BC judge authorizes class action lawsuit related to Mount Cashel scandal

The Mount Cashel Orphanage, Saint John, Newfoundland and Labrador, before its destruction (1989).

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has allowed a class action lawsuit by an alleged victim of sexual abuse at two Vancouver-area Catholic schools.

According to the lawsuit, Vancouver College and St Thomas More Collegiate in Burnaby experienced nearly four decades of systemic abuse, from 1976 to 2013. It was allegedly committed by clerics transferred from the Newfoundland orphanage. Labrador, Mount Cashel, a facility at the heart of one of the biggest sex abuse scandals in Canadian history.

These brothers were accused and, in some cases, already convicted of assaults on boys in Saint-Jean.

The complaint alleges that the Christian Brothers of Ireland, the religious community to which they belonged and headquartered in Rome, knowingly transferred six cleric sex abusers from St John's Orphanage to the two schools in the British Columbia, where they continued to sexually and physically abuse other children.

According to Justice Simon Coval, a class action is the most practical and effective way to address these serious issues.

In addition to the two schools, the lawsuit targets the Archdiocese of Vancouver, the Archdiocese of Saint John, and the brothers Edward English, Joseph Burke and Douglas Kenny, among others.

According to lawyers, the action could allow 65 potential victims to seek compensation.

The lawsuit says the alleged victims suffered significant harm, including pain and suffering, injuries psychological damage, addiction issues, the inability to have normal and healthy sexual development, and spiritual trauma, including loss of faith.

None of the allegations have not been proven in court.

With information from The Canadian Press