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DeafTimes :: Article
Tue, February 16, 2010 - 3:31:00
By Thandi Fletcher, Canwest News Service
February 16, 2010 3:04 PM
Canada
Two men have launched a class-action lawsuit claiming sexual, psychological and physical abuse against two Nova Scotia schools for the deaf.
Walter Wile, 61, and Myles Murphy, 59, filed the lawsuit last September in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.
Wile, from Calgary, claimed he was physically and sexually abused at both the Halifax and Amherst, N.S., schools in the 1950s and 1960s. Murphy, of St. John's, N.L. claimed he was physically and psychologically abused by both staff and other students at the Amherst school in the 1960s.
Tony Merchant, a Saskatchewan-based lawyer known for his work on class-action law suits for residential school abuse victims, is representing the men.
Merchant said "quite a few" more people across Canada with similar claims of abuse against the N.S. deaf schools have come forward since the class-action law suit was launched.
"About fifteen people residing in Nova Scotia" have also joined the suit, said Merchant.
Jennifer Gavin, communication adviser for the N.S. Department of Justice, said the province has yet to file a defence because it has yet to be served with the suit.
Merchant said that will happen soon.
Merchant said the case is similar to the 2004 class-action lawsuit against the Jericho Hill School for the Deaf in Vancouver.
In April 2004, about 350 deaf and blind students who were sexually abused at that school reached a $15.6-million out-of-court settlement with the British Columbia government, which included $10.5-million in individual compensation divided among them. A 1993 B.C. ombudsman's report found that staff inflicted sexual, emotional and physical abuse on students and that younger students were also abused by older students at the residential school in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The School for the Deaf in Halifax was founded in 1856. The school closed its doors in 1961 when the Interprovincial School for the Education of the Deaf opened in Amherst. The school in Amherst remained open until 1995.
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
Tue, February 16, 2010 - 3:31:00
By Thandi Fletcher, Canwest News Service
February 16, 2010 3:04 PM
Canada
Two men have launched a class-action lawsuit claiming sexual, psychological and physical abuse against two Nova Scotia schools for the deaf.
Walter Wile, 61, and Myles Murphy, 59, filed the lawsuit last September in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.
Wile, from Calgary, claimed he was physically and sexually abused at both the Halifax and Amherst, N.S., schools in the 1950s and 1960s. Murphy, of St. John's, N.L. claimed he was physically and psychologically abused by both staff and other students at the Amherst school in the 1960s.
Tony Merchant, a Saskatchewan-based lawyer known for his work on class-action law suits for residential school abuse victims, is representing the men.
Merchant said "quite a few" more people across Canada with similar claims of abuse against the N.S. deaf schools have come forward since the class-action law suit was launched.
"About fifteen people residing in Nova Scotia" have also joined the suit, said Merchant.
Jennifer Gavin, communication adviser for the N.S. Department of Justice, said the province has yet to file a defence because it has yet to be served with the suit.
Merchant said that will happen soon.
Merchant said the case is similar to the 2004 class-action lawsuit against the Jericho Hill School for the Deaf in Vancouver.
In April 2004, about 350 deaf and blind students who were sexually abused at that school reached a $15.6-million out-of-court settlement with the British Columbia government, which included $10.5-million in individual compensation divided among them. A 1993 B.C. ombudsman's report found that staff inflicted sexual, emotional and physical abuse on students and that younger students were also abused by older students at the residential school in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The School for the Deaf in Halifax was founded in 1856. The school closed its doors in 1961 when the Interprovincial School for the Education of the Deaf opened in Amherst. The school in Amherst remained open until 1995.
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
