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	More Church Sex Scandals Likely in Canada, Says Victims' Advocate By Joan Delaney Epoch Times Staff April 15, 2010 http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/33421/ A victims' rights advocate in Ontario says many more people are likely to come forward with allegations of abuse by clergy as a result of the current wave of scandals rocking the Roman Catholic Church. "Whenever someone comes forward and it makes it in the newspaper, then other survivors do come out. So every time there's a report in some newspaper or in some magazine, you have more survivors that do have the courage to speak up," says Robert Bérubé of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). Bérubé, 54, says he knows of more than 400 men and women who say they, too, have been abused by members of the clergy from various churches, including Catholic, Anglican, and Mormon. "Of the people that usually contact me, I would say 90 percent have been abused by priests, or members of clergy, which is not limited to Catholic." Bérubé, a former school principal and co-founder of International Days: Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse and Violence, says he himself was sexually abused by a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Sault Ste Marie over a period of three years starting when he was 12. After suffering a debilitating depression in his late forties, he decided to break his silence. "I came out because someone else had spoken out," he says. Although by then the priest had died, in 2005 Bérubé filed a suit against the diocese and received an undisclosed settlement. France Bedard, 62, who heads an organization that assists victims of sexually abusive priests in Quebec, also predicts that many who have been abused by Catholic clergy will speak out in the coming months. "More revelations will be made because many victims now have the strength to come forward," Bedard told the Montreal Gazette. "I'm telling you, and I know what I'm talking about, colleges and boarding schools will soon be exposed because people are finding the courage to talk," she said, adding some have already pressed charges. Bedard said she was raped and impregnated by Father Armand Therrien in the 1960s. She pressed charges in 2005 after the Quebec City Roman Catholic archdiocese said Therrien denied being the father of her child. "I would like to state that there are good priests, and these good priests should, and pretty fast, identify the bad priests and do something about it." —Robert Bérubé After a DNA test proving Therrien was indeed the father, he was charged with rape and gross indecency in 2006, but died before his trial. Bedard has since filed a $325,000 lawsuit against Therrien's estate and the Archdiocese of Quebec. Since going public with her story, Bedard, like Bérubé, has become the confidante of hundreds of other victims. "I get calls every day from victims," said Bedard, who runs the Association des victimes de pretres. An Ipsos Reid poll released Tuesday found that one in ten Canadians aged 18 or older, representing roughly 2 million adults, indicate that they are personally aware of someone among their family, friends, or acquaintances who has been sexually assaulted by a Roman Catholic priest.
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