CNA Staff, Jan 14, 2021 / 17:47 pm
Canada's highest court has ruled that the Archdiocese of St. John's in Newfoundland and Labrador will be responsible for Mount Cashel Orphanage child abuse lawsuits against the Congregation of Christian Brothers.
On Thursday, Canada's Supreme Court announced that it rejected a final appeal of the archdiocese, which had argued that it should not be held responsible for abuse by the congregation (also known as the Christian Brothers of Ireland), because it was the lay group of brothers and not diocesan priests in charge of the orphanage.
The court did not provide a reason for its decision.
According to the CBC, the decision ends a 21-year court process for a case involving four men, who served as "test cases" for about 60 men total, who suffered abuse as children at Mount Cashel Orphanage between the 1950s-1970s. The abuse was uncovered in a 1989 investigation known as the Hughes Inquiry.