Former students at a church-run institute for the Deaf in Montreal have come forward with graphic tales of sexual abuse they allege they suffered during more than four decades.
Quebec's Superior Court authorized a class-action lawsuit last March against members of the Clerics of St-Viateur who worked at the school, formerly known as the Montreal Institute for the Deaf.
The former boarding school was run by the Clerics of Saint-Viateur, a religious congregation founded in 1831.
According to students who attended the all-boys institute between 1940 and 1982, violent sexual assaults were commonplace.
Denis Chalifoux, who alleges he was eight years old when the abuse began in 1968, is one of 64 claimants taking part in the class action against 28 religious staff and six lay workers. Only four or five of the alleged abusers would still be alive today.
Most of the alleged victims' identities are protected in court documents, but Chalifoux came forward to tell his story to CBC's French-language service with the help of a sign language interpreter. He described horrific acts allegedly at the hands of a staff member.
"He showed me his penis. It was in front of me, in my face. I didn't want to look," Chalifoux told Radio-Canada. "He touched my cheek with it. All the while, he was masturbating." ... Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/11/25/alleged-sexual-assault-st-viateur-deaf-institute.html?autoplay=true
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