Class-action Accusing Montreal Clerics of Sexually Abusing Deaf and Mute Children Can Go Ahead, Judge Rules

By Giuseppe Valiante
Sun News
August 16, 2013

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2013/08/20130816-145247.html

A Quebec judge rejected a motion to delay a multi-million-dollar class-action lawsuit against a religious order accused of sexually abusing deaf and mute children.

The Clerics of Saint Viator wanted the judge to force the members of the class-action to prove - before the trial started - that they were legally allowed to sue.

Lawyer Pierre Boivin, who represents the alleged victims, said Canadian law gives victims a three-year window after a crime was committed in order to come forward.

However, in sexual abuse cases, jurisprudence allows victims a larger window, due to the trauma associated with molestation, Boivin said.

Boivin said that if the clerics got their way, members of the class-action would have had to prove that victims were abused significantly enough to be granted a larger prescribed time.