Toronto Life

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Torkin Manes' lawyer, Loretta P. Merritt and Sabrina Lombardi of McKenzie Lake Lawyers', precedent-setting win in the landmark Grenville Christian College class-action suit was featured in Toronto Life  magazine. It is the first-ever common issues trial in Canada in a class action for historical abuse.

The now-defunct Grenville Christian College "engaged in systemic negligence" from the early 1970s to the late 1990s and will have to pay yet-to-be-determined damages to the ex-students. This victory is validation and vindication for people who have suffered for decades as a result of being abused in childhood at the school.

The author of the article, Ewan Whyte, attended Grenville Christian College in 1980. Below is an excerpt of his piece.

"In September 2019, after 12 long years of litigation, the class-action trial commenced in Ontario's Superior Court of Justice. Our legal team argued that the defendants were systemically negligent and breached the duty of care and fiduciary duty it owed its students. We sought $200 million in compensation, along with $25 million in punitive damages. I sat in court for much of the five weeks with a rotating group of former students. We were there not only to bear witness to horrors past, but to make the case for the past's insistent, debilitating and at times unendurable effect on our present lives."

To read the full article, please visit the Toronto Life website.