Saint Joseph's Oratory asks court to be excluded from sexual assault lawsuit
Quebec Court of Appeal gave go ahead to lawsuit in September
Montreal's Saint Joseph's Oratory wants to be excluded from a class-action lawsuit that alleges a Roman Catholic religious order sexually abused its members on the site.
The oratory is seeking, from the Supreme Court, leave to appeal a Quebec Court of Appeal decision that authorized a lawsuit against the Congregation of Holy Cross, the oratory and other institutions.
Holy Cross is the religious order that built the oratory and continues to provide religious services on the site.
The lawsuit outlines alleged abuse carried out by a member of Holy Cross committed in the oratory during the 1950s.
The oratory, which filed its leave request on Friday, said it is "exceptionally targeted as the only place cited and as an institution" in the latest lawsuit.
It also questioned the legitimacy of the case, adding that a "judicial burden" is being wrongfully imposed on the oratory.
Sébastien Richard, a spokesperson for the victims, said in September, when the Court of Appeal authorized the lawsuit, that the oratory had "stayed silent for a long time" about the alleged abuse.
In 2013, the Congregation of Holy Cross apologized and paid up to $18 million to compensate victims for abuse that occurred at three Quebec institutions (not including the oratory) over a five-decade span.
With files from The Canadian Press