Canada court orders Catholic Church to pay $76 million in child abuse cases

TRENTON, Canada (AA) – The Catholic Church in Newfoundland, Canada, has been ordered by a court-appointed monitor to pay $76 million to survivors of sexual abuse.

The list of victims entitled to receive the amount include 292 survivors of a Church-run orphanage.

The victims and their representatives expressed relief at the outcome of a decades-long fight, said lawyer Geoff Budden, who represents more than 200 survivors of the Mount Cashel orphanage and several schools run by the Christian Brothers of the Catholic Church.

“Some get validation from this,” he told CTV News. “They are happy that they were believed, that their claims were accepted and they’re going to receive compensation … but it triggers. It brings back memories, and it’s a struggle.”

The struggle, however, has not yet ended. The money is to come from the Catholic Church in the province, which knowing it would someday have to pay the survivors, began to sell off its properties.

So far about CAN$45 million has been raised. Bob Buckingham, a lawyer in St. John’s Newfoundland who represents 70 victims, said he is working with Budden to come up with more sources of income from the church, CTV News reported.

The infamous Mount Cashel orphanage abuse cases became headlines in 1989. It was alleged that the Newfoundland Justice Department stopped a police investigation, but the truth eventually came out.

It was also found that church officials often transferred priests who had been accused of sexual and physical abuse against children to other parishes where they could continue their abuse without stigma.

The notorious orphanage closed in 1990 and was demolished in 1992.