A Toronto law firm is launching a class action lawsuit against the province alleging sexual, physical and psychological abuse at four Ontario schools for the deaf, including the Robarts school in London.
The Koskie Minsky LLP lawsuit names Ernest C. Drury School for the Deaf in Milton, Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf in Belleville, Centre Jules-Leger in Ottawa and the Robarts School for the Deaf in London as sites of torture and trauma spanning decades.
The lawsuit claims the province failed to protect and care for those who attended the schools, resulting in pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.
Associate lawyer Robert Gain says his law firm has been approached by what he is calling "many survivors of the institutions" with stories of torment.
"They were struck on their hands and face for trying to communicate using American sign language... They would be force fed to the point of vomiting," Gain tells BlackburnNews.com. "They were pushed into walls and pushed down and couldn't hear their abusers coming because of their deafness. Students were forced to wear hearing aids to try to improve their level of hearing, these were often very painful and that pain would be compounded when teachers would slap them and cause their ears to bleed."
The Robarts School for the Deaf in London opened its doors in 1973 and still operates today.
Anyone who attended the school between then and present day is asked to contact the law firm.
The full statement of claim can be read here.
