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	Quebec Woman Settles Sexual Abuse Lawsuit with Catholic Priest, Archbishop By Marianne White National Post December 21, 2011 http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/12/21/quebec-woman-settles-sexual-abuse-lawsuit-with-catholic-priest-archbishop/ QUEBEC — A Quebec woman reached a settlement with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Quebec and a priest she was suing for $250,000 for sexual abuse she suffered more than 25 years ago. The lawyer for Shirley Christensen said Wednesday she is "very, very happy" to turn the page on this long-standing legal saga. "The negotiations were long and very difficult," said lawyer Alain Arsenault. Details of the settlement are confidential. Christensen, 37, declined to give an interview Wednesday. The Quebec City woman was abused in the late 1970s when she was between the ages of six and eight. But the assaults were only reported in 2006, eventually resulting in a guilty plea by the priest involved. Rev. Paul-Henri Lachance, who was sentenced in 2009 to 18 months in jail for the crimes. Christensen has testified the church had asked her family in the 1970s not to go to police and moved the priest to a different parish. She had tried twice to launch civil lawsuits but was denied by Quebec courts, which said she had exceeded the time limit on when someone can sue for damages in a civil case. However, last year the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in her favour and asked the Quebec Superior Court to assess the evidence to determine whether the limitation period started to run in 2006, when Christensen started to recall some memories of the abuse, or that it shouldn't apply at all in the case. Christensen's lawyers entered negotiations with the church and the priest last fall, leading to the settlement reached in the past few days. Christensen is still undergoing psychotherapy treatments and has argued before the courts that psychological trauma prevented her from bringing the case to light earlier than 2006, when she became aware of the magnitude of what she had been through. Alongside Prince Edward Island, Quebec is the only province that still has limitations on how long after abuse an action can be launched in cases of sexual assault. The province has said it might consider amending Quebec's Civil Code, which fixed the limit to three years.
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