N.L. judge rules that 59 abuse victims who had their claims rejected should be compensated
CBC News - December 21, 2024
Dozens of abuse victims across Canada, whose claims for compensation were previously rejected, have won a legal victory against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John's. In a recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, Justice Garrett A. Handrigan determined that 59 individuals who had their claims disallowed are entitled to compensation. These claims were part of a larger settlement process that had initially approved $105 million in compensation for 367 survivors, but some claims were rejected. The archdiocese has been selling properties to fund the compensation, raising around $44 million, and is in discussions with insurers and the provincial government for additional funds.
Bishop Accountability - December 23, 2025 Brampton, ON - A Catholic priest in Brampton, Ont., has been charged with sexual offences and removed from the ministry, the Archdiocese of Toronto says. It says the man is accused of one count of sexual assault and one count of sexual interference, an offence that applies when the victim is under 16 years old. It says the decision to remove the man from the pastoral ministry was made in accordance with its protocols and procedures relating to allegations of misconduct.
Free Press - September 23, 2025 Somerset, MB - The Archdiocese of St. Boniface has denied a man’s claims he was sexually abused by one of its priests in rural Manitoba decades ago. The man, who’s in his late 60s, claimed in a lawsuit filed in the Court of King’s Bench earlier this year that he was sexually abused by now-deceased Catholic priest Rene Touchette in the village of Somerset, about 150 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg. In a statement of defence filed in late July, the archdiocese argued the lawsuit should be tossed out — and that the man has provided no proof of the alleged abuse.