QUEBEC CITY – Pierre Bolduc from Thetford Mines claims he was twelve when he was sexually abused by his priest. He said he has lived all his life in shame and only recently began to confide in his loved ones.
“After 43 years of silence, I am coming out of the shadows,” Bolduc told a throng of National Assembly reporters.
According to lawyer Alain Arsenault, 43 years happens to be the average time it takes a boy victim of sexual assault to realize the impact of the crime. But this week, MNAs disagreed and voted a 30-year time limit to file civil lawsuits. Quebec is the only province, along with PEI, to have time limits on cases of sexual assault.
MNAs think it’s impossible to abolish the statute of limitation in Quebec because of the civil code, said Arsenault, but they’re wrong.
Justice Minister Bertrand St-Arnaud sympathized with victims seeking compensation but argued it isn’t simple. He defended his bill, which also increases the limit for seeking compensation under Quebec’s crime victims’ fund from one to two years . It increases the amount parents of a victim can claim from $2,000 to $12,000 and raises the allowance for funeral expenses to $5,000 from $3,000.
“It’s a problem that is not easy to resolve. But we will have this discussion here at the National Assembly in the next months. We will listen to experts to find out, even if we are in a civil law regime, can we do what is done in other Canadian provinces?” said St-Arnaud.
Still, the adoption of Bill 22 led to protests.
“It’s a law whereby pedophiles will have more rights and victims will have less rights,” said Carlo Tarini, Director of the Coalition of victims of pedophiles. About 100 people brandished signs outside parliament.
And just like protester France Bédard who was sexually abused by clergy and got pregnant, victims of sexual assault in Newfoundland sought compensation. They won after 15 years of negotiation. On Friday, it was announced that the Christian Brothers, who managed the Mount Cashel Orphanage, agreed to give 400 victims $16.5 million dollars.
Pierre Bolduc said he’s haunted by the smell of his assailant. He thinks if the status quo is maintained in Quebec, he will probably never see justice.
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