A private high school in downtown Montreal is the target of a class-action lawsuit after a complainant alleged he was sexually assaulted while he studied there as a teenager.
On July 14, the Dufresne Wee Avocats law firm filed a request to authorize the class-action suit against the Collège de Montréal on Sherbrooke Street West.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff, only identified as T.R., attended the school in 1994 when he was around 13 years old and was a victim of bullying by other students.
A staff member who worked as a detention supervisor and with student services provided him with a safe space in his office during lunch hours to escape the bullying and, as time passed, they spent more time together. The supervisor would give him candy, allow him to play games on his computer, and would sometimes take him to McDonald’s on Beaumont Avenue.
On one occasion, the supervisor allegedly placed his hand on T.R.’s leg, which made him feel uncomfortable. In other cases, the supervisor would sexually assault him and sometimes apologize for it, the lawsuit alleged.
The sexual assaults took place over a three-year period, mainly in the supervisor’s car but also in his office at the school and only stopped when he left the school in 1997.
The lawsuit identified the supervisor as Marc-André Gingras, but only the high school is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
The allegations in the lawsuit have not been tested in court.
Antoine Duranleau-Hendrickx, a lawyer with Dufresne Wee Avocats, told CTV News that he does not know whether or not Gingras is even alive today, but he believes there might be other alleged victims.
According to the document, T.R. suffered several lasting effects from the alleged abuse, including anxiety, low self-esteem, anger, and intrusive thoughts about the assaults.
“The sexual assaults also caused the plaintiff to experience depression, leading to suicide attempts and self-destructive behaviours, including self-harm and excessive alcohol consumption,” the lawsuit claimed.
The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court, alleges the Collège de Montréal failed to implement safety policies that would have prevented or stopped the alleged sexual assaults from taking place and claimed the school failed to provide a safe environment for T.R. and other potential victims. It claims the school is liable for the alleged sexual assaults.
T.R. is asking the court to grant him representative status for all individuals who were minors or studying at the Collège de Montréal and were sexually assaulted by a staff member between the time the school was incorporated in 1966 and the present. It is also seeking damages that will be calculated at a later date.
T.R. released a written statement through his lawyers on Friday saying that he is seeking justice for himself and others who were abused.
“But above all, we are doing this to free ourselves from the suffering, guilt, and anger that have been eating away at us from the inside for so many years,” he wrote.
In an email to CTV News, the Collège de Montréal said it was still reviewing the class-action lawsuit and would not comment on the allegations while the case is before the court. A spokesperson said the school will cooperate with the court process.
It also added that its executive director, Patricia Steben, takes a zero-tolerance stance toward violence, aggression, and bullying.
“To this end, Collège de Montréal has adopted an Anti-Bullying and Anti-Violence Action Plan, which governs the prevention, reporting, and management of any situation of this nature within our establishment,” the email said.
“Collège de Montréal also implemented a code of ethics several years before the government made such a measure mandatory.”
According to the Collège de Montréal’s website, it is the city’s oldest high school and was founded in 1767 by the Society of the Priests of Saint-Sulpice.
