scandals

CBC - April 16, 2026 Halifax, NS - Timothy Clark reported sexual abuse by a priest in 1984 but says the church ignored him.  Decades later, his claim was approved under a class-action settlement against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth, yet he and more than 60 other accepted claimants have still not been paid. Delays are blamed on claim reviews, interviews, and late submissions, leaving many victims frustrated by poor communication and the lengthy process.

CBC - April 14, 2026 A new project from award-winning journalist Connie Walker aims to create an archive of testimonies of abuse at residential schools before the accounts are destroyed in September 2027. The project at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), where she is the Velma Rogers Research Chair in the School of Journalism, aims to preserve residential school survivors' stories and raise awareness about the upcoming destruction of Independent Assessment Process (IAP) records. The files are being retained until 2027 to give survivors a chance to request a copy, opt-in to having the file preserved by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, or both.

CBC - April 7, 2026 Charlottetown, P.E.I - A retired Catholic priest in Prince Edward Island who pleaded guilty last year to sexually abusing a child in the late 1980s at St. Margarets Parish has been sentenced to five years in a federal prison. Brendon Earl Gallant, 80, was sentenced Tuesday in provincial court in Charlottetown. He pleaded guilty last summer to a charge of sexual assault . The Diocese of Charlottetown has apologized for Gallant’s actions and said he was removed from active ministry as soon as the diocese learned of the investigation.

CBC - March 23, 2026 St. John's, NL - A third sentencing date has been set for a P.E.I. Catholic priest, who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a child in his St. Margarets Parish in the late 1980s, after the first two hearings did not go ahead. Brendon Earl Gallant, 80, pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual assault last summer . The court heard the victim was 12-years-old when Gallant took an interest in the child and began inviting him for sleepovers, where he would give the boy alcohol and invite him to sleep in his bed. The Diocese of Charlottetown has apologized for Gallant’s action and said he was removed from active ministry as soon as he learned of the investigation. If Gallant is sentenced to less than two years in jail, he’ll be able to serve that sentence on the Island. Any more time and he’ll go off Island to a federal penitentiary. 

The Tyee - March 23, 2026 St. John's, NL - Six men began their abuse of young orphans on one coast of Canada, then by a travesty of justice were sent to the opposite side of the country, where they allegedly abused more boys — as many as 200. This month the offer of a $30-million class-action settlement to the second set of alleged victims to be paid by the Roman Catholic archbishop of Vancouver and two Lower Mainland Catholic schools adds another chapter to this tragic saga — a cycle of pain that a half-century later continues to ripple outward. A settlement hearing is scheduled for the end of April by the B.C. Supreme Court to assess if the class-action payment agreement offer is fair and reasonable.

CBC - March 23, 2026 Edmonton, AB - An 87-year-old Alberta man is fighting extradition to the United Kingdom to stand trial for historical allegations of physical and sexual assault involving minors. Peter Murray of Wetaskiwin, about 70 kilometres south of Edmonton, is accused of assaulting 17 young students at boarding schools between 1965 and 1972, while he was a teacher in Scotland. He is appealing the decision of the Canadian justice who approved his extradition, according to his defence lawyer.

Bishop Accountability - March 28, 2026 Winnipeg, MB - Lawyers for a man who alleged he was repeatedly sexually assaulted as a child by a now-dead Catholic priest in rural Manitoba and Winnipeg in a 2023 lawsuit recently reached a confidential settlement with the Archdiocese of St. Boniface. The plaintiff, now in his early 60s, claimed the alleged abuse began when he was eight-years-old in 1972 and lasted until 1982. The man, who the Free Press is not naming due to the nature of the allegations, claimed the sexual abuse came at the hands of that church’s priest, Fr. Rene Touchette. Several other lawsuits filed in recent years against the St. Boniface and Winnipeg archdioceses over alleged historical sex abuses by their priests remain before the court.

Oakville News - March 24, 2026 Oakville, ON - Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS) have laid a sexual assault charge against an Oakville clergyman after receiving a complaint last month. Police released a statement earlier today saying that authorities have charged a Catholic Priest employed in Oakville with sexual assault following a month-long investigation. In early February 2026, HRPS say they began an investigation into "an allegation of sexual assault committed against an adult female while the victim was volunteering at an Oakville church." As a result of the investigation, Reverend Ranjan D’Sa (53) of Oakville has been charged with one count of Sexual Assault.

Zenit - March 18, 2026 Montreal, QC - In Montreal this March, Cardinal Marc Ouellet appeared in Quebec Superior Court to defend himself against allegations of sexual misconduct, as part of a broader defamation lawsuit he filed against his accuser. The case has reopened attention to a series of claims first publicized in a 2022 class-action lawsuit involving 101 individuals alleging abuse by clergy or staff within the Archdiocese of Quebec. The case is unfolding at a moment of heightened attention to accountability within the Catholic Church in Canada, highlighting the complexities of balancing legal rights, canonical procedures, and the reputational and moral stakes for high-ranking clerics. Observers note that the trial’s outcome could have ramifications for how allegations of misconduct are addressed both in civil courts and within Church structures, particularly in cases involving defamation claims intertwined with historical abuse allegations.