Claude Lebeau
Brother Claude Lebeau sc
October 2016: Class action launched – former boarder at Collège Mont-Sacré-Coeur in Granby, Quebec alleging that between 1972 and 1875 he was sexually abused by Brother Claude Lebeau. According to the plaintiff he was many boys who regularly had to line up outside Lebeau’s bedroom: the boys were called in one by one.
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Available chronology
2011: retired (M)
2010: spiritual counsellor at the Hôpital Anna Laberge in Châteauguay, Quebec (M)
1997-2010: worked for the Brothers of the Sacred heart in Valleyfield, Quebec (M)
1972-1997: teaching at Collège Mont-Sacré-Coeur in Granby, Quebec (M)
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30 former students now claim they were sexually abused at Collège Mont-Sacré-Coeur in Granby
Montreal Gazette
Published on: October 19, 2016 | Last Updated: October 19, 2016 8:01 PM EST
Three to six nights a week, for two years, “A” would stand outside Brother Claude Lebeau’s bedroom at the Collège Mont-Sacré-Coeur in Granby, along with the other boys, waiting in line to see the brother in private.
But once behind closed doors, Lebeau would not offer prayer or a private tutorial, but allegedly would masturbate the student, to help him “open up” and get over his shyness.
Then the next boy would come in.
Now 56, “A” as he is known to the court, has filed a lawsuit for $1.2 million in damages against the school and the congregation (Les Frères du Sacré Coeur — Brothers of the Sacred Heart), alleging more than 300 such sexual assaults occurred between 1972 and 1975, when he was a boarder at the school and Lebeau was the dormitory supervisor. A was 13 when he says the assaults began.
But A is also acting as the lead plaintiff in a request to launch a class-action suit submitted to Superior Court Oct. 7.
And in the 12 days since then, his lawyers have received calls from 30 other alleged victims, and the number of alleged perpetrators at the elite school for boys has increased to nine.
For Robert Kugler, of the law firm Kugler, Kandestin, what happened at the college, and inside Lebeau’s bedroom, was not an isolated event.
“It was happening so frequently with kids lining up outside of the room, it’s hard to imagine — and I don’t believe — that this was not known to everyone in the higher ups of the congregation that were responsible for this school,” said Kugler, who successfully sued the Clercs de Saint-Viateur and the Institut Raymond-Dewar — the new name for the Montreal Institute for the Deaf — for $30 million for the rampant sex abuse at their school in Montreal.
“Given the number of abusers, and the number of years the abusers were at the school (complaints now range over 40 years) we expect that the number of victims will exceed 100. Time will tell.”
Yanick Messier, the lawyer representing the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, said the congregation was saddened by the allegations, and is taking them very seriously.
“The community unanimously intends to co-operate with the authorities,” said Messier, who represents all the defendants, which include the Corporation Maurice-Ratté and Les oeuvres Josaphat-Vanier. “They are putting all their energy into seeing and understanding what happened.”
As to the allegation there was systemic abuse involving other brothers, Messier would not speculate.
“It’s an evolving situation,” Messier said. “Twelve days have passed. There have been other calls. But whether that will translate into other plaintiffs being added (to the class action) we’ll see.”
Lebeau, who also taught and was responsible for the Grade 9 and 10 boys, left the Collège in Granby in 1997, and according to the Voix de l’Est newspaper, he then worked in Valleyfield for the Brothers of the Sacred Heart until 2010. Finally he worked as a spiritual counsellor at the Hôpital Anna Laberge in Châteauguay until his retirement in 2011.
Messier couldn’t say why Lebeau left the college. Founded in 1932, it became a secular school in 2004. But Messier was told it had nothing to do with the allegations detailed in the lawsuit.
Lebeau could not be reached for comment.
The next step is for a judge to decide whether to allow the class action to go forward, Kugler said, and, if warranted, to amend the lawsuit to include more victims — and more alleged perpetrators.
Very often, Kugler said, he is the first person grown men have ever told of the abuse they suffered as boys.
“It was kept secret for decades and were it not for A coming forward … it would have been kept secret longer,” Kugler said. “Now they realize they were not alone, it wasn’t their fault and they can feel free to come forward to talk about it confidentially and for free.”
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Allegations of pedophilia at the Collège Mont-Sacré-Coeur in Granby
Radio Canada
Mount Sacred Heart in Granby Photo: CBC
A former resident of Collège Mont-Sacré-Coeur in Granby claimed more than $ 1 million in damages to the congregation and applied to the Superior Court for leave to institute a class action.
