A class action has just been authorized by Judge Sylvain Lussier of the Superior Court against the Marist Brothers for sexual assaults committed on children in Quebec. Nearly $21 million is claimed.
In this case, as in others related to the pedophilia scandal in the Catholic Church, the lawyers representing the victims allege that the religious congregation transferred funds to other constituent entities to avoid having to pay this money to victims. .
In his judgment on the request for authorization of collective action rendered on Tuesday, the magistrate writes that the plaintiff (alleged victim) blames the Marist Brothers for the alleged attacks committed by brothers, but also the actions of other members of the Congregation “who knowingly protected and transferred them and who maneuvered to protect the assets of the Congregation from their creditors, thus possibly engaging the liability of the other legal persons of the Congregation. »
Lawyers from the office Kugler Kandestin, who represent the plaintiff, claim that more than 160 million dollars would have been transferred to various funds belonging to the Marist Brothers. It should be noted that none of these claims have yet been proven.
Judge Lussier recalls that the lawyers from the Bouchard + Avocats office representing the religious congregation reject these claims and “in fact dispute the existence of a legal relationship” between B. and the funds belonging to the Marist Brothers, in this case the Marist Missions Foundation, the Arthur-Caron Fund and the Bedford Fund.
However, the magistrate ruled that “the factual and legal links between the different [personnes morales] are too narrow to allow action not to be authorized with respect to each of them”.
Serial attacks
The plaintiff in this file, identified by the initial B., claims to have been sexually abused for seven years by a Marist brother who had won the trust of his parents.
This monk worked as a guidance counselor in schools in Baie-Saint-Paul, Charlevoix and Clermont. He allegedly assaulted B. on several occasions from 1960 when he drove him around in his car and summoned him to his office, where his bedroom was also located, at the Baie-Saint-Paul school. .
The school principal brother allegedly confronted the aggressor brother on at least one occasion. According to B., the latter would have retorted: “you send yourself (sic) your secretary, don’t come and piss me off (sic) with my business”.
B. claims that the abusive brother allegedly abused other boys, including during a visit to Expo 67 in Montreal, a hockey tournament in Quebec City and a camping activity in Manic 5. The abusive brother allegedly more was later transferred to Gaspésie and allegedly died in an automobile accident, while he was in the company of a boy.
Following these assaults, B. says he experienced rage and began to consume alcohol to excess.
Under the judgment rendered by Judge Lussier, any person who has been sexually assaulted by a religious of the Marist Brothers in Quebec can join the class action, with the exception of members of the Association des amis du Patro Lokal of St-Hyacinthe c. The Marist Brothers et al..
B. claims 950,000 dollars in damages and 20 million are required as punitive and exemplary damages for the whole class. The collective action targets the Marist Brothers, but also the Oeuvres Rivat, the Arthur-Caron Fund, the Bedford Fund, the Marist Missions Foundation and the Oeuvres Vie Nouvelle.
More than 10,000 Quebec children are believed to have been abused by members of the Catholic Church, making it the province’s biggest child abuse scandal.