The Roman Catholic Diocese of Prince George, B.C., says it hopes a $3.4 million settlement provides an alleged sufferer of sexual abuse by a faculty instructor “some extent of restitution for the hurt that was so unjustly inflicted upon him by his abuser.”
The settlement by the diocese and St. Thomas Extra Collegiate, a Catholic faculty in Burnaby, B.C., was introduced in an announcement launched by lawyer Sandra Kovacs, who represented the nameless man within the lawsuit.
Additionally named within the lawsuit was former instructor Alfred Patrick Quigley, who the nameless plaintiff mentioned sexually abused him within the Nineteen Nineties.
Quigley taught at O’Grady Catholic Excessive College in Prince George and one of many alleged assaults was mentioned to have occurred at St. Thomas Extra Collegiate.
The lawsuit accused Quigley of “grooming” the plaintiff earlier than sexually assaulting him in 1993 and 1994.
Quigley denied “every allegation” within the lawsuit in his response filed within the courtroom, however he didn’t take part within the case because it approached trial and he couldn’t be reached for remark by his former lawyer.
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The allegations weren’t confirmed in courtroom and Quigley, now 75 and believed to be dwelling in Newfoundland, has not been charged criminally in B.C.
“Though neither the Diocese nor the College have been conscious of the wrongdoing that occurred again within the Nineteen Nineties, they’ve acknowledged and accepted the obligation that arose vicariously because of the acts of its worker in these circumstances,” an announcement issued by the diocese on Tuesday mentioned.
“We hope and pray that this decision will enable (the plaintiff) to proceed his strategy of therapeutic and will this therapeutic prolong to all victims of abuse.”
The lawsuit mentioned Quigley was “unusually pleasant and attentive” to the plaintiff, and took him to “sexually charged” motion pictures together with “Fundamental Intuition.”
The lawsuit additionally alleged Quigley took the plaintiff underneath his wing, gave him items, took him on in a single day journeys and taught him to play squash at a facility the place they’d bathe or go to a steam room nude collectively.
Quigley has been named in different lawsuits filed in B.C. Supreme Courtroom in 2024 containing related allegations which have but to be heard or settled.
Kovacs mentioned the settlement was reached simply earlier than the case was scheduled for a 23-day trial in B.C. Supreme Courtroom in Vancouver, and although it gives her consumer monetary restitution, the lawsuit was additionally about “accountability.”
“This man operated as a instructor for many years,” Kovacs mentioned. “What we’re seeking to do is maintain the system accountable.”
Kovacs mentioned the majority of her follow now entails working with institutional abuse survivors, and instances associated to the Catholic Church contain a “tradition of secrecy.”
“That tradition of secrecy and the clericalism, this concept that monks and non secular males are superior to the laity, that creates I feel a systemic subject that allows this abuse to occur and frequently occur,” she mentioned.
“That’s an issue that should functionally be addressed at its basis within the church, and that has but to occur.”
The diocese and O’Grady Excessive College had denied the grooming and sexual assault allegations of their response to the lawsuit, and in addition denied allegations of “systemic negligence” and “wilful blindness.”
The plaintiff mentioned within the assertion that he’s persevering with to recuperate from the trauma he endured, however is “now extra hopeful than ever” for different abuse survivors to talk out as they “journey towards therapeutic and significant justice.”
© 2025 The Canadian Press
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