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The proposed lawsuit targets the Marymound – Winnipeg Free Press

Posted on by Neons

A man and woman have filed a class-action lawsuit alleging “extreme” physical and sexual abuse they allegedly suffered while in care at the Marymound group home in Winnipeg in the 1990s.

Located on Scotia Street, Marymound is a group home and school that provides social services and education to young people, many of whom are local. Most of them are in the care of child and family service agencies.

Marymound was opened in 1911 as an institution for the education of girls.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILE Marymound, located on Scotland Street, is a group home and school that provides social services and education to youth, many of whom are Indigenous. Most of them are in the care of child and family service agencies.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILE

Located on Scotia Street, Marymound is a group home and school that provides social services and education to young people, many of whom are local. Most of them are in the care of child and family service agencies.

“For the children who live and attend Marymound, this experience has been one of persistent, unrelenting and unrelenting abuse,” the complaint states.

Marymound, its parent organization Réseau Compassion Network and Manitoba are named in a 2023 lawsuit filed in Manitoba Crown Court by Toronto law firm Koskie Minky LLP on behalf of a man and woman identified in the documents as John and Jane Doe. government as defendant.

Plaintiffs issued a media release to notify individuals who may wish to join the proposed class action. Among them are people who have been in the institution from 1951 to the present day.

“For the children who live and attend Marymound, this practice has been persistent, unrelenting and unrelenting abuse,” the complaint states.

The lawsuit has yet to be certified as a class action. None of the defendants entered a statement of defence.

The man, born in 1980, attended Marymound as a full-time student from 1993 to 1995 as a teenager and was involved with the criminal justice system. She says she faced “extremely repeated abuse” by staff and students, including sexual and physical abuse.

The woman, named Metis and born in 1978, lived in the facility between 1992 and 1995 and was housed by the CFS agency. She says she was “violently abused many times”, including several times sexually assaulted. Since then, he has developed a severe drug addiction and engaged in sexual activity, court documents state.

The court said youths were subjected to excessive corporal punishment due to poor training and a lack of resources. This includes sexual assault, beatings and solitary confinement for hours or days at a time.

According to the complaint, children living in the facility were locked up at night and forced to defecate without access to the toilet, while others were starved.

“Class members who tried to report their abuse were ridiculed, belittled, or ignored, and in many cases were increasingly brutalized.”

The complaint alleges that Marymound had no policies or systems in place to screen employees or report abuse, and that the violations there were committed openly.

“Class members who attempted to report their abuse were ridiculed, belittled or ignored, and in many cases were mistreated,” the complaint states.

Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that the provincial government had direct knowledge of systemic failures and abuses at Marymound. The complaint alleges that the youth, their parents and staff tried to report the abuse to higher levels of Marymound management and the family department, but to no avail.