Claiming to be the victim of repeated sexual assaults by parish priest Gilles Noreau, a former student is suing Collège François-de-Laval for $1.4 million.
The plaintiff, now in his fifties, studied at the Petit Séminaire de Québec (PSQ), the former name of the school, between 1976 and 1981.
According to the ten-page motion filed in Superior Court, the first sexual assault took place during the 1977-1978 school year in the room of priest Noreau, who was then teaching Latin and catechism. The alleged victim was then 12 years old.
At this point, the cleric would have completely undressed the teenager before giving him a massage and masturbating him for about 30 minutes.
Three years
The sexual assaults reportedly continued for almost three years, at a rate of about twice a week. Thus, the priest Noreau would have abused the young boy a hundred times.
“The College is responsible for the sexual assaults committed by Noreau, both for the fact of Noreau, and because of his own faults”, can we read in the request.
The plaintiff alleges that the school knew or should have known that the priest was receiving students in his room. In this way, the school would have failed in its duty of care, supervision and education.
“From the number of assaults committed by Noreau, it is clear that the College knowingly turned a blind eye to protect its reputation, and that it did not adequately supervise Noreau”, specifies the document presented to the court.
The plaintiff alleges that the school is directly responsible for the sexual assaults and the damages suffered subsequently.
A life of hell
Anxious, ashamed and sad, his life would have become hell for 40 years.
“Both professionally and personally, he has built a facade that does not represent the reality of his inner malaise and that weighs heavily on him,” says his lawyer, who sets the amount of damages at $1.4 million. , including $1 million for loss of income and loss of earning capacity.
The judge issued a publication ban on the plaintiff’s name.
Gilles Noreau, ex-priest of Val-Bélair and ex-teacher of the PSQ, admitted to having made seven victims between 1965 and 1988. In 2004, the priest was sentenced to 12 months in prison for having sexually assaulted seven former students.
At the time, Gilles Noreau would have taken advantage of his status as an animator in a summer camp to attack young boys. One of them filed a complaint 20 years later, which prompted Gilles Noreau to confess.
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