More former students have come forward in the $40-million group action against the Calgary Board of Education and the estate of Michael Gregory, a former teacher at John Ware School.
Twenty new individuals have come forward, many with affidavits to support the class-action suit.
The affidavits mirror an initial statement of claim alleging sexual assault and interference with teenaged girls, and intimidation of teenaged boys who inadvertently came across incriminating scenes of undress or inappropriate behaviour.
In mid-February 2021, Gregory was charged with six counts of sexual assault and 11 counts of sexual interference.
Days later, Gregory was discovered on Vancouver Island, dead by suicide.
Lawyer Michael Farrell said the affidavits contain “tough stories” of the alleged victims.
“There are some heartbreaking details in these affidavits, and being a lawyer in a situation like this, where you have to experience this sort of thing and re-experience it with people, isn’t easy,” he told Global News.
“That having been said, it doesn’t hold a candle to what these victims have gone through, and they’re the ones that really deserve the recognition.”
Farrell said 32 people have come forward with regard to the class action: 25 alleged victims and seven claiming to be witnesses. Of the alleged victims, eight are men and 17 are women.
One of those new women to recently come forward is Alicia Riley.
Her affidavit alleges having sex and engaging in other sexual conduct at Gregory’s home while she was in Grade 8. She alleges he provided alcohol while at his acreage.
She also outlines events during canoe trips that allege sexual touching, his sneaking into her tent and using emotional manipulation.
Riley’s affidavit claims the teachers and principal should have known about Gregory’s alleged sexual activities with students.
A student with the initials KG alleged Gregory started making sexually-suggestive comments while she was in Grade 8, advancing into sexual touching in Grade 9 during a canoe trip, and into Grade 10, when she believes he sedated her while at his house.
Another affidavit from a student with the initials JR alleged when they came across Gregory with a pair of female students in states of undress, they were physically threatened by the teacher. JR told another teacher, who the student alleges advised them to “not say anything about it.”
Kelly Schneider, one of the original representative plaintiffs, said not speaking out is no longer an option.
“I’m a mother of two daughters. I have to do the right thing – they are watching me. They need a mom that can be strong and not be bullied or to be quiet any longer.”
Schneider described Gregory as “a horrific monster.”
“He knew what he was doing. He was very good at what he was doing.”
“And over the years, he got bigger and better at it and more brazen and bold.”
Schneider said she’s angry and disappointed at anyone else in a place of authority who seemed to ignore students and parents who reported Gregory’s actions at the time.
But she’s proud of the former students who are coming forward.
“I am really proud of everybody. I really did not see this ever coming to light in my lifetime,” Schneider said.
“For every girl that comes forward and, pardon me, every boy – and I use the term boy and girl because that’s what we were back then – that came forward and said they saw, said that they did, said that they tried: I am so thrilled to be holding hands with all these people and hopefully making some kind of a positive difference and change in the system.”
Farrell said there could be hundreds of students affected by Gregory’s actions during his tenure between 1986 and 2006.
He hopes the court will agree to a more aggressive timeline than normally afforded to cases like this.
“You can’t leave people like this on tenterhooks.”
Lawyers for the CBE and Gregory’s estate declined comment, pointing instead to their statements of defense denying culpability and the request to have the case dismissed.
The CBE statement of defense argues the plaintiffs were not within the care or supervision of the school board. But if there is a finding made that conflicts with that, then the “CBE was unaware of the alleged misconduct.”
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