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Canada's Four Largest Churches Face Total Bankruptcy

Religious Schools Sued by former Students for Sex Abuse

Secretive Straight Males Commit Suicide over Revelations

By Jack Nichols

The film Boys of St. Vincent detailed the molestation of children by Catholic priests

Regina, Saskatchewan�Former students from religious boarding schools have launched class action suits against Canada's four largest religious denominations, including the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and United Church of Canada. The lawsuits, on behalf of mostly Canadian-Indian students, are expected to bankrupt the churches, which have been charged with sexual, physical and cultural abuse.

One third of the lawsuits involve sexual abuse, according to a report in the New York Times. The Canadian government estimates that 16,000 claims will have been filed by the end of 2001.

Among those summoned by the courts to testify were eight Indian males who thereupon committed suicide rather than experience the embarrassment they felt over forthcoming public disclosures.

A former boarding school student quoted by The Anglican Journal, a monthly newspaper, said: "They thought 'everybody's going to know that I let this guy do it to me for candy."

Pedophile teachers forbade parental visits to their schools. Students who attended in the 1960s tell of "Gestapo-like" tactics that punished 6-year olds. The punishments, students noted, became increasingly sadistic.

American observers have noted that the Canadian government had turned to religious schools to teach non-English speaking students who, starting in the late 19th century, were rounded up and forced to attend. Indian youngsters were taken from their families and sent to faraway locales where they were forced into assimilation.

Those same U.S. observers now question the wisdom of diverting public school funds through a private school voucher system, as George W. Bush, the Republican presidential candidate, suggests. Over 90% of all U.S. private schools are owned and operated by religious groups. "The voucher system is a violation of our traditional separation of church and state," says American church/state activist Steven Yates.

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Related Sites:
Canadian Society for the Investigation of Child Abuse

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Plaintiffs have already won five boarding school sexual abuse trials since 1998. The churches negotiated secrecy, hiding from the public the large amounts they'd had to pay the students for damages.

Historic Canadian churches are considering the sales of their buildings to cover the millions that are needed for legal costs.

"I simply see us going broke," an Anglican bishop told The New York Times. Settlements are expected to total billions of dollars.