Quebec Cardinal Marc Ouellet is targeted by allegations of sexual assault, contained in a class action against the Diocese of Quebec.
The class action was authorized by the Superior Court last May, which means that it can now go through all the steps required to go to trial.
The detailed legal claim was filed Tuesday at the Quebec City courthouse. It contains the testimonies of several people – including minors at the time of the alleged acts – who allege to have been victims of at least 85 members of the clergy.
The legal action is more specifically directed against the Roman Catholic Archiepiscopal Corporation of Quebec and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Quebec for assaults allegedly committed by various religious or lay employees since 1940.
This is the case of a young woman soberly designated by the letter “F”. She testifies to having been sexually assaulted by Marc Ouellet, now a cardinal, and whose name had already been mentioned to become pope.
“F” reports having been hired in 2008 as a pastoral worker in the Diocese of Quebec when she was 23 years old.
In the procedure, she describes various events, including one during which Marc Ouellet massaged her shoulders and caressed her back, or kissed her “familiarly” by holding her against him to caress her back.
On another occasion, in February 2010, during the ordination of a colleague, the young woman said that she had met Marc Ouellet who kissed her again saying “there is no harm in spoiling yourself little”, words that she considered “inappropriate”. She adds that he then slid his hand down her back to her buttocks.
According to the law firm Arsenault Dufresne Wee, which is leading the class action, more than 100 people told it that they had been victims of attacks by at least 85 clergy and lay employees under their control.
In short, the testimonies detailed in the procedure are not “isolated cases”, they argue, and even demonstrates the “systemic nature” of the attacks.
None of the allegations in the proceedings have yet been proven in court and the case is ongoing. A trial is expected to take place later.