The Nova Scotia government is denying allegations that staff at a youth detention centre were repeatedly told a swim instructor was sexually abusing incarcerated residents before he left his job of 29 years in 2017.
The assertion is part of a notice of defence submitted in July 2020 by the province in response to a class action filed a few months earlier on behalf of three former residents who allege they were sexually abused by the instructor.
The two court documents shed light on a seven-year RCMP investigation that led to the arrest last month of 75-year-old Donald Douglas Williams. He is facing 66 charges stemming from the alleged abuse of 30 young people between 1989 and 2015.
In the notice of defence, the government claims each of the plaintiffs were told how to report sexual abuse, but “no plaintiff did so regarding the former employee.”
“None of the plaintiffs … initiated, sought or requested an investigation of the former employee while they were incarcerated” at the Nova Scotia Youth Centre in Waterville, N.S., the notice says.
The defence challenges the class action’s statement of claim, which says the plaintiffs reported alleged sexual abuse and misconduct multiple times but “no effective action was taken to remedy the situation.”
“Instances of sexual abuse committed by the swim instructor were reported to persons in authority at Waterville at various times,” the statement says. “Regardless, nothing was done by way of investigation or rectification.”
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The complainants were between the ages of 12 and 18 when they were being held at the centre, an RCMP spokesman told a news conference on Sept. 17.
The allegations against Williams have yet to be tested in court.
The class action names as a defendant the attorney general of Nova Scotia, who represents the province’s correctional services through the Department of Justice.
Provincial Justice Minister Becky Druhan recently issued a statement saying that when allegations were brought to the attention of the department, they were immediately reported to the RCMP. But the statement did not indicate when that happened.
“The safety, well-being, and dignity of all individuals in provincial custody remain a high priority,” Druhan said.
The province also denied the allegations of sexual abuse in its 2020 statement of defence.
Mike Dull, the Halifax lawyer behind the class action, says the provincial government ought to have known what was going on.
“It’s really shocking that in a closed, confined setting where movement is restricted and everything is supervised, that this could take place for such a long period, involving hundreds of people,” Dull said in a recent interview.
The three plaintiffs named in the class action were held at the centre at various times between 1988 and 2007.
Dull said it was 2018 when the first plaintiff approached him about taking legal action.
“I remember him saying, ‘You’ll see, it’s a pretty open secret that this was going on for a long, long time,’” Dull said, recalling that the plaintiff followed up by saying, “‘Every resident knows about it. A lot of the staff know about it, and no one’s really done anything.’”
The Mounties’ investigation also started in 2018.
Dull said the case highlights the unique challenges faced by youths within the correctional system.
“They come from troubled backgrounds and are often not deemed … to be the most credible,” the lawyer said. “And so for (those) who did come forward (early on), plainly they weren’t believed at the time, and benefit of the doubt would go to the staff.”
Most of those who have signed on to be a part of the class action still struggle with addiction issues, relationship problems, underemployment and criminality, Dull said.
“Incarcerated as children … (the majority of them) are still in and out of the criminal justice system,” he said.
Prof. Peter Jaffe, a psychologist and professor emeritus at Western University in London, Ont., says survivors of childhood sexual abuse rarely report what has happened to them.
“They don’t necessarily understand what’s happened to them,” said Jaffe, director emeritus of the Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children.
“They may tell some people, but they may not be believed …. They’re also victims who blame themselves and feel shame and embarrassment about what happened …. Some survivors keep it a secret to their grave.”
Monique St. Germain, general counsel at Canadian Center for Child Protection, said the reluctance of young victims to come forward is well known.
“There’s a lot of research out there that shows that people who have experienced sexual abuse or assault, the first person they tell is their therapist as an adult,” St. Germain said in an interview from Winnipeg. “So they keep this inside and they live with it.”
Williams, who lives in Dartmouth, N.S., was arrested at his home on Sept. 13 and was later released from custody. He is scheduled to return to court Oct. 21.
The charges against him include three counts of sexual assault causing bodily harm, 28 charges of sexual assault, 32 charges of sexual exploitation, and single charges of sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and assault.
All of the complainants are now adults. Twenty-nine of them are men and one is a woman.
