A judge has certified a class-action lawsuit over alleged abuse of Indigenous students, who were sent to Ecole Notre Dame in Bonnyville.
Cynthia Iris Youngchief filed a lawsuit in 2019 against the federal and provincial governments, as well as religious and local school authorities.
Youngchief’s statement of claim outlines allegations of physical, sexual and psychological abuse against Indigenous students at the school.
Children from Kehewin Cree Nation were sent to the school as day students, after the federal government stopped Indian day schools in the community in 1964, according to legal filings in the case.
This week, Court of King’s Bench Justice James Neilson certified the action against the federal government, the Diocese of Saint-Paul and the Lakeland Roman Catholic Separate School Division as three proposed defendants.
Neilson dismissed the application to include the Alberta government as a defendant, as the findings that the alleged breaches of duty might apply to the school district, but not the province.
This decision confirms the survivor class as Indigenous people who attended Ecole Notre Dame from 1966 to 1974.
Former students claims describe generalized degradation towards the school’s Indigenous students, as well as ‘common incidents’ of physical abuse including public whippings, and having their hair cut to shame and devalue their culture. These allegations have not been proven in court.
The next step is filing a certification order, and making a plan for how this case will proceed.
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