JUSTICE. Ten months after the court approved a class-action lawsuit against the Brothers of Charity, several of whom taught in Drummondville, the law firm Arsenault, Dufresne et Wee formally filed a lawsuit on Dec. 8 at the Palais de Justice in Montreal.
Essentially, the class action lawsuit is based on numerous allegations of sexual assault by religious members of the Brothers of Mercy. They taught at both the Collège Saint-Frédéric and the Collège Saint-Bernard in Drummondville.
According to the anonymized list of victims, they claimed 36 lives, including 17 young residents of Drummondville.
The religious who are being targeted by law enforcement are Brother Raphaël (Collège Saint-Frédéric around 1950), the layman Joseph-André Fournier (Collège Saint-Bernard around 1975-1980), Brother Rolland Thibault (Collège Saint-Bernard around 1950). 1974-1980). 1978), brother Albert Bibeau (Collège Saint-Bernard around 1966 and 1970), brother Goupil (1963), brother Dominic (1947), brother Antonin Lemay (1966-1968), brother Julien-Viateur Plante (1966), brother Cyprien ( 1974-1978) and brother Ambroise (1961-1962).
The attacks are said to have taken place in a variety of locations, namely educational institutions, Christ Roi Church in Drummondville and, in certain cases for layman Joseph-André Fournier, his own home. The victims were between 11 and 15 years old at the time of the incident. Some have experienced up to ten attacks.
“The victims are demanding compensation and everyone is eager to get justice, especially as they get older,” said attorney Justin Wee. In Drummondville there is the special case of Joseph-André Fournier, who claimed several victims over many years. Some reported it to their director, but these denunciations appear to have resulted in moves to other facilities. It was truly the pathetic pattern we saw in other religious communities. We preferred to remove the attackers rather than report them to the police authorities.”
In the application for the opening of proceedings filed this week in the Supreme Court, we can read that the sexual assaults have caused numerous harms such as anxiety, hypervigilance, humiliation, as well as depression problems to the victims, especially the one who calls himself AB.
The story will ultimately end with a trial that has not yet been scheduled.
“We will try to show in this process that the municipality knew that abuses were occurring, that it did nothing, that abuses were also committed by directors and that all of this represents a fault that must be compensated,” explains Me Wee .
The latter adds that potential victims are welcome to join the class action lawsuit at any time.
“It’s free and confidential and you don’t necessarily have to testify in court,” assures lawyer Justin Wee.
Note that the Congregation of the Brothers of Charity was founded on November 26, 1807 in Grand, Belgium. The members settled in Quebec in 1965.
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