(Montreal) More than 80 years of combed files have identified at least 87 sexual abusers among the staff of nine Catholic dioceses in Quebec, reveals a report released Wednesday.
Updated yesterday at 9:50 p.m.
At the request of the Archdiocese of Montreal, retired Superior Court Judge André Denis studied 6,809 archived files between 1940 and 2021 and drew up a statistical portrait of sexual assaults committed in the Church.
Nine dioceses in two ecclesiastical provinces – Montreal and Gatineau – were involved.
The ex-judge’s mandate had two objectives: first, to identify persons targeted by allegations who would still be employed by the Church, and then to provide a census of the number of persons targeted by substantiated denunciations over the past 80 years.
It identified 87 people, or 1.28% of the staff studied, whose files were the subject of confirmed or well-founded allegations of sexual assault on minors or vulnerable adults.
Fewer than five alleged attackers were still employed, but they lost their jobs in light of the review, the ex-judge told The Canadian Press. All problematic files were handed over to the committee or to the person responsible for receiving complaints and studying them within each diocese.
“I had access to all the premises, filing cabinets, vaults, secret files, bishops’ notes over the years. All. I asked questions, I opened all the doors. No one stopped me from doing my job,” says Mr. Denis in the audit summary.
Furthermore, he claims to have noted no transfer of abusive priests from one parish to another when allegations were made.
Breaking the silence of the victims
In interview with The Pressthe Archbishop of Montreal, Christian Lépine, hailed the “colossal work” of the Honorable André Denis.
The exercise, he points out, was necessary to assess the extent of sexual assault in the Church, although he is aware that not all cases have been reported and that it is possible that none file has not been kept for some.
“We know that there are victims who can take a few decades to come forward, victims [dont les plaintes] were poorly documented, poorly followed. We remain very humble and modest in the face of this figure, ”says Ms.gr Lepine.
He hopes this audit will encourage victims to break their silence. “Each abuse is one too many, and we must not let our guard down. We must work, move forward and free speech. The movement is there, the train is moving, ”he concludes.