Archdiocese Sexual Abuse Class Action Awaits Day in Nova Scotia Court

Dozens of people in Nova-Scotia who say they were sexually abused by Roman Catholic priests of the Halifax and Yarmouth dioceses are set to go before a judge to tell their stories.

A class action lawsuit filed in Aug. 2018 on behalf of plaintiff Douglas Champagne and other alleged sexual abuse survivors has since been certified, and the Class Members are awaiting a trial date, The Chronicle Herald reported.

The lawsuit seeks to represent any person who was abused by priests employed by the Halifax-Yarmouth archdiocese, which amalgamated the former dioceses of Halifax and Yarmouth in 2011.

If you or a loved one was sexually abused or assaulted at church, school or daycare, OR while participating in a youth program, you may be able to participate in a lawsuit investigation.

Champagne’s allegations of abuse go back to 1960, and lawyers for the class action believe there may be many more victims out there. 

As an eight-year-old, Champagne was sent to see Father George G. Epoch for counseling at Canadian Martyrs Church in Halifax, after his dad left the family. In court documents, he said he became an altar boy, and that Epoch started abusing him when he was about 10 years old.

The Nova Scotia Justice Department’s 2002 Kaufman Report found that Epoch sexually abused many male and female children on First Nations reserves during his time in Ontario, according to CBC.

The Jesuit Fathers of Upper Canada, the order Epoch belonged to at the time, found “an extensive history of sexual abuse by the late priest” and offered a public apology in 1992. They eventually reached a financial settlement with those victims. 

The Nova Scotia class action says priests employed by the Halifax-Yarmouth archdiocese had for decades “sexually assaulted and battered Catholic worshippers who attended their parishes,” developing pyschololgical intimacy with their victims in order to “engage in acts of sexual assault and battery.”

Several of the abusive priests were criminally convicted but many others were sent off to a church-run treatment facility in Ontario and then quietly placed back in archdiocesan parishes, the class action claims.

“There is no way to know for certain how many people were abused by priests, probably the party that knows best is the archdiocese because they are the ones that received the complaints and sent the priests for treatment when they were caught,” representing lawyer for the group, John McKiggan of McKiggan-Hebert told The Chronicle Herald.

When the class action goes to trial, a judge will need to decide whether the archdiocese was negligent and whether the archdiocese owed a fiduciary duty, or duty of trust, to the Class Members.

McKiggan said the lawsuit could be settled at any time up to trial if the parties are able to reach an agreement. He said it would be reasonable to expect a settlement would be larger than the $16 million compensation settlement reached in a 2009 sex abuse class action between Antigonish diocese and more than 140 complainants.

According to the lawsuit, in 1962 the Pope enacted a strict policy of secrecy concerning allegations of sexual abuse against a priest. The consequence of violating the policy was allegedly ex-communication.

Class action lawsuits over the Roman Catholic Church’s policies toward clergy accused of sexual abuse have been launched all across Canada.

The Diocese of Quebec faces a class action lawsuit alleging thousands of potential sex abuse cases. The lead plaintiffs claim that they were sexually abused as minors by Catholic priests decades ago.

Another class action lawsuit in Canada claims that children and teens endured decades of abuse at the hands of the Christian Brothers of Ireland in the Cashel Orphanage in St. John’s.

Were you or a loved one affected by Halifax Catholic priest sex abuse? What do you think about these class action lawsuit allegations? Tell us in the comment section below.

The lead plaintiffs and Class Members are represented by John A. McKiggan QC of McKiggan Herbert and Kirk M. Baert, Celeste Poltak, and Garth Myers of Koskie Minsky LLP.

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