Your Personal Injury Lawyers
Public and Catholic School Boards Institutional Abuse
Finding Justice If an Ontario School Employee Has Abused You
Preszler Injury Lawyers has represented many survivors of institutional abuse who attended Ontario schools and helped them to find justice and closure for the wrongs done to them. If someone employed by a school board sexually or physically abused you while you were in an educational setting, you likely have legal recourse and access to compensation. How long ago the events occurred does not matter since there is no statute of limitations for sexual abuse or abuse of minors.
Nearly all school-aged youngsters in Ontario receive their education at facilities under the jurisdiction of either public or Roman Catholic school districts, funded by the provincial government. (Some schools with a Protestant religious affiliation are also administered by public school boards.)
A board of school trustees in each district, whether public or Catholic, independently governs the schools of that type in that district. These could be elementary, middle (also known as “junior secondary”) or high (secondary) schools.
The range of grade levels covered by such schools runs from Junior Kindergarten until Grade 12 at present. Up to the early 2000s, Ontario educational institutions also comprised Grade 13, later known as the Ontario Academic Credit (OAC).
School board employees could include (but are not limited to) teachers, teaching assistants, principals and vice-principals, lunchtime supervisors, janitorial and other maintenance workers, and administrative staff.
In Ontario, there are also private schools and federally funded schools for indigenous (such as First Nations) students outside of the regular provincially-supported education systems. Compensation from such institutions and their governing bodies in abuse cases may be appropriate and available as well.
Please speak to an institutional abuse lawyer such as those from Preszler Injury Lawyers to see if filing a legal claim is the right choice for you.
How Do I Initiate an Institutional Abuse Claim Against a School Board in Ontario?
To begin the process of making a legal claim of institutional abuse, you will first want to contact a lawyer experienced in dealing with institutional sexual abuse. Although plaintiffs may opt to represent themselves, there are many deadlines, court procedures, and relevant case precedents that can be tough to keep track of without extensive legal training. The experience, skill, and knowledge of legal professionals like the team at Preszler Injury Lawyers enable you to focus on your own wellness and healing while we advocate for you. The lawsuits can also be expensive to fund, which the law firm takes on for you to ensure a lack of funds does not prevent you from seeking justice.
We offer a trauma-informed approach to our institutional abuse clients and their cases. The first step when meeting with our lawyers is hearing your story in a non-judgmental way where you have full control over the conversation.
As our client, every legal decision you make is entirely up to you. We will offer our best advice to carry out your wishes. The pace at which your claim progresses depends in large part on your own comfort level.
It is essential to us that you feel listened to, believed, and supported. Many survivors’ experiences have resurfaced in recent years as provincial and territorial governments removed statutes of limitations on sexual abuse cases, particularly those involving minors.
These changes have led many abuse survivors who were perhaps ignored by authorities in the past, told they had already passed the deadline to sue, or simply not ready to come forward, to again consider holding the parties who harmed or allowed harm to them (through negligence or covering up the abuse) accountable.
If you decide to retain us as your legal counsel, we will then begin gathering evidence to support your claim. In addition to school records, photos, letters, yearbooks, and other documents may help to reconstruct the events and circumstances around the time you were abused.
Although there is no deadline for filing a claim, once you have started a lawsuit, you must notify the defendant within six months.
Rather than naming an individual school as a defendant, your claim will generally be filed against the school board that has jurisdiction over that school.
A directory of current Ontario school boards and school authorities, both public and Catholic, can be found here.
Rarely, it may be appropriate to directly name a provincial government agency or ministry as a defendant because they are directly involved in the organization or administration of a school where abuse occurred.
Is It Too Late to Seek Justice?
People who experienced sexual abuse as minors in Ontario can make legal claims no matter how long ago the abuse occurred.
Most of the institutional abuse survivors we encounter have waited long periods of time, even decades, before they came forward. Because it brings up many difficult emotions and memories, you may have avoided reporting your abuse to the police until now. Although it is absolutely your right to contact the police now or in the future and press for a criminal investigation, there is no requirement to do so in relation to a civil claim.
