Former Crown wards in Ontario seek compensation for 'horrific' abuse
Former Crown wards in Ontario are asking the court to certify a $110-million-dollar class action lawsuit, alleging the province failed to protect their rights and help them pursue compensation for abuse they suffered as children.
Lawyers for four representative clients made their arguments for certification in Ontario Superior Court in Thunder Bay, Ont., on Monday. Ontario was expected to respond on Tuesday.
If the class action moves ahead, thousands of people from across the province who experienced childhood abuse and became wards of the Crown after 1966, could join the suit.
"This group is a vulnerable group and for decades they've lived their lives without even being aware of the rights they have that they can to apply to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board or they can commence lawsuits," said lawyer Jonathan Ptak.
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Board helps victims of crime receive funds for healing or therapy through a process that does not require the victim to directly confront their abuser as they would in a criminal or civil trial.
'I could have saved my sister'
Toni Grann wishes she was aware of the potential to seek compensation for the physical abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother's boyfriend when she was a toddler and the "horrific" sexual abuse she suffered later in an adoptive home when she was Crown ward.
"I was never taken to a doctor. I was never able to talk to a psychiatrist," Grann said outside the courthouse on Monday. "Even just taking me to a doctor, the abuse would have been noticeable right from that point on and I could have saved my sister the abuse [by the same man that later] happened to her."
Grann said she eventually took the man who sexually assaulted her to criminal court and he was convicted. But she said no one spoke to her about the possibility of suing him or going to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.
Ontario could institute a province-wide policy requiring case workers to explain options for pursuing compensation to Crown wards as they turn 18 and provide them with their file, Ptak told the court.
The absence of such a policy represents a "systemic failure at the highest level," he said.
The Child and Family Services Act recognizes the Crown — not individual child welfare agencies —as the legal guardian of Crown wards, Ptak said.
'Responsibilities of a loving parent'
The law is "designed to charge [the Crown] with the same responsibilities of a loving parent who would do everything in their power to help their children," including helping them seek justice for harms they've suffered, he said.
Grann said her focus is not on money, but on helping other victims of abuse access the services they need to improve their lives.
"The money will never make up for the damage that was done to us," Grann said. "But the money will help the younger kids get the help they need.
"For me, personally, I wouldn't have had to work two jobs to go to university," she said. "I could have sought help earlier in my 20s and not ended up with three or four ruined relationships."
In court documents, Ontario argues that the class action should not be certified because it is too broad and too unwieldy for the courts to deal with as a group because each individual would need to show causation and damages in their specific circumstances.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
