SOMERSET (CANADA)
Winnipeg Free Press [Winnipeg MB, Canada]
March 11, 2025
By Erik Pindera
The Archdiocese of St. Boniface has again been hit with a lawsuit over allegations of historical sexual abuse by a Roman Catholic priest in rural southern Manitoba decades ago.
The statement of claim, filed in the Court of King’s Bench earlier this month by Winnipeg lawyers Faron Trippier and Irina Vakurova on behalf of a 67-year-old man, names the archdiocese and its corporate arm, as well as the archbishop, as defendants.
The plaintiff, who the Free Press is not naming due to the nature of the allegations, claims he was sexually abused by now-deceased priest Rene Touchette while he was a youth member of the Notre-Dame-de-la-Nativité in the village of Somerset, about 150 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.
The lawsuit is the third filed by lawyers Trippier and Vakurova since 2023 on behalf of different plaintiffs over allegations of sex abuse at the hands of Roman Catholic Church priests in Manitoba.
Both earlier lawsuits — the archdiocese has denied both the abuse allegations and the claim it had knowledge of any sexually inappropriate behaviour in statements of defence filed earlier this year — also name Touchette as an alleged abuser.
Touchette, who died at the age of 71 in 2012, was convicted in 1993 of sex crimes committed while he was a priest in Somerset.
The new lawsuit alleges the “violent assaults of a sexual nature” occurred between 1972 and 1980, while the now-67-year-old was between the ages of 13 and 21.
The man claims Touchette began asking him when he was 13 or 14 to help him with duties at the church and at his home, and that he would often stay at the priest’s home on the grounds.
Further, the man alleges, Touchette took him on trips, including to California, where they would stay in the same hotel room.
The man claims Touchette sexually touched him at the church and on trips and that the priest gave him alcohol when he was a minor.
The lawsuit alleges that the archdiocese knew or ought to have known “Touchette was a pedophile” because of past complaints of sex and physical abuse, including from the plaintiff’s brother.
Further, the lawsuit claims at least one victim personally complained to the-then Archbishop of St. Boniface about Touchette, but he was “transferred from one church to another” rather than disciplined.
It claims the archdiocese breached its duties to the plaintiff by placing Touchette in a position of trust.
The plaintiff claims to have suffered mental and social strife as a result of the alleged abuse and is seeking an unspecified amount of monetary damages.
Daniel Bahuaud, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of St. Boniface, declined comment on the new suit Tuesday.
None of the lawsuits have been heard in court and the archdiocese asked the court in its defence filings to dismiss the two earlier legal actions with costs in its favour.
The archdiocese has also argued the claims are barred by the provincial Limitations of Actions Act, which dictates time frames in which civil claims can be filed.
Alternatively, the archdiocese has argued, given that documents are no longer available and people who may have been witnesses are long dead, it would be unfair to make it defend itself from the claims.
The first of the two earlier lawsuits, filed in May 2023, also accused Léo Couture, who died in 2023 at age 92, of sexual abuse.
That lawsuit also named the Red River Valley School Division, which denied all allegations against it and filed cross claims against the other defendants in defence filings earlier this year.
The plaintiff, a man in his mid-40s, alleged he was sexually abused while he was a student around 1990-1991 at St. Jean Baptiste Elementary, a now-defunct facility in the Red River division that merged with another school in the community and joined the Division scolaire franco-manitobaine in 1994.
The man alleged the abuse occurred when he was a member of the Catholic Church in St. Jean Baptiste, a francophone community about 75 kilometres south of Winnipeg.
Touchette was a priest at St. Jean Baptiste’s church from August to mid-September 1990, court filings claim, while Couture allegedly taught catechism classes as a priest at the church between 1990 and 1992.
The plaintiff in that case alleged he was sexually assaulted by the two priests when they asked him to help with church duties over the lunch hour on school days when he was 10 or 11.
Couture’s estate has denied all sexual allegations, arguing in court filings he even avoided being left alone with children.
The estate claims Couture would go to St. Jean Baptiste only on Sundays, or to preside over special ceremonies, and return to Winnipeg afterward, and that he did not teach catechism classes.
It also claims Couture was not assigned to the church until after Touchette’s departure.
The second lawsuit, filed in June 2023 by a man now in his early 60s, alleged he was repeatedly and violently sexually abused by Touchette between 1972 and 1982, while he was a member of the church in Somerset. He was just eight years old when the alleged abuse occurred.
The plaintiff in that case claimed to have lived next to the rectory in Somerset, where Touchette resided.
The plaintiff alleged Touchette asked him to help him with duties at the church and his home, and while the plaintiff attended school in Winnipeg, Touchette would travel to the capital city and take the boy to hotels. He claims to have been abused on those occasions.
The archdiocese has denied those allegations.