The man, now 56 years old, alleges that he was sexually assaulted more than 300 times between 1973 and 1975. Brother Claude Lebeau, a member of the Congregation of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, is referred to in the motion. He was a dormitory supervisor.
According to the account of the alleged victim, the brother in question could have made a hundred victims. He would have been in office for fifteen years.
Pedophilia allegations at Mount Sacred Heart College of Granby: Me Olivera speaks Pajani class action #RCES https://t.co/pq9dCQJLtf
– BrigitteMarcoux (@BrigitteMarcoux) October 12, 2016
One evening the applicant invited the young plaintiff to join him in his room to help him overcome his shyness. At the age of 13, the applicant believed that they were going to pray together.
The motion reads:
- To his astonishment, Brother Lebeau asked the youngster to pull down his pajama pants and began to masturbate him as this was a way to help him open and unhook. The applicant was completely frozen, having never himself been masturbated. Given the applicant’s lack of erection, after about fifteen minutes, Brother Lebeau told him: “We will try again tomorrow”.
- The applicant then returned to his bed, without saying a word, and another student entered the room of Brother Lebeau alone.
- The same scenario was repeated the following day and lasted throughout high school 3 and 4, until the applicant left the College.
After the College, the applicant claims to have begun to use alcohol and drugs to freeze his emotions and anxiety. He started detoxification at the age of 31, but it was not until 2015 that he realized how much his secret secret has undermined his life and that he wants to get reparation.
He asked for compensation for the damage he had suffered, but he also wished that the other victims could be compensated. That is why he is asking the Superior Court to authorize collective action. He would be its representative.
We had calls and emails from other victims telling us: ” I was one of the children in a row. ”
The applicant, who wishes to remain anonymous, has retained the services of a law firm with extensive experience in collective action, in particular against schools and religious institutions.
Brother Claude Lebeau left the congregation in 1997.
Reactions of Sacred Heart
The Brothers of the Sacred Heart confirm that they will not object to the class action brought against them.
“The brothers intend to participate actively, to collaborate, to make the thing very transparent so that justice is done,” said their lawyer, Yanick Messier.
Claude Lacroix, Mount Sacred Heart director in Granby Photo: CBC / Carl Marchand
For its part, the management of the Collège Mont Sacré-Coeur in Granby is shaken by these allegations, which go back to the time when the establishment was administered by religious.
“The expression I said this morning: my heart is bleeding. Yes, it is the community that is more directly affected by this, because we are talking about a time when there were residents here. Since 1990, there are no more boarders, but it is not the image of a brother that we see this morning, it is the image of my College, “commented the general manager, Claude The cross.
A former student of the institution, Mr. Lacroix wants the people responsible for wrongdoing to suffer the consequences. The school has been secular since 2004 and management hopes it will not suffer from the ongoing proceedings, while an open house is scheduled for Sunday.
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Allegations of pedophilia at the Collège Mont-Sacré-Coeur in Granby
[Online translation – original French article follows]
Ici Radio-Canada
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He says he was raped 300 times by a brother from Granby
Another religious congregation is subject to a class action application
[Online translation – original French article follows]
Journal de Monreal
Wednesday, 12 October 2016 06:22 Update
Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin A former resident requires more than a million $ in College Mount Sacred Heart and the Sacred Heart Brothers for alleged assault.
Asserting that he had been raped more than 300 times by a religious who wanted to “help him” to cure himself of his shyness, a former student of a school in Granby wanted to institute a class action against the Brothers who had run the school for Decades and could have made up to a hundred victims.
A class action application was filed last Friday in the Superior Court to obtain compensation for “any victim of sexual assault suffered” at Collège Mont-Sacré-Cœur, led by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart from 1932 to 2004 .
This case is in addition to the long list of alleged cases of sexual assault that have been splattering the clergy in Quebec in recent years.
The alleged victim, described in the petition as a 56-year-old man who allegedly was an alcoholic as a result of the alleged assaults, would have lived through hell according to his lawyer, Robert Kugler.
In line
“Even today he is in a difficult state. He did not talk about it for years. It was a heavy secret to wear, “said Kugler, pointing out that for this reason, the man does not want to give interviews.
According to the application, he was allegedly assaulted more than 300 times, at a frequency of 3 to 6 times a week, while attending high school 3 and 4 as a boarder at the college. He would have been 13 at the time of the first assault.
“The dormitory supervisor, Brother Claude Lebeau, forced him to line up with other students in front of his room and assaulted him when he entered. What is particularly troubling is that other children came before and after the victim to the brother’s room, “says Kugler.
Brother Lebeau allegedly masturbated the young boarder on each of his visits to his room, with the aim of “helping him to open up and unwind”.
