A settlement agreement has been reached in the class action against the Brothers of Saint-Gabriel, regarding sexual assaults allegedly committed by members of the congregation since the 1940s.
The law firm Arsenault, Dufresne et Wee announced Monday morning in a press release that the Brothers of Saint-Gabriel would raise funds ranging between $9.4 and $26.9 million, depending on the number of claims.
A former chief judge of the Superior Court of Quebec, Jacques R. Fournier, will be the adjudicator responsible for examining the claims.
The agreement must still be approved by the Superior Court. A hearing for this purpose is scheduled for September 28.
The class action was filed in 2019 and includes more than 60 people so far. Any person who says they were sexually assaulted by a member of the religious organization when they were a minor is eligible, provided they have not signed an individual release in favor of the Brothers of Saint-Gabriel or in the National Reconciliation Program with the orphans of Duplessis.
If the agreement is approved by the court, people will have three months to claim compensation. Afterwards, it will be too late, warned lawyer Justin Wee.
“Nearly four years later, after many months of negotiations, we reached this settlement agreement,” Mr. Wee said in a telephone interview. We hope that as many people as possible can finally find peace by signing up for this collective action. »
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