Ethics Newsline®

Special to Newsline from Canadian correspondent Errol P. Mendes

VANCOUVER
The British Columbia Supreme Court has ruled that the Anglican Church of Canada and the Canadian government were jointly liable for the sexual abuse of a nine-yea-old boy at an Indian residential school in British Columbia in the early 1970s.

The boy was repeatedly molested by the dorm supervisor, who has already been convicted and imprisoned for the assaults.

The decision marks the first time that a Christian Church which ran a residential school and the government have been found directly liable for sexual assaults that are alleged to have occurred in thousands of cases at religious residential schools, which were sanctioned by previous federal governments in Canada in an effort to educate and assimilate aboriginal children.

Such a precedent could threaten bankruptcy for most of the Christian Churches that ran residential schools.