It was the moment 41-year-old Jarett Holmes has been waiting decades to see - a police service sending out a message to the public that it’s actively investigating his former school for alleged child abuse.
“I didn’t know if we would ever see this moment and it’s really, really heartening to see,” said Holmes in a Zoom interview with CTV News Sunday. “We’ve never seen a police agency publicly state that they’re investigating Robert Land Academy -- and there have been so many of us who have died trying to run away from this place -- so this is a really big deal for us.”
Holmes says he attended the school as a 14-year-old, and claims he experienced physical abuse and alleges he witnessed acts of violence against other students.
Former students said in a press conference last year at Ontario’s Legislative Building that over a hundred alumni have died ‘early deaths,’ with the median age of 35 and nearly half due to suicide and overdose.
Now, Peel Regional Police (PRP) has sent out a news release, saying its Special Victims Unit is leading an investigation into allegations of child abuse at Robert Land Academy, a former military-style all-boys boarding school between Hamilton and Niagara in Southern Ontario that operated from 1978 to 2025.
“Investigators are seeking to speak with anyone who may have any information related to alleged abuse at the academy,” said the release.
The Niagara Regional Police Service (NRPS) would usually have jurisdiction over the investigation due to where the school is located, but it says it has passed it off to Peel police because of Niagara police officers’ involvement with the school over the years.
“In accordance with the potential or perceived conflict of interest provisions within the Community Safety and Policing Act (CSPA) Regulations, the Niagara Regional Police Service requested that Peel Regional Police take carriage of the investigation given that NRPS members have had previous employment at Robert Land Academy,” said Stephanie Sabourin with the Niagara Regional Police Service in an email to CTV News Sunday.
‘It’s like police investigating police’
Although still filled with hope, former students question the Niagara Regional Police Service’s transparency in what roles and what knowledge, if any, its staff and officers had in some of the alleged abuse that took place at the school.
“I’m happy that it’s happening. I just don’t know how much it’s going to accomplish this many years later,” said a former student, who we’re only identifying as B.C. due to a court-ordered publication ban.
“It’s like police investigating police, I just have my doubts,” said B.C. in a Zoom interview Sunday with CTV News. “If the police in the area that has been dealing with the school for the last 50 years can’t investigate their own area, that’s baffling to me. I just don’t understand how there could be so much potential corruption in the police force for that to even occur. I’m hopeful that the police can get to the bottom of it, but it kind of casts a bit of doubt in the first place.”
B.C. is suing Robert Land Academy for $3.5 million, claiming damages for sexual and physical assault, mental distress and forcible confinement. The lawsuit claims his supervising director repeatedly sexually abused and assaulted him.
“We are hopeful that Peel police are not just looking into what happened at the school but will also look at what role, if any, Niagara regional police have in this story,” said B.C.’s lawyer, Alexi Wood, in an interview with CTV News Sunday. Wood also represents two other clients who are former students at Robert Land Academy.
“Were (Niagara police) aware of what was happening to the students at the school? Were they investigating? what investigations happened and what became of any of those investigations? To the best of our knowledge no criminal charges were laid in the past,” said Wood.
“So we are hopeful that Peel police will look into what knowledge Niagara Regional Police had of any of these events and perhaps didn’t take steps at that time that could’ve been available.”
School shut down, filed for bankruptcy
Robert Land Academy has faced multiple lawsuits in the past few years, alleging physical, emotional and sexual abuse by its former students.
The school announced it would be closing about a year ago, citing declining student enrolment, including from international students, but did not mention the lawsuits as being part of the reason.
Robert Land Academy filed for bankruptcy in the summer of last year, and financial documents filed with Deloitte say that there were ‘over eighty litigation claims from former students’ that totalled ‘at least $135-million."
“Since that time, all of the claims are stayed -- and so that means, no, there’s no fresh litigation,” said Matthew Lafave with Preszler Injury Lawyers, who represents the largest number of former students suing Robert Land Academy at “approximately 165 and growing.”
“The trustees get notified of any claims that come up, so if anybody is seeking counsel, they’ll contact our office, will notify the trustees of their existence and provide them with details, and they get counted just like everybody else,” added Lafave.
Former students have also been advocating for legislative changes, calling for better regulation of Ontario’s private schools and for them to be held to similar standards as public schools, where staff are required to undergo background checks.
CTV News reached out to two of Robert Land Academy’s trustees and the school’s insurance lawyers, but did not receive a response in time for our deadline.
