Ontario diocese pays $1.5 million in January to settle sex abuse cases
A Roman Catholic diocese in Ontario has quietly settled 10 sexual abuse lawsuits in the past month, paying out more than $1.5 million in connection to allegations dating back more than 50 years.
All of the settlements involve male victims who allege they were repeatedly molested by two priests from the London diocese at parishes across southwestern Ontario.
The victims, who are now in their 60s and 70s, launched individual lawsuits last year, said London-based lawyer Robert Talach yesterday.
“The book never really truly closes, but this is definitely a big step toward closure for some of them,” he said. “Some of the gentlemen I dealt with waited half a century before they really spoke this aloud to anyone else. Coming out after all those years, it just goes to the fact to show how traumatic it is, that you wouldn’t breathe a word of it for five decades.”