Perhaps it goes without saying, but childhood sexual abuse is a world wide problem.
Lat week I posted about Oprah’s show about male survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
Since the show aired there have been a number of news stories about Canadian men who survived childhood sexual abuse who participated in the show.
The Diocese of Bathurst has taken the unusual step of applying to the New Brunswick Court of Queen’s Bench for an Order sealing all information pertaining to the compensation process the Diocese of Bathurst has put in place to “help” victims of sexual abuse by priests of the Bathurst Diocese.
The Diocese also requested that the fee paid to former Supreme Court Judge Bastarache be sealed.
Former Bathurst priests Levi Noel and Charles Picot have been convicted of sexually abusing boys from various parishes in the Diocese.
My wife is a big fan of Oprah Winfrey. She is certainly one of the most influential people in North America (Oprah, not my wife). So I was pleased when my wife told me that Oprah had devoted two days to a show about male survivors of sexual abuse. The first part aired last week. Part two is scheduled to be aired today.
The show is about the stories of 200 adult men who were molested as children. I applaud Oprah’s efforts to encourage male survivors of sexual abuse to come forward.
Disclosure Painful
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled today on Christensen v. Roman Catholic Archbishop of Québec, an important case out of the province of Quebec that addresses the rights of sexual abuse survivors in that province to pursue compensation for their injuries.
Quebec has the shortest statute of limitation (time limit) in Canada for filing sexual abuse compensation claims. In Quebec, if sexual abuse survivors wish to pursue a compensation claim, they must sue their abuser (or the abuser’s employer) within three years of the sexual assault!!
In other words, if a child is sexually abused when they are 7 years old, they must file a claim before they turn 11 years of age. Does that sound crazy?
Takes Time to Discover Effects of Abuse
I have been representing survivors of childhood sexual abuse for almost 20 years.
Typically these claims involve allegations of historical sexual abuse that happened years ago. Recently, I have been receiving more and more complaints from seniors (or their family members) who allege that they have suffered sexual abuse in nursing homes.
What is Nursing Home Sexual Abuse?
Convicted sexual abuser and former catholic priest, Donald Grecco has been arrested again. But this time it’s not for sexual abuse. It’s for violating the terms of his parole.
One of Grecco’s victims has filed a sexual abuse compensation claim against Grecco and former Bishop James Wingle. But when lawyers tried to serve notice of the lawsuit on Grecco, the former priest wasn’t living where he was supposed to be under the terms of a court order.
Grecco was charged with sexual abuse in September 2008. He pleaded guilty in April 2010 and heis scheduled to be sentenced this month.
Seraphim Storheim the Canadian Archbishop of the Orthodox Church in America, has resigned from his duties and requested a leave of absence after police began investigating Storeim for allegations of sexual abuse involving pre-teen boys.
The Orthodox Church in America (OCA), has released a public statement saying Archbishop Seraphim Storheim is on a leave of absence while police investigate the sexual abuse claims.
The Church has indicated it is cooperating with the police investigation and that the Church is conducting it’s own internal investigation.
Plea to Abuse Survivors
Montreal police are investigating complaints of sexual abuse at Collège Notre-Dame à Montréal during the 1960s and 1970s. They are asking students who were victims of sexual abuse while attending the College to contact them to file a formal complaint.
Ignored Abuse Complaints for Twenty Years?
Tonight on CBC’s 5th Estate Linden MacIntyre explores the effects of the Antigonish Diocese Sexual Abuse Class Action.
The documentary is airing on CBC television at 9pm here in Atlantic Canada.
Betrayal: How Nova Scotia’s Catholic Church is trying to pay it’s debts to abuse victims.
