Mount Cashel Orphanage
The orphanage was operated by the Congregation of Christian Brothers, and became infamous for a sexual abuse scandal and cover-up by the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and NL justice officials.
[1] In 1898, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of St. John's Michael Francis Howley donated land for an orphanage on the northeastern edge of the Dominion's capital, approximately 1 km (0.62 mi) north of Quidi Vidi Lake.
A caller to VOCM's radio call-in program Open Line on February 13, 1989, mentioned suspicion of a cover-up by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador into sexual and physical abuse at the orphanage.
[8] One of those listening to Open Line that day was a justice of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador who followed up on the issue with the provincial government's Associate Deputy Attorney-General.
On February 14, 1989, the Crown prosecutor's file on the physical and sexual abuse allegations at the Mount Cashel Orphanage was officially re-opened and the RNC was instructed to complete its 1975 investigation and determine why charges were never laid.
[10][11] The growing controversy during Easter Week in late March 1989 as a result of The Sunday Express publication regarding the alleged cover-up by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the RNC, and the Archdiocese of St. John's led interim Premier Tom Rideout to announce the appointment on March 31, 1989, of a Royal Commission led by a retired justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario, Samuel Hughes QC, to investigate the obstruction of justice.
It found that the Christian Brothers, who operated the Mount Cashel Orphanage, should have been charged with crimes in relation to the reports of abuse from resident boys of the home in 1975.
In addition to the sexual and physical abuses highlighted by the inquiry, it was also learned that Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Sergeant, Arthur Pike, had received a demotion and a decrease in pay for leaking information in 1979 concerning the police cover-up of Mount Cashel.
In December 2000 The StarPhoenix reported that leaders of the Christian Brothers at the Vatican conspired to transfer ownership of the order's assets out of Canada to prevent court-ordered liquidation to pay compensation to sexual and physical abuse victims.
[26] From 1996 to 2004 approximately $27 million in compensation was paid to roughly 100 victims of physical and sexual abuse at the Mount Cashel Orphanage by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Christian Brothers of Ireland in Canada.
[30][31] In July 2020, the Newfoundland and Labrador court of appeal unanimously reversed a 2018 decision of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador and ruled that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John's was vicariously liable for the sexual abuse committed at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in the 1950s and 1960s, paving the way for victims of the Mount Cashel sex abuse scandal to receive compensation from the Diocese.
[32][33][34] In February 2021, a British Columbia man alleged that he was sexually abused by one of the Christian Brothers, who confessed to the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary of molesting children at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in 1975.
[35] In July 2021, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of NL announced plans to sell off assets in order to compensate victims of the Mount Cashel sex abuse scandal.
Raymond Lahey, a NL born priest, was entering Canada via the Ottawa International Airport, when his laptop was seized by Canadian Border Services during a routine inspection.
[39] Shane Earle, the young boy who was beaten and reported being sexually abused at Mount Cashel Orphanage, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) he had testified about it during the Hughes inquiry.
The provincial police force stated they were reviewing audio and video records of interviews with victims and offenders from their investigation of sex abuse at the Mount Cashel orphanage, but were unable to find any evidence to support the allegations that Lahey had been in possession of child pornography in 1980s NL.
John A. Doe questions how Brother English was allowed to quietly be transferred from NL to BC, without charges, after admitting to molesting children to the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, in 1975.
One of the accused, Ronald Lasik a native of Chicago, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for sexually and physically abusing young boys at Mount Cashel Orphanage in the 1950s.
[56] In 2014, a CBC reporter wrote an article about Shawn Janes, a Mount Cashel survivor, who died tragically after pleading with the NL government for help.
In June 2015, Hickey began a 900 kilometre walk across the province of NL to raise awareness and support for victims of sexual abuse at religious institutions.
The film was based on true life events, surrounding investigative journalists from the Boston Globe, whose reporting led to the discovery of widespread and systematic sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.
