Lawsuit against school board, former teachers accused of sexual abuse can proceed, judge says

A justice from the Alberta Court of King’s Bench says a class-action suit against the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) and 2 erstwhile teachers, accused of sexually abusing students, tin proceed.

The 3 students, identified lone by initials successful the suit attended John Ware School, located successful the southwest Calgary assemblage of Pump Hill, betwixt 1988 and 2004.

The suit names the property of erstwhile teacher Michael Gregory — different teacher, Fred Henry Archer — and their employer, the Calgary Board of Education arsenic defendants.

Gregory was a erstwhile carnal and outdoor acquisition teacher astatine the school, but helium died by termination successful February 2021 connected Vancouver Island, conscionable days aft being criminally charged.

At the clip helium was facing 17 sex-related charges for the alleged maltreatment of six students.

Archer was besides a teacher and guidance counsellor astatine respective Calgary country schools, including John Ware School, successful the 1990s.

He was sent to situation for 3 years successful March of 2010 for molesting 3 antheral students.

The suit alleges immoderate of Gregory’s alleged victims were abused portion moving oregon volunteering astatine Gregory’s agrarian acreage, not connected schoolhouse spot and that a fig of students were physically oregon sexually abused during unofficial “scouting trips” related to Gregory’s outdoor acquisition class, extracurricular of schoolhouse hours.

Regardless of wherever the maltreatment occurred, the plaintiffs allege the maltreatment “originated successful a schoolhouse situation and existed lone wrong the teacher-student dynamic.”

The suit besides alleges that “school personnel, including administrators, knew that Gregory and Archer were utilizing their in-school relationships with students to instrumentality vantage of opportunities to maltreatment those students extracurricular of schoolhouse hours oregon property.”

In its defense, the CBE pointed “to the information that immoderate parents were alert oregon adjacent gave support for their children to be Gregory’s idiosyncratic residence, spell for rides successful Gregory’s and Archer’s idiosyncratic vehicles and/or travel Gregory connected the aforementioned ‘scouting trips’.”

Lawyers for the erstwhile students person besides alleged the 2 men were moving unneurotic to maltreatment students.

The suit says the CBE is “directly liable successful its work to make a harmless situation successful its schools, to study immoderate suspected maltreatment and successful failing to respond decently to the galore disclosures of maltreatment that were made to different teachers and administrators astatine John Ware School.”

The allegations made successful the class-action suit person not been tested successful court.

David Corrigan, 1 of the lawyers for the students says they are “very gratified” by the judge’s determination and “it is precisely what we wanted and expected.”