A man suing the provincial and federal governments alleges he was sexually abused by a priest when he attended a Brandon, Man., residential school nearly six decades ago, and that he suffered further abuse from a Portage la Prairie youth centre employee.
The now 68-year-old man, who is Indigenous, was separated from his family and community supports in 1968 at age 10, when he started attending the Brandon Indian Residential School, according to a statement of claim filed with the Manitoba Court of King's Bench on Monday.
A priest employed at the school, who is not identified by name in the suit, sexually assaulted him, including non-consensual touching, and inflicted physical violence on him, rupturing his eardrum, the statement of claim alleges.
CBC News is not identifying the plaintiff because he says he is the victim of sexual abuse.
The man says he wasn't able to protect himself from the abuse or report it due to his age, his dependency on his adult supervisors, the authority of the priest and fear of consequences, according to the suit.
The lawsuit does not specify how long the alleged abuse continued at the school, which closed in 1972.
Abuse at Portage la Prairie centre
The man says he also experienced sexual abuse while he was confined from 1974 to 1976 at the Manitoba Home for Boys, a youth correctional and training facility in Portage la Prairie that was later renamed the Agassiz Youth Centre, according to the Manitoba Historical Society. It was closed in 2022 and later demolished.
The man alleges a night supervisor at the institution sexually assaulted him numerous times while he was confined to his dormitory bed. The abuse included non-consensual sexual touching under his clothing and an attempted oral sex act, the suit alleges.
The man says he could not safely report the abuse because he was a confined minor, and the supervisor had custodial and supervisory authority over him.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
A provincial spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit while it's before the courts. CBC News has reached out to the federal government for comment but had not received a reply prior to publication.
The man alleges the governments of Canada and Manitoba failed to protect him from abuse at the residential school and the Portage institution, respectively, and so were negligent and breached the duty of care they owed him.
The federal government, which had statutory authority over the residential school's funding, regulation, supervision and oversight, knew or should have known about the vulnerability and dependency of children in those schools, as well as the need for measures to protect them from abuse, the suit says.
The Manitoba government — which owned, operated, administered, staffed and controlled the Manitoba Home for Boys — knew or should have known that minors confined in an institution were vulnerable to abuse by staff, and required supervision and safe reporting mechanisms, according to the statement of claim.
The man says he has and continues to suffer significant psychological trauma because of the abuse, as well as anxiety and depressive symptoms, a disrupted education, and sustained physical injury such as the ruptured eardrum, the lawsuit says.
His injuries are ongoing and have "materially altered the course of his life," it says.
He's seeking aggravated, general, financial, punitive and special damages, as well as future care costs.