A judge from the Alberta Court of King’s Bench says a class-action lawsuit against the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) and two former teachers, accused of sexually abusing students, can proceed.
It was launched by three students, identified only by their initials, who attended John Ware School, located in the southwest Calgary community of Pump Hill, between 1988 and 2004.
The lawsuit names the estate of former teacher Michael Gregory — another teacher, Fred Henry Archer — and their employer, the Calgary Board of Education as defendants.
Gregory was a former physical and outdoor education teacher at the school, but he died by suicide in February 2021 on Vancouver Island, just days after being criminally charged.
At the time he was facing 17 sex-related charges for the alleged abuse of six students.
Archer was also a teacher and guidance counsellor at several Calgary area schools, including John Ware School, in the 1990s.
He was sent to prison for three years in March of 2010 for molesting three male students.
The lawsuit alleges some of Gregory’s alleged victims were abused while working or volunteering at Gregory’s rural acreage, not on school property and that a number of students were physically or sexually abused during unofficial “scouting trips” related to Gregory’s outdoor education class, outside of school hours.
Regardless of where the abuse occurred, the plaintiffs allege the abuse “originated in a school environment and existed only within the teacher-student dynamic.”
The lawsuit also alleges that “school personnel, including administrators, knew that Gregory and Archer were using their in-school relationships with students to take advantage of opportunities to abuse those students outside of school hours or property.”
In its defense, the CBE pointed “to the fact that some parents were aware or even gave permission for their children to attend Gregory’s personal residence, go for rides in Gregory’s and Archer’s personal vehicles and/or accompany Gregory on the aforementioned ‘scouting trips’.”
Lawyers for the former students have also alleged the two men were working together to abuse students.
The lawsuit says the CBE is “directly liable in its obligation to create a safe environment in its schools, to report any suspected abuse and in failing to respond properly to the many disclosures of abuse that were made to other teachers and administrators at John Ware School.”
The allegations made in the class-action lawsuit have not been tested in court.
David Corrigan, one of the lawyers for the students says they are “very gratified” by the judge’s decision and “it is exactly what we wanted and expected.”