collings i hope someone remembers her
ReplyDeleteMy heart goes out to you all