Two more sexual abuse cases coming to court

SARA MINOGUE

A Newfoundland lawyer is preparing to file two more lawsuits against the Governments of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories on behalf of 14 men who were allegedly sexually abused by a social worker and 10 men who say they were abused by a teacher in the 1960s and 1980s.

Geoffrey Budden said all of the alleged abuses took place in Nunavut communities, that were formerly part of NWT. At division, the two territories made an arrangement that NWT would pay 56 per cent of future settlements, with Nunavut paying the rest.

The men in both cases plan to file the lawsuits at the end of the month, Budden said.

Budden, of the Budden, Morris law firm in Mount Pearl, Nfld., is the same lawyer who represented 85 Nunavut men who were abused by Ed Horne between 1972 and 1983, when they sought damages from the government for negligence. That group of victims was awarded $21.5 million from the territorial governments in October 2002 — $2.5 million of which went towards treatment for victims of sexual abuse.

The next two groups of claimants are seeking similar damages.

Budden’s firm also represents a second group of about 70 people who have an outstanding claim against the territorial governments relating to alleged abuse by Horne. Negotiations between these complainants and the governments have “hit a speed bump,” Budden said, and may be heading to court.

The 2002 agreement was a veritable “love-in,” Budden said, with both sides praising the other for an approach that delivered an average $250,000 to each Horne victim without having to go to trial.

With the second group of complainants, Budden said, the governments are taking a very different approach.

“We would like to settle these claims within the same general parameters as the [first Horne claims],” Budden said. “There would be slight differences, but as a general approach, we should sit down with them, we should agree in advance that the Horne approach is a good approach and [the government] is not prepared to do that. We’ve asked them to and they say no.”

Budden said witnesses are now being examined under oath, and complainants and a psychologist are being questioned, to prepare for a court case that could be heard in 2007.

Budden said he is surprised by the government’s change of tune.

“It’s baffling to me that they would seem to want to litigate on behalf of these men, while their brothers and classmates received a settlement three years ago. They either messed up three years ago and overpaid us, which I think anybody who knows this area of law would not find, or they’re being intransigent now, and there’s no other way of looking at it.”

Budden’s firm has one other lawsuit underway, involving 30 complainants who say they were abused by teacher Maurice Cloughley, who worked for nearly 30 years in the former NWT and northern Manitoba and was convicted of assaulting Inuit and Dene girls.