Settlement the right thing to do (otherwiae the church could drag this out for years)

[moobu2]

2002, Ronald Martin received a telephone call that his brother, David Martin, had been missing in the woods of British Columbia for two weeks. Sixteen days later, David’s body was found, with a suicide note stating he could not endure the pain caused by sexual abuse he had suffered as a child at the hands of Father Hugh Vincent MacDonald, a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Antigonish.

Ron Martin had been sexually abused by the same priest, but neither brother was aware of what the other had suffered. On the day that Ron Martin had to identify his brother’s body, he made a promise that there would be accountability for the abuse they had suffered.

David Martin’s death was the start of an arduous journey for Ron Martin. After learning there were many other victims, all suffering as he and his brother did, all needing justice and accountability from the Church, Ron decided to file a class-action against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antigonish and Bishop Raymond Lahey.

After months of emotionally draining negotiations, Ron Martin and the diocese reached a historic agreement to compensate anyone who had been sexually abused by priests of the diocese between 1950 and 2009.

The class-action settlement creates a dignified, confidential and fair process that:

• Required the Diocese of Antigonish to publicly acknowledge its responsibility to victims of sexual abuse and apologize for its role in failing to protect children from sexually abusive priests;

• Creates a fund of up to $15 million to provide survivors with compensation without having to be re-victimized by the rigours of a public trial;

• Creates a streamlined, faster process to determine compensation;

• Requires the diocese to give up legal defences that have been used to defeat victims’ claims in the past.


(((____LInK____)))