Another former student sues over sexual abuse

Prince Albert school division has already settled lawsuits with three other women

Almost five years after Prince Albert’s Saskatchewan Rivers school division settled a lawsuit with three women who were sexually abused by a teacher in the 1970s and ’80s, a fourth woman has filed suit in connection with the same teacher.

Dennis Foster took early retirement after police began investigating him in 1993.

He was later convicted of six criminal charges related to sexual abuse of students at Riverside School in Prince Albert, and was sentenced to six and a half years in prison. His current whereabouts is unknown.

In her statement of claim, filed Aug. 22 in Prince Albert Court of Queen’s Bench, A.H. — the Starphoenix has agreed not to publish her full name at her request — alleges Foster sexually assaulted her on school property on numerous occasions between 1988 and 1990, leaving her with lasting psychological injuries that continue to affect her life.

Through her lawyer, A.H. declined to comment.

Statements of claim contain allegations that have not been tested in court. The school division did not return a phone call seeking comment.

For years, complaints about Foster’s behaviour toward students were dismissed by the school division as rumour and specula- tion. That ended in 1993, when two nine-year-old girls told their parents and teachers he had touched them sexually in a classroom after school.

The mother of one of the girls had herself been sexually abused by Foster and impregnated by him in 1979 at the age of 15. She was living in a foster home at the time, and when she told her foster parents about the situation, they told her not to make trouble. Over the ensuing years, she raised his child while he stalked and threatened her.

She broke her silence and called police after he targeted her second child.

News of the criminal charges against Foster prompted a flood of disclosures from former students. He ultimately faced three separate trials on a total of 13 sex charges involving nine complainants.

In 2013, the school division settled a civil lawsuit filed in 1999 by three women, all of whom were victimized by Foster as children and teenagers in the 1970s and ’80s.

Their lawsuit argued the school division was vicariously liable for the abuse and either knew about it or deliberately ignored clear signs that Foster was a predator.

In settling the lawsuit for an undisclosed sum, the school division issued a rare written apology to the three women for the pain they and their families endured.

Cathy Bendle and Tammy Jo Gollan, two of the women involved in the original suit, declined to have the usual publication bans applied to their identities.

Both say they are not surprised to learn a new plaintiff has come forward.

“I have long believed that there are dozens more of us out there. No one becomes as blatant as he was with me, without having lots of experience beforehand. There were 25 years of predation and I suspect the number of victims is in the hundreds,” Bendle said this week.

“I have waited for the day when others would find their voice,” Gollan said.