An Ottawa-based priest has been suspended after being named in a $2-million sex abuse lawsuit filed on behalf of students who attended a Catholic boarding school in Quebec’s Eastern Townships.
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The motion seeking permission for the class action to proceed was filed this week on behalf of those who were allegedly abused while attending College Servite, a school in Ayer’s Cliff that was previously run by members of the Servite Order.
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The lead plaintiff in the case, an unnamed 57-year-old man identified in court documents as X, accuses Father Jacques Desgrandchamps of abusing him between 1973 and 1975.
Court documents allege Desgrandchamps, the man’s history teacher, had him sleep in his bedroom where he would sexually abuse him and ply him with alcohol.
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The alleged abuse took place in an area of the school reserved for religious members of the congregation, who allegedly turned a blind eye to the boy being in a restricted area and failed to assist him.
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Ottawa’s archdiocese has suspended Desgrandchamps and says in a statement it is reviewing the situation in consultation with the Servite superior.