'$30 Million Means Nothing Without an Apology'
For many survivors of abuse at the hands of the Christian Brothers, the number $30 million is almost beside the point.
A proposed class-action settlement of that amount has been put forward to resolve allegations of abuse suffered by former students at Vancouver College and St. Thomas More Collegiate — two British Columbia schools with ties to the De La Salle Christian Brothers, the same Catholic teaching order linked to Newfoundland's infamous Mount Cashel Orphanage. But some former students say the deal is fundamentally flawed: it contains no apology and no admission of liability.
"Money doesn't heal what was done to us," one former student told CBC News. "An acknowledgment — someone saying 'we did this, and we're sorry' — that matters more than a cheque."
The Shadow of Mount Cashel
The Mount Cashel Orphanage scandal remains one of the darkest chapters in Canadian Catholic history. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was revealed that Christian Brothers at the St. John's, Newfoundland orphanage had subjected boys in their care to years of physical and sexual abuse — abuse that had been covered up by both the Church and provincial authorities for decades.
The fallout triggered a royal commission, criminal convictions, and a cultural reckoning in Newfoundland and across Canada about institutional abuse and the failure of systems meant to protect the most vulnerable.
The allegations now emerging from Vancouver College and St. Thomas More Collegiate extend that reckoning to the West Coast, suggesting the pattern of abuse was not confined to a single institution but was potentially systemic within the order.
What the Settlement Offers — and What It Doesn't
The $30-million proposed settlement would compensate former students who allege they were abused. But compensation without accountability, survivors argue, allows institutions to quietly pay their way out of moral responsibility.
The absence of an admission of liability is a common feature in civil settlements — defendants frequently insist on it to limit further legal exposure. But for abuse survivors, that legal boilerplate carries a heavy psychological cost. It means the institution never has to say, on the record, that it did anything wrong.
Advocates for abuse survivors have long argued that apologies and institutional acknowledgment are not merely symbolic — they are a central component of meaningful redress, particularly for those who spent decades not being believed.
The Fight for Acknowledgment
Whether the proposed settlement will be accepted or challenged remains to be seen. Settlements in class-action cases typically require court approval, and objections from class members can influence the final terms.
For some former students, the path forward is clear: they want the Christian Brothers and the schools to look them in the eye — legally and publicly — and admit what happened.
Until that happens, no dollar figure will feel like justice.
Source: CBC News Top Stories
