It is the turn of the diocese of Amos to be the target of a request for authorization of collective action for sexual abuse committed by priests on children in the 1960s.
The request was filed Tuesday in Superior Court, at the Amos courthouse, by the law firm Arsenault Dufresne Wee. It concerns for the moment five men who were allegedly attacked on several occasions by five abbots. “No religious organization is immune from this,” reminded Press Me Alain Arsenault.
The person making this request is a 65-year-old man, who cannot be named.
For 5 years, from the age of 7 to 11, he says he was attacked by Father Paul-Émile Bilodeau, at Notre-Dame-de-Fatima school, in Val-d’Or. This priest, who died in 2013 at the age of 83, was a catechesis teacher.
The alleged facts are described in the application as follows:
“On several occasions, between 1963 and 1967, over a period of several months, Father Paul-Émile Bilodeau led the applicant into a small room located in the corridor leading to the school gymnasium, claiming to want to correct or correct him. punish, and sexually assault him.
“Sexual assault takes the form, in particular, of anal penetrations initiated by Father Paul-Émile Bilodeau on the person of the applicant. During these sexual assaults, Father Paul-Émile Bilodeau orders the applicant not to cry out, otherwise he will go to hell. ”
After a few years, the boy was allegedly assaulted again by Father Bilodeau while he was serving as a mass boy at Notre-Dame-de-Fatima church.
The abuse reportedly stopped “months later” when he informed his father. The latter would have spoken to the bishop of Amos at the time, Mr.gr Joseph-Aldée Desmarais, who sent Father Bilodeau to the parish of Chibougamau.
In the request, the list of damages suffered by the alleged victim is long: suicide attempts, depressive episodes, psychological consequences, dropping out of school, anxiety, anger, irritability, feeling of helplessness, periods of homelessness, fear, drug use , sexual dysfunction …
“What is interesting in this case is that we have proof of the way in which dioceses and religious organizations have always functioned, that is to say when they had a problem: they changed parishes. the deviant priest. This file is one of the few, and I would even say, at a pinch, the first, where we have this proof ”, affirms Me Arsenault.
Children from 10 to 14 years old
Four other people have joined the law firm to register for this class action, targeting other attacking priests.
Father Réal Couture allegedly committed ten assaults on a boy then aged 10 to 14, in Parent; Father Armand Roy allegedly assaulted a 12-year-old boy about thirty times, in Laferté and Launay; Father Lucien Côté allegedly committed several assaults on a 10 and 11 year old boy in Authier-Nord; and Father Hubert Fortier allegedly committed numerous assaults on a 12 and 13 year old boy in Berry.
All these priests are now dead.
In their request, the lawyers accuse the diocese of Amos of having “failed to institute policies or take measures to prevent the commission of sexual assault” on the part of its members “or to ensure that cessation ”, while he had“ the necessary powers to relieve employees of their duties who were not performing their duties properly ”.
The defendants perpetuated the risk that Father Bilodeau would commit other sexual assaults, and it is likely to believe that, in fact, such assaults were committed while he was acting as pastor elsewhere.
Extract from the request for collective action
“How do you want there to be less aggression with this kind of policy?” », Asks Me Justin Wee.
” Me too ”
The plaintiff claims an amount of $ 600,000, including $ 300,000 as non-pecuniary damages for the damages resulting from the sexual assaults of which he is said to have been the victim, $ 150,000 for his pecuniary losses and $ 150,000 as punitive damages in under the Charter of human rights and freedoms.
The same amount is demanded by the law firm for each of the alleged victims.
This is the first class action request filed in the judicial district of Abitibi.
It’s just symbolic, but I’m glad that, for this premiere, it concerns a claim by victims of sexual assault who demand justice and that the truth be made on what happened from 1940 to the present day.
Me Justin wee
Class actions have been brought against religious congregations and other dioceses in Quebec, including the dioceses of Montreal, Joliette, Quebec, Trois-Rivières, Saint-Hyacinthe and Saint-Jean – Longueuil, by the cabinet Arsenault Dufresne Wee Avocats, specialized in this type of cases.
Anyone wishing to do so can register for this class action, free of charge and confidentially, by contacting the law firm Arsenault Dufresne Wee. “Every time there is an article on a lawsuit against a diocese, the next day and for a few days, the phone rings: me too, me too, me too”, notes Me Arsenault, who is expecting several calls.
“We are going to discover a lot of things”, believes Me Wee.
753,272 km2
Total area of the territory served by the Diocese of Amos, which includes Kuujjuaq, Salluit, Inukjuak, Chisasibi, Chibougamau, La Sarre, Senneterre and Val-d’Or
Source: Diocese of Amos