Cadets Canada Class Action Says ‘Sexualized Culture’ Led to Widespread Sex Abuse

Cadets Canada Sex Abuse Class Action Lawsuit Overview:

• Who: Plaintiff Hilary Lockhart filed a class action lawsuit against Cadets Canada.
• Why: Lockhart says she was groomed by a male instructor and the organization failed to protect her from being sexually abused when she was 14.
• Where: The Cadets Canada class action lawsuit was filed in a Newmarket, Ontario, court.

Cadets Canada is facing a class action lawsuit filed by a Toronto woman who says she was sexually abused by a male instructor, CTV News reports.

Plaintiff Hilary Lockhart, 28, says she joined the Army Cadets in Dryden, Ontario, when she was 14 years old. According to the sex abuse class action lawsuit, she was groomed by a male instructor in 2008 and lured online.

Lockhart was “lured and brainwashed into a ‘relationship’” with the instructor, the lawsuit claims. He allegedly coerced her to take off her clothing during a video call.

She says she tried to report the abuse to a female instructor, but her concerns were not addressed.

Lockhart told CTV News that she would have gone to a hotel room with the male instructor if her mother had not discovered their online conversations.“I didn’t know what to do,” Lockhart said. “My mom ended up finding out and reporting it to the police herself.”

The male instructor was ultimately charged and convicted over the sex abuse claims.

Cadets Canada Class Action Points to More Than 200 Sex Abuse Allegations

The Cadets Canada class action lawsuit points to 245 sexual assault and sexual harassment cases that allegedly took place from 2006 to 2015. Forty-four out of 162 sexual misconduct cases, or 27%, in the Canadian Forces in 2015 reportedly involved cadets.

Cadets Canada is sponsored by the Canadian Armed Forces and funded by the Department of National Defense. There are approximately 55,000 young people involved in the Cadets Canada organization.

“The discriminatory and sexualized culture in Cadets Canada is caused by the leadership’s failure to implement appropriate policies to properly train its members and to identify, report, investigate and properly resolve incidents of sexual assault and sexual harassment,” the sex abuse class action lawsuit states.

Lockhart claims that the culture within Cadets Canada “condones and encourages sexual assault and sexual harassment towards young female cadets,” according to the lawsuit.

Darryl Singer, Lockhart’s lawyer, says he has already been in touch with nearly a dozen alleged individuals who say they also experienced Cadets Canada sex abuse. He believes there may be many more victims who may qualify to join the sex abuse class action lawsuit.

“This is widespread,” Singer said. “This is a national class-action, looking at anyone that was assaulted from 2000 to today – over the past 20 years.”

This Cadets Canada class action is the first to consider allegations against the organization that took place over an extended time period, Singer said. Other class action lawsuits reportedly focused on a specific incident or time period.

Individuals who were sexually assaulted or sexually abused at church, school or during youth activities may be able to hold the perpetrators—as well as the institutions where the abuse occurred—accountable by filing a civil lawsuit (links to paid attorney content).

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