An elite Canadian private school has offered an apology and up to $5-million in compensation to former students who say they were sexually abused by teachers as early as the 1960s.
The agreement is still subject to court approval, but it marks a breakthrough in a case that has left a cloud over one of Montreal's best-known prep schools, Selwyn House.
The all-boys institution, alma mater to families such as Molson and Bronfman, was named in lawsuits by three ex-students who allege they were abused by a trio of teachers.
The three are seeking to be representatives in a class-action suit on behalf of other alleged victims at the school.
"This is a catharsis for them," said Irwin Liebman, a Montreal lawyer speaking for the former students. "These people are not after money ... this is a way to give them not just public recognition, but personal recognition.
In its proposed settlement submitted in Quebec Superior Court yesterday, Selwyn House formally denies responsibility or liability for any wrongdoing. It insists it offered the deal to help alleged victims.
The school expresses "apologies and regrets" to former students who have presented sexual abuse claims.
"Selwyn House has reached a settlement with these former students and members of their families which it hopes can help them to move past this matter," the school says in its legal statement.
Sources say the deal came after more than 18 months of negotiations, which grew especially intense after and an agreement in principle was reached last summer.
The allegations of sexual misconduct first rocked Selwyn House in 1995, when one of the three plaintiffs claimed that teacher Leigh Seville sexually preyed on him and other students in the 1970s and 1980s. Mr. Seville killed himself and his 81-year-old father in 1991 when confronted by the school about an earlier allegation of abuse.
A few months later, the other two students stepped forward with claims against other former teachers. One suit named John Aimers, former head of the Monarchist League of Canada, who taught and coached the debating club at Selwyn House in the 1970s. The plaintiff alleged that Mr. Aimers asked the student, then 13, to his home, where he tried to force him to perform oral sex.
Mr. Aimers has signed the settlement filed yesterday, although he also denies wrongdoing.
A third teacher, James P. Hill, who taught at the school from 1961 to 1972, is named by the third former student who alleges his teacher invited him to his apartment, ordered him to strip, and sexually fondled him.
Mr. Hill's whereabouts are not known.
Outside Montreal's provincial courthouse yesterday, one of the three plaintiffs said the agreement was an important step, but the process was far from over.
"If the school had acted caringly and judiciously in the first place, many lives would have been much different than they are today. You don't sacrifice the young, and that's what was done in this case.
"But I'm hoping some good for somebody will come of this."
Selwyn House has agreed to publicize the settlement and request for class-action authorization by posting a notice on its school website and in several newspapers, including The Globe and Mail and The New York Times.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs say up to 40 former students could join the class action, based on the number of people who have already contacted them. Toronto lawyer Bryan McPhadden says he has been contacted by more than 20 former students.
"We are pleased that we are making progress towards arriving at a settlement," headmaster William Mitchell said in a statement yesterday, "and hopeful that over the coming weeks we can arrive at a court-approved agreement and put this unfortunate and difficult matter behind us."
A judge is to rule on April 25 whether the class-action suit can proceed.