VANCOUVER (CANADA)
CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) [Toronto, Canada]
April 15, 2025
By Karin Larsen
Claim alleges teacher Raymond Clavin sexually assaulted and raped Grade 7 student at all-boys school in 1987
WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
A retired Catholic school teacher with a record of sexually abusing boys at two Vancouver-area private schools is facing fresh allegations related to his time teaching at St. George’s School for boys almost 40 years ago.
A notice of civil claim filed April 7 in B.C. Supreme Court alleges Raymond Thomas Clavin groomed, sexually assaulted and raped plaintiff N.C. during the 1986-87 school year when N.C. was a Grade 7 student at St. George’s.
The claim also names St. George’s as a defendant, saying the school “knew or ought to have known of the foreseeable risk of child sexual grooming and abuse that Clavin posed to the plaintiff.”
Clavin, 82, has a last known address in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland and is known to use the alias Ray Griffith, according to the court filing.
N.C.’s claim alleges that “several St. George’s administrators, educators and athletic coaches,” who worked closely with Clavin, had the “full opportunity to observe his patterned grooming and abuse of boys.”
The claim alleges that Clavin frequently drove N.C. to and from basketball practice and games in isolation from other adults or students, had N.C. stay in his hotel room on a basketball trip to Toronto, and took N.C. on overnight visits and on a spring break ski trip.
After spring break in 1987, N.C. refused to return to St. George’s, according to the claim.
[PHOTO: The notice of civil claim names former St. George’s teacher and coach, Raymond Clavin, as the alleged perpetrator. Clavin has a record of abusing boys at two other schools in the Vancouver area, according to the claim. (Ben Nelms/CBC)]
Three other defendants named in the claim are Vancouver College, deceased Father John Kilty and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vancouver (RCAV), which is the legal entity for the Catholic church.
Clavin was previously accused of being a sexual predator by students at North Vancouver’s Holy Trinity Elementary and Vancouver College schools.
In 1994, he was convicted of two counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault of students related to his time at Vancouver College, according to the claim. It says Clavin started working at Vancouver College in 1975.
Last year, RCAV settled for an undisclosed amount with plaintiff “John Doe” for abuse he suffered as a six-year-old student at Holy Trinity. Doe testified that in 1974 he was raped by Clavin, the school’s physical education teacher, and by Kilty, the priest who governed operations at Holy Trinity.
RCAV admitted the abuse in the case but contested Doe’s claim for punitive damages, which he said were warranted because of an ingrained culture that empowered pedophiles.
N.C.’s claim says Kilty hired Clavin at Holy Trinity and that the two men “knew of each other’s propensity to sexually abuse children and were organized in their sexual abuse of some children.”
N.C. alleges that Kilty knew that Clavin was a risk to children but failed to report Clavin to the RCAV or any authority, “enabling Clavin to continue his predations and ultimately abuse the plaintiff.”
“It was reasonably foreseeable to Kilty and the RCAV that if Clavin’s propensity and predations were not reported to the secular authorities that he would continue to sexually abuse boys he encountered through his role as an educator or coach,” the claim reads.
Kilty died in 1983.
St. George’s said in an emailed statement to CBC News that the allegations contained in the lawsuit are “deeply upsetting.”
“Since the incident is said to have taken place over 40 years ago, the [s]chool today has little information about what is alleged to have happened…The [s]chool has engaged legal counsel to respond to the claim. It is the [s]chool’s intent to treat the lawsuit and the claimant with the utmost respect and care. For reasons of privacy, we will not be commenting further at this time.”
In a letter dated April 8, flagging the lawsuit to the St. George’s School community, head of school David Young wrote that the school was “unaware of any of the details stated in the lawsuit and [has] limited records from that period.”
St. George’s is an independent school.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver said it “extends our heartfelt sympathy to all survivors of abuse.”
” [W]e hope the increased attention will encourage other survivors to come forward and seek the healing and support they deserve,” said spokesman Matthew Furtado in an emailed statement.
None of the allegations have been tested in court, and no responses have been filed.
If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can look for crisis lines and local services via the Ending Violence Association of Canada database.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
@CBCLarsen
Karin Larsen is a former Olympian and award winning sports broadcaster who covers news and sports for CBC Vancouver.
with files from Jason Proctor