Senegalese man suing Quebec congregation
Brothers of the Sacred Heart member allegedly abused him in Africa in 1980s
MONTREAL— A Senegalese man is suing a Quebec-based Catholic congregation for $1.4 million, alleging one of its brothers sexually abused him when he was a boy in the 1980s at a school the religious order ran in Africa.
Legal experts consulted by The Canadian Press said they weren’t aware of another case where a Canadian religious organization was taken to court for the alleged actions of its members in another country.
Max Silverman, the Senegalese plaintiff’s Montreal-based lawyer, said the congregation indicated it will contest the Quebec court’s jurisdiction, setting up a legal battle over whether the province is the best place to hear the evidence.
“The other side has made it clear they intend to contest the jurisdiction of the court and that debate will happen in the fall,” said Silverman, who filed the suit on behalf of the man who has chosen to remain anonymous.
Known in court documents as NBS, the plaintiff alleges a now-deceased Quebec member of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart congregation sexually abused him between 1984 and ’87, at a school the order ran in Kaolack, Senegal.
The legal team for the congregation did not return a request for comment.
Silverman’s case is not the only legal proceedings against the Brothers.
The congregation is also the target of a $15-million class action lawsuit authorized last November in Quebec Superior Court. At least 18 brothers are accused of abusing male students at the Collège Mont-Sacre-Coeur in Granby over a span of decades.
According to the suit filed by Silverman, NBS alleges the abuse began when he was about 12 at the hands of Marcel Courteau. Courteau died in Quebec in 2017 at the age of 92.
The alleged abuse began with Courteau caressing the plaintiff and telling him he was cute.
“Over the course of the next two years or so, Brother Courteau . . . repeatedly engaged the plaintiff in inappropriate actions, all of which constitute abuse and sexual assault,” according to court documents.
NBS, who lives in Senegal, is re- maining anonymous because he feels his life will be in danger if people in his country find out about the alleged abuse, Silverman said.
“In Senegal, there is a real culture of homophobia,” he said. “That extends to the point where a young person, through no fault of his own, if he is a man and associated with an assault by another man he is considered a homosexual and his life is in danger.”
The lawsuit accuses the Brothers of the Sacred Heart of being liable toward NBS because the congregation was acting as Courteau’s school principal when the alleged abuse occurred.