A class action suit against the Anglican school by alleged abuse victims was denied certification earlier this year; the judge declared that individual actions would be more productive.

The claim against the Diocese of Ontario was also dismissed. This is good news for the Diocese of Ontario, since even paying lawyers to defend against a class action suit would probably bankrupt it. The diocese could still be in trouble if individuals pursue litigation individually or the appeal is successful.

It doesn’t sound as if the abuse victims would be pacified by Truth and Reconciliation, the Anglican Church of Canada’s recipe for promoting “healing and reconciliation” – without it costing too much.

From here:

TORONTO — A group of former students of a Christian college in eastern Ontario claiming abuse do not have the emotional strength to pursue individual lawsuits, their lawyer is arguing.

A judge denied certification earlier this year for their proposed $200-million class-action lawsuit against Grenville Christian College and its two former headmasters and the Anglican Diocese of Ontario, saying it isn’t the preferable procedure.

But Loretta Merritt, one of the three lawyers for the plaintiffs, said that individuals would struggle to move forward with the case on their own and a class-action suit is the best way for them to be heard.

“If this decision were to stand then each individual survivor would have to come forward and say ‘I want to pursue an individual action,”‘ she said.

[…..]

The plaintiffs in the case are former students at the college, which operated both as a junior school and residential high school, and they alleged in the lawsuit that they were subjected to years of abuse.

The suit claimed the school was run as a mind-control cult that left the former students traumatized.