Georges Sarrazin
Holy Cross brother (Religious Brother with the Congregation of the Holy Cross. This is the same order to which Brother Andre belonged. Some media articles refer to Sarrazin as a priest. He is NOT a priest.) Charged 2012 – charges relate to allegations that he and Brother Olivain Leblanc sexually assaulted students at College Notre Dame between 1966 and 1980. (Age 91 in 2012 – born 1921)
The charges were “suspended” in June 2015. I am unable to find out what that means – even the duty counsel will not talk to me to explain because I am not a member of the immediate family of the accused. Can anyone help?
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Next courtdate: June 2015: suspended ; 11 September 2013: 09:00 am, courtroom #407, “orientation declaration,” Montreal, Quebec courthouse
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Families still waiting for sex-abuse settlement money
sunnewsnetwork.ca
11:13 am, March 6th, 2013
MONTREAL – Relatives of sexual abuse victims say they haven’t received most of the money owed to them, 13 months after reaching a deal with the Congregation of Holy Cross for $18 million.
Alain Arsenault, the lawyer representing 223 abuse victims, asked a judge Tuesday in Montreal to sanction the congregation. He claimed the congregation’s lawyers have purposely slowed down the payment process.
He said the court has processed less than half of his clients’ files.
“(The lawyers for the priests) want to stretch out the process,” he said. “After the pedophilia, it’s sadism.”
Judge Claude Auclair denied Arsenault’s demand. Auclair said the delays are reasonable.
Abuse victims launched a class-action lawsuit in 2009 against the Congregation of Holy Cross, for abuse committed by its priests and other lay workers in Montreal-area schools between 1950 and 2001.
The two sides settled out of court for $18 million. Victims can receive up to $250,000 each.
However, the settlement will likely exceed $18 million as lawyers involved in 108 of the 223 cases cannot agree with congregation lawyers over indemnity costs.
Lawyers for the congregation said Tuesday in court that the payment process is moving “smoothly” and denied that they were acting in bad faith.
The two sides are scheduled to be back in court in June.
Montreal police issued arrest warrants in December for two Holy Cross priests, Olivain Leblanc, 70, and Georges Sarrazin, 91, accused of sexual assaults dating back to the 1960s.
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Second priest to be arrested for sexual abuse
FindLaw
February 2013
Montreal police will arrest a second priest believed to have sexually abused students of a school run by the Congregation of Holy Cross one of Quebecâs pre-eminent religious orders. The arrest of Olivain Leblanc, 70 follows that of Georges Sarrazin, 91. Full Article at Montreal Gazette [The latter article is no longer available online]
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Two elderly Que. priests accused of sexual assaults
cews.canoe.ca
By QMI Agency
29 December 2012
Montreal police have issued arrest warrants for two elderly priests accused of sexual assaults dating back to the 1960s.
Olivain Leblanc, 70, and Georges Sarrazin, 91, both brothers of the Congregation of Holy Cross, could face charges including gross indecency, indecent behaviour and sodomy.
It is alleged they sexually assaulted students at the College Notre-Dame in Montreal between 1966 and 1980. Police said four people have filed complaints against the two men.
Police said they have proceeded slowly in the arrests because the men have “significant health problems” but expect to apprehend and charge them in the new year.
It’s just the latest scandal for the Congregation of Holy Cross, which was the subject of a 2009 class-action lawsuit brought by former students of College Notre-Dame and two other schools, who claimed they were sexually abused by priests or lay people working at the schools – some as far back as 1950. In 2011, the order agreed to an $18-million settlement to be paid to the victims. No criminal charges were laid.
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29 December 2012: Montreal police to arrest two priests accused of abusing students decades ago
The next court date for Georges Sarrazin is:
11 September 2013: 09:00 am, courtroom #407, “orientation declaration,” Montreal, Quebec courthouse
I have been told that Sarrazin has not yet entered a plea and therefore proceedings continue to move toward trial. I am a little lost here because of language issues, but this is definitely the next court date set, and there will be more happening than simply setting another date – it is NOT however a trial date.