According to the firm Kugler Kandestin, which has already piloted three class actions against religious congregations, several other children could have been victims of Brothers of the Sacred Heart.
Tens of victims
“It is estimated that Brother Lebeau has been in office for at least 15 years. I would not be surprised if we were talking about 60 to 100 victims, “said Kugler.
“It is thought that victims of other brothers will also manifest themselves. Look at the case of the Redemptorist Fathers. It started with a victim and there were 110 at the end, “says Kugler.
Yesterday, the spokesman and brother, Donald Bouchard, refused to comment and redirected us to the lawyer of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. Messier did not want to comment because the request had not yet been sent to the Brothers yesterday.
Other class actions against religious congregations
The Brothers of St. Croix
2013: Over 200 victims receive compensation ranging from $ 10,000 to $ 250,000 of the Congregation of Holy Cross, for having suffered abuse in residential schools of Notre Dame College, the College of Saint-Césaire and the School Notre-Dame de Pohénégamook between 1950 and 2001.
2014: A second class action was filed for sexual assaults on students in the 1960s and 1970s at Saint Joseph’s Oratory and three former college: Maisonneuve, Saint-Laurent and Marie-Victorin. The case is still in court.
2014: Former students of the Redemptorist Seminary of St. Alphonsus have prevailed in a lawsuit. They will receive a total of $ 20 million. The estimated number of casualties amounted to more than 200 former students.
Clerics of Saint-Viateur
2016: Over 150 deaf having been sexually assaulted by the Clerics of Saint Viator receive $ 30 million in compensation.
The Marist Brothers
2014: A class action is brought against the Marist Brothers for sexual and physical abuse allegedly perpetrated in a shelter for adolescents in Saint-Hyacinthe, between 1970 and 1986. The case is still in court.
Brothers of the Congregation Notre-Dame-de-la-Miséricorde
2016: A settlement agreement comes as part of a class action Brother Jean-Paul Thibault of the Congregation of the Brothers of Our Lady of Mercy, who was director of the Collège Saint-Hilaire for 20 years. Under the agreement, victims of sexual assault could receive a minimum amount of between $ 55,000 and $ 110,000.
Extracts from the application
“Brother Lebeau then told the applicant that it was important to express himself and invited him to join him in his room in the dormitory that evening because he said he had a solution to help him.”
“To his astonishment, Brother Lebeau asked the youngster to pull down his pajama pants and began to masturbate, as this was a way to help him open up and get rid of himself.”
“At the end of the session, Brother Lebeau sometimes gave encouragement” you make progress “or” you continue “, as if it were a therapy, while at other times, the brother Lebeau seemed frustrated by the applicant’s lack of erection by criticizing him and telling him that he was too “withdrawn”.
“It frequently happened that the applicant had to wait in line while the brother was busy with another student alone in his room … the latter often waited seated on his bed.”
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Il dit avoir été violé 300 fois par un frère de Granby
Une autre congrégation religieuse est visée par une demande de recours collectif
Le Journal de Montreal
Mercredi, 12 octobre 2016 06:22 MISE à JOUR
Affirmant avoir été violé plus de 300 fois par un religieux qui voulait «l’aider» à se guérir de sa timidité, un ancien élève d’une école de Granby veut intenter un recours collectif contre les Frères qui ont dirigé l’établissement pendant des décennies et qui auraient pu faire jusqu’à une centaine de victimes.
Une demande en recours collectif a été déposée vendredi dernier à la Cour supérieure afin d’obtenir un dédommagement pour «toute victime d’agression sexuelle subie» au Collège Mont-Sacré-Cœur, dirigé par les Frères du Sacré-Cœur de 1932 à 2004.
Ce cas s’ajoute à la longue liste de cas allégués d’agressions sexuelles qui éclaboussent le clergé au Québec depuis quelques années.
La présumée victime, décrite dans la requête comme un homme de 56 ans qui aurait été alcoolique à la suite des présumées agressions, aurait vécu l’enfer selon son avocat, Me Robert Kugler.
En file
«Encore aujourd’hui, il est dans un état difficile. Il n’a pas parlé de ça pendant des années. C’était un lourd secret à porter», dit Me Kugler, précisant que pour cette raison, l’homme ne veut pas accorder d’entrevues.
Selon la requête, ce dernier aurait été agressé plus de 300 fois, à une fréquence de 3 à 6 fois par semaine, pendant qu’il effectuait son secondaire 3 et 4 comme pensionnaire au collège. Il aurait eu 13 ans au moment de la première agression.