In general, we strongly recommend that abuse survivors allow any ongoing criminal investigation to be resolved before proceeding with a civil claim. While it is possible for civil and criminal legal actions to run simultaneously, both sides are commonly concerned that one process will negatively affect the other. Most of our clients, however, are never involved in a criminal claim or with the police.
Is This a “Class Action”?
No, if you retain us as your legal counsel, we will file and pursue your claim on a strictly individual basis. In a class-action lawsuit, all members of a certain group, such as former students abused at a particular school, are lumped together into a single claim. However, sexual abuse and the damage it inflicted on you is highly personal and, if you are ready, it is a story that you deserve to tell.
Unless you are a representative plaintiff in a class action, you are unlikely to have an opportunity in a class action to enter your story into the public record and have it acknowledged in a meaningful way.
At Preszler Injury Lawyers, we do not advise clients who suffered institutional abuse (or indeed sexual abuse in general) to participate in class-action lawsuits. We believe every case should be judged according to its own merits. We further do not support launching class-action lawsuits because of their prejudicial effect on survivors who want to seek justice individually and according to the timeline they are comfortable with. Class-action settlements generally lead to abuse survivors receiving far less than if they start their own claim.
In recent years, the court system has raised the bar for certifying class actions in recognition of this tendency.
As well, often the compensation offered to abuse survivors following a successful class action is much less than what a defendant will pay in an individual settlement or trial victory.
Previous legal proceedings and criminal investigations against the school you attended and your abuser specifically may help to substantiate your own claim.
Common Experiences of Survivors
Although every institutional abuse survivor is unique, their trauma can affect them in similar ways. Some common traits and experiences among people who were sexually abused as children include low self-esteem, unfairly believing that they deserved what happened to them, difficulty trusting others, difficulty forming and maintaining relationships, substance abuse, risky behaviour, suicidal ideation, and trouble finding or keeping a job with usually multiple job changes throughout their life and often working more dangerous jobs that pay less.
What Compensation Are We Seeking?
As your lawyers, the types of compensation we would pursue on your behalf fall into two main categories, pecuniary and non-pecuniary.
Pecuniary losses are concrete and, as such, can be easier to quantify. They may include:
- Loss of actual and potential earnings
- Psychological treatment/counselling/medication
- Pre-judgment interest
Damages are awarded in dollar amounts, but non-pecuniary losses represent those that are not tangible, like any emotional pain that resulted from the institutional abuse inflicted on you.
Some non-pecuniary losses are:
- Loss of intimacy
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of income earning capacity
Your family members may have grounds for a claim as well, for example if you are unable to care for a dependent and they must take time off work to provide that care instead or if the abuse impacted your close family relationships in a negative way.
We have established relationships with experts who can assess and testify to the emotional, physical, and financial impacts on your life. These may include psychiatrists, other types of doctors, vocational experts, and economists.
When Will My Case Be Resolved?
With our trauma-informed approach, your comfort level is the paramount factor to consider. We will only proceed with steps like filing your claim and notifying the defendant institution once you feel ready and instruct us to do so.
At the fastest, expect that your claim will take 6 months to resolve. A more typical timeline could be between 1 and 4 years. Rather than rushing to settle a claim, Preszler Injury Lawyers focuses on securing fair compensation for our clients.
Not surprisingly, the attitude of defendants could also lengthen your resolution. Aside from general resistance to your claim, defendants may have missing or spotty historical records and other documentation.
Call Preszler Injury Lawyers for a Free Initial Consultation
We are ready to answer any legal questions you may have about your abuse or the abuse of someone you know in an Ontario school. Call Preszler Injury Lawyers at 1-888-608-2111 or contact us online at any time and we can set up a free initial consultation to learn more about your case. We work on a contingency basis for all of our clients so if we represent you, you do not have to pay us anything unless we win you compensation.
