Alleged sexual abuse victims seek to certify class action lawsuit against Alberta, church
CBC
A group of men who allege they were sexually abused by a chaplain while in an Edmonton youth jail are seeking a court's permission to sue the province and the Anglican Synod of the Diocese of Edmonton through a class action lawsuit.
The 14 men say they were assaulted by Anglican priest Rev. Gordon William Dominey when they were teen inmates at the Edmonton Youth Development Centre in the 1980s.
Dominey was set to go to trial in January 2020 on 33 charges related to alleged historical sexual offences against 13 former inmates, but he died on Nov. 7, 2019, at age 67.
The civil claim now before the courts was launched by one of the complainants in the criminal case. He has been seeking to have the case proceed as a class-action suit since he first filed it in 2017.
His identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban.
None of the allegations in either the criminal or civil case have been proven in court.
On Monday, Court of Queen's Bench Justice John Henderson heard arguments from the plaintiff's lawyer, Avnish Nanda, about why the men should be able to sue as a group, rather than attempting to seek compensation in 14 individual lawsuits.
During the hearing held over video conference, Nanda argued that the diocese and the province put Dominey in a position of authority over the youth, and then failed to adequately supervise the priest or enforce policies and practices to protect the youths.
"The institutional members created or permitted an environment that allowed Dominey to abuse them with impunity," he said.
The Government of Alberta and the Anglican Diocese of Edmonton are opposed to the certification being granted.
The parties argued that the varied nature of the alleged assaults would make it difficult for a judge to weigh overall liability, and that each class member would have to give evidence no matter what.
"Nobody wants to be duplicating this and doing it 14 times, but at the end of the day a class action is not the right structure," argued Luciana Brasil, the province's lawyer
She challenged the argument that there was systemic negligence or abuse by the province.
"In this case, the allegation is only, only that Mr. Dominey assaulted the youth at the Edmonton centre," Brasil said. "There is no allegation that staff or another student committed anything to anyone else."
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