«Le surveillant du dortoir, le frère Claude Lebeau, l’obligeait à se mettre en file avec d’autres élèves devant sa chambre et l’agressait quand il entrait. Ce qui est particulièrement troublant, c’est que d’autres enfants entraient avant et après la victime dans la chambre du frère», affirme Me Kugler.
Le frère Lebeau aurait masturbé le jeune pensionnaire à chacune des visites de celui-ci à sa chambre, dans le but de «l’aider à s’ouvrir et se dégêner».
Selon la firme Kugler Kandestin, qui a déjà piloté trois recours collectifs contre des congrégations religieuses, plusieurs autres enfants auraient pu être victimes de Frères du Sacré-Cœur.
Dizaines de victimes
«On estime que le frère Lebeau a été en poste au moins pendant 15 ans. Je ne serais pas surpris qu’on parle de 60 à 100 victimes», estime Me Kugler.
«On pense que des victimes d’autres frères vont aussi se manifester. Regardez le cas des Pères rédemptoristes. Ça a commencé avec une victime et il y en avait 110 à la fin», dit Me Kugler.
Hier, le porte-parole et frère, Donald Bouchard, s’est refusé à tout commentaire et nous a redirigés vers l’avocat des Frères du Sacré-Cœur. Me Messier n’a pas voulu commenter puisque la requête n’avait pas encore été signifiée aux Frères hier.
D’autres recours collectifs contre des congrégations religieuses
Les Frères de Sainte-Croix
2013 : Plus de 200 victimes reçoivent une indemnisation allant de 10 000 $ à 250 000 $ de la congrégation de Sainte-Croix, pour avoir subi des sévices dans les pensionnats du Collège Notre-Dame, du Collège de Saint-Césaire et de l’école Notre-Dame de Pohénégamook entre 1950 et 2001.
2014 : Un deuxième recours collectif est déposé pour des agressions sexuelles commises sur des élèves dans les années 1960 et 1970 à l’oratoire Saint-Joseph et dans trois anciens collèges: Maisonneuve, Saint-Laurent, et Marie-Victorin. Le dossier est toujours en cour.
2014 : D’anciens élèves des rédemptoristes du Séminaire Saint-Alphonse ont gain de cause dans un recours collectif. Ils recevront une somme totale de 20 M$. Le nombre estimé de victimes s’élevait à plus de 200 anciens élèves.
Clercs de Saint-Viateur
2016 : Plus de 150 personnes sourdes ayant été agressées sexuellement par les Clercs de Saint-Viateur reçoivent 30 M$ en indemnisations.
Les Frères maristes
2014 : Un recours collectif est intenté contre les Frères maristes pour des sévices sexuels et physiques qui auraient été perpétrés dans un centre d’hébergement pour adolescents, à Saint-Hyacinthe, entre 1970 et 1986. Le dossier est toujours en cour.
Frères de la congrégation Notre-Dame-de-la-Miséricorde
2016 : Une entente à l’amiable survient dans le cadre d’un recours collectif visant le frère Jean-Paul Thibault de la congrégation des Frères de Notre-Dame de Miséricorde, qui a été directeur du Collège Saint-Hilaire pendant 20 ans. Selon l’entente, les victimes d’agressions sexuelles pouvaient recevoir une somme minimum variant entre 55 000 $ et 110 000 $.
Extraits de la requête
«Le frère Lebeau a alors dit au requérant qu’il était important de s’extérioriser et l’a donc invité à venir le rejoindre dans sa chambre au dortoir ce soir-là puisqu’il disait avoir une solution pour l’aider.»
«À son grand étonnement, le frère Lebeau a demandé au jeune de baisser ses pantalons de pyjama et s’est mis à le masturber puisque ceci était un moyen de l’aider à s’ouvrir et à se dégêner.»
«À la fin de la séance, le frère Lebeau donnait parfois de l’encouragement “tu fais du progrès” ou “on continue”, comme s’il s’agissait d’une thérapie, alors que d’autres fois, le frère Lebeau semblait frustré de l’absence d’érection du requérant en le critiquant et lui disant qu’il était trop “renfermé”».
«Il arrivait fréquemment que le requérant doive attendre en file alors que le frère était occupé avec un autre élève seul dans sa chambre […] ce dernier attendait souvent assis sur son lit.»
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Publié le 12 octobre 2016 à 05h00| Mis à jour le 12 octobre 2016 à 05h00
Dossier dating from the 1970s: allegations of pedophilia at Collège Mont Sacré-Coeur
[Online translation – original French article follows]
La Presse
12 October 2016
Jérôme Roy
The Voice of the East
Collège Mont Sacré-Coeur, led in a secular way since 2004, is involved in a demand for collective action in connection with sexual assaults committed within its walls in the 1970s.