Priests Suspended After Alleged Child Abuse
Last week the Archdiocese of Moncton announced that two of it’s priests Rev. Yvon Arsenault and Rev. Irois Despres had been removed: “from any ministry whatsoever following allegations of serious sexual abuse on minors on their part.”
Concern Over Failure to Report
Memories of Abuse
As a lawyer who helps people with sexual abuse compensation claims one of the most common challenges my clients face is dealing with the intrusive effects of the memories of their abuse.
In the text Principles of Trauma Therapy: A Guide to Symptoms, Evaluation, and Treatment the authors John Briere and Catherine Scott identify several areas where memories of childhood abuse may effect psychological function in adults:
Negative pre-verbal assumptions and relational schemata: In other words, children who are victims of abuse tend to have a disproportionately negative self image. As adults, survivors become too defensive, angry or disconnected to have healthy inter-personal relationships.
It is a well established principle of justice that the punishment must fit the crime. But what if the “punishment” involves subjecting the person to “severe psychiatric harm”.
Jailed for Throwing Apples
When Ashley Smith was 15 years old the Moncton, New Brunswick teenager threw some crab apples at a postal worker delivering mail to her house. The postal worker charged her with assault. Ashley was given a 90-day sentence. But she remained incarcerated for more than four years! This ridiculously excessive period of incarceration was supposedly due to disciplinary infractions that occurred while Ashley was in custody.
What is Elder Abuse?
Elder abuse, much like spousal or child abuse, occurs when there is a vulnerable person who is abused or mistreated by those who are in a position of power or trust. In the case of elder abuse the vulnerable person is a senior who may be abused in any number of ways; physically, or financially. The abuse can be inflicted by a spouse, child or other family member, by caregivers, service providers, or any other person in a position of trust.
The U.S. National Center on Elder Abuse defines 6 major types of Elder Abuse:
A new California law mandates that computer technicians who discover child pornography MUST report it immediately to a specified child protection agency. Laws like this are proven to help catch sexual predators and those who protect them. A recent example is the convictions of Father Shawn Ratigan and Bishop Robert Finn.
Bishop Failed to Report Child Porn
In December of 2010 a computer technician found “alarming pictures” of children on Reverend Ratigan’s laptop. Despite the pictures being shown to Bishop Finn, the Bishop decided not to report Ratigan to police.
Canadian Catholic Bishops are attending their annual Conference this week. The Conference (the CCCB) runs from Sept. 24-28th and is expected to include approximately 90 Bishops from across Canada.
New Rules?
One of the important items on their agenda is the updating of their guidelines for the prevention of clerical sexual abuse. On their approach to the new guidelines the CCCB president, Archbishop Richard Smith told The Catholic Register:
What is vicarious liability?
As a lawyer who deals with sexual abuse compensation claims, I frequently have to explain the concept of vicarious liability to my clients.
Black’s Law Dictionary defines it as:
“Liability that a supervisory party (such as an employer) bears for the actionable conduct of a subordinate or associate (such as an employee) because of the relationship between the two parties.”
Basically vicarious liability holds an employer responsible for the wrongful acts of an employee, even when the employer didn’t necessarily know about the wrongful acts.
I have had the honour and privilege of representing Nora Bernard and the survivors of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School for 17 years.
Nora Bernard played a key role in the landmark Indian Residential School class action. The class action was the largest historical redress settlement in the world.
Sexual Abuse Was “Friendship”?!
Dr. John Kirby, a Catholic Bishop in Ireland, recently apologized for the role he played in transferring abusive priests from one parish to another. In an attempt to explain his decisions he stated:
“I was unaware of the recidivist nature, or the compulsive nature of sexual abuse and I felt that it was a friendship that had gone astray, and was wrong.”
Kirby’s “apology” came after a number of audits were done on different religious congregations in Ireland which uncovered more than 330 allegations of abuse against 146 priests and members of the congregations.
Bishop Kirby said his actions were the standard church response of the time.
I have been representing the survivors of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School for 17 years.
As I explained during the Truth and Reconcilaition Hearings that were held in Halifax, Nora Bernard played a key role in the landmark Indian Residential School class action. The class action settlement was the largest historical redress settlement in the world.
For the last 5 years, former students of Indian Residential Schools who were victims of physical or sexual abuse have been able to apply for compensation under the Independant Assessment Process.
