Mount Cashel victim paid $300K by province

Court documents describe devastating effects of abuse at orphanage

Warning: Graphic content in this story may disturb some readers. The province has settled out of court by paying $300,000 to a man who was abused as a child in foster care and at the Mount Cashel orphanage.

The 57-year-old man, known in court documents as John Doe, had filed a lawsuit against the province two years ago. Last week, his lawyer notified Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court the case would no longer proceed.

The man was a ward of the province for most of the 1970s, first in foster care and then at Mount Cashel. While in foster care, his statement of claim notes, he was subjected to multiple sexual assaults by an older foster child in the same residence.

Once he was moved to Mount Cashel, where he spent about three years, he was sexually assaulted by a number of Christian Brothers, other employees of the institution and an older boy living there, John Doe said. The assaults ranged from fondling to fellatio. The man also reported being physically abused by the Christian Brothers, who strapped his hands excessively.

John Doe said he was also sexually assaulted by a member of the community while living at the orphanage — a man who kissed him and fondled his genitals.

John Doe’s civil suit alleged the province failed in its duties of care toward him on multiple levels, including that it failed to ensure his caretakers were qualified; that it placed him in facilities it knew or ought to have known were inadequate and dangerous; and that it didn’t monitor his guardians to ensure they were providing adequate care, or visit the facilities or interview him during the time he was a ward of the province.

“The plaintiff states that the defendant foresaw or ought to have foreseen that the plaintiff would have been exposed to the risk, apprehension or reality of experiencing sexual batteries and injuries,” John Doe’s statement of claim reads. “The defendant foresaw or ought to have foreseen that the plaintiff would have sustained damages because the defendant failed to take reasonable or any steps to perform its duties of care to the plaintiff under common law, equality and statute, including but not limited to child welfare legislation.”

John Doe said he has suffered irreparable harm due to the abuse he endured as a child, including physical and mental pain and anguish, mental health issues requiring treatment, humiliation, distressing memories and a loss of enjoyment of life.

He said he was robbed of a normal childhood and appropriate education, has resorted to substance abuse, has difficulties with relationships and has not been able to financially support himself, and asked the court to award him general, special, punitive and aggravated damages.

In its defence, the province acknowledged John Doe had been in its care, but denied the allegations and denied responsibility for them.

“As to the statement of claim as a whole, unless expressly admitted in this defence, the province denies each and every statement and allegation contained therein, and puts the plaintiff to the strict proof therein,” the document reads.

The province pointed out the limitation period for abuse other than sexual abuse had expired.

Justice Minister Andrew Parsons says there was nothing specific in the case that led to it being settled, rather than pursued in court.

Parsons estimates 74 similar cases relating to childhood sexual or physical abuse cases are currently ongoing at some stage in the courts.

“We’re still dealing with the fallout of this tragedy,” Parsons said.

“The details in all of them are generally horrid. Some are more horrific than others. When it comes to sexual abuse cases, there’s no limitations so you must deal with them. We have liability in many cases. We have a responsibility to deal with them.”

Parsons says he hopes speaking about these horrifying abuses can at least spark some healing for the victims.

“If there’s any silver lining, when there is some publicity of any sort on this, if that gives someone the confidence that they can come forward and share their story, then that’s a positive thing to me,” he said.

“In many cases, that’s how you help aid in your healing and recovery, is by talking about it.”

At the time the lawsuit was filed, it was one of 18 John Doe civil cases seeking compensation for abuse suffered at Mount Cashel in the 1970s and 1980s, alleging the province should have recognized the danger but did nothing to prevent or stop it.

The province has paid close to $30 million in compensation to dozens of men who were abused at the orphanage as boys, including more than $11 million in 1997, when it settled with 40 former residents.

Allegations of abuse at the orphanage at the hands of the Christian Brothers running it go back as far as the 1940s.