The multiple sexual assaults committed by the Brothers of Saint-Gabriel, some of their lay employees and volunteers at their service, will cost the congregation between $9.4 million and $26.9 million.
Judge Sylvain Lussier, of the Superior Court, ratified Thursday the settlement agreement reached last May in the class action filed in December 2019 against the religious order.
Under this agreement, the average compensation for each member will be between $150,000 and $175,000. The number of applicants stood at 76 at the start of the proceedings, but three of them have since died.
“Painful” trial avoided
Judge Lussier emphasizes that this agreement is “not only fair and in the best interest of the members of the group, but that it confers significant advantages on the members of the group.” One of the most important advantages is that this agreement prevents them from having to prove the sexual assaults they suffered and the after-effects during a trial where they could be cross-examined, “a cumbersome, painful process. and potentially costly constituting an obstacle to access to justice for several members of the group,” argues the magistrate.
The victims of these attacks, files which date back as far as 1940 in some cases, are aged 60 to 80 years old. Several of them expressed their relief in anonymized emails to which Judge Lussier gives ample space in his decision, extracts of which we reproduce below:
Relief
“This legal action is, in my eyes, a true gift from heaven. I was convinced I would die with my secret and inherent shame repressed at great cost for over 50 years. […] I have the relief of having been heard and obtained some form of justice despite a broken life. »
“I know that financial compensation will never bring me complete healing for the deep psychological damage that I have carried since my childhood, but I will nevertheless feel that I have obtained some reparation. »
“The recent news of this class action against this congregation has revived the old wound that I have carried since childhood. But it also allowed me to hope for a certain relief at the prospect that this unjust and odious act committed against me, and which had remained unpunished until then, would finally be recognized and compensated. »
“I was just a child. A child of barely 10 years old, registered as a boarder at Collège Saint-Gabriel, on the slopes of Mont Saint-Bruno. A child who knew nothing about sexuality, deviance and the harm it could cause. »
“I have always been inhabited by the aggression of brother x. This has colored entire sections of my life. My relationships with others, friendly as well as romantic and professional, have been irremediably altered. I fear the company of young children and have never considered starting a family. »
“My now deceased parents, my sister, my friends, my relatives knew nothing of what I endured in silence, either out of embarrassment or fear of being transformed into a culprit. Because therein lies the victim’s dilemma; we come to believe that it was our fault. »
Three months to submit a claim
The total amount of the settlement will depend on the number of claims accepted by the adjudicator and the Brothers of Saint-Gabriel must constitute a fund capable of absorbing all of the approved claims.
Members now have three months to submit a claim and other people who have suffered sexual assault at the hands of the Brothers of Saint-Gabriel, their employees or their volunteers could be added to the claimants already registered.
Victims who want to register for this class action are invited to contact the Arsenault Dufresne Wee law firm.