How a class-action in B.C. is tied to one of the biggest sex-abuse scandals in Canadian history

A lawsuit alleging nearly four decades of systemic abuse at two Catholic schools in B.C. has been certified by the courts as a class action, a move lawyers say could clear the way for as many as 65 potential survivors to seek compensation against the Catholic order accused of shuffling the abusers into their schools.

The original claim said the Christian Brothers of Ireland knowingly transferred abusive clergymen from a notorious orphanage in Newfoundland to Vancouver College and St. Thomas More Collegiate, where they went on to sexually and physically abuse more children from 1976 to 2013.

In a decision Wednesday, a B.C. Supreme Court justice found a class action would be the best way to move the case forward — rather than having each alleged victim file their own independent lawsuit.

"The decision creates a single lawsuit that can litigate the common issues between all of those people," said lawyer Reidar Mogerman, who represents the alleged victims.

"This is a really important step."

The lawsuit links back to the Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John's, where hundreds of vulnerable children were abused for decades by "cruel and sadistic" men charged with their care. Multiple criminal investigations led to a number of convictions.

A public inquiry found senior public servants, church officials, police brass and politicians helped cover up the crimes — cementing the case as one of the largest sex abuse scandals in Canadian history.

The Christian Brothers of Ireland is a religious community headquartered in Rome. The organization expanded into Canada in the early 1800s.

The order ran hundreds of schools around the world, including the Mount Cashel orphanage before its closure in 1990.

It founded Vancouver College, and St. Thomas More Collegiate in neighbouring Burnaby.

The B.C.-based claim said the Christian Brothers sent six members from Mount Cashel to the Vancouver-area schools between 1976 and 1983.

All six were later convicted of sexually or physically abusing orphans at the Newfoundland facility, with two of them having admitted abuse before they were sent west.

A judge in 2004 found the Catholic order struck a deal with investigators in 1975: the members in question wouldn't face criminal charges for their actions at Mount Cashel in exchange for them leaving the province and seeking treatment.

The lead plaintiff in B.C., Darren Liptrot, claims one of the brothers, Edward English, sexually abused him from 1981 to 1983 while he was a student at Vancouver College in grades 9 and 10.