Victim of pedophile priest seeks to sue Montreal archdiocese

MONTREAL — One of the victims of a Montreal priest recently sentenced to eight years in prison for sexually abusing boys under his supervision is suing the archdiocese of Montreal.

A class-action lawsuit was filed Wednesday on behalf of victims of sexual abuse by priests in the Montreal archdiocese between 1940 and the present.

A 33-year-old victim of Rev. Brian Boucher is acting on behalf of the entire class as lead plaintiff and is seeking a total of $600,000 in damages in his name. A judge must authorize the action for it to move forward.

Boucher was sentenced last week to a federal prison term for assaulting two boys.

The filing alleges the lead plaintiff knows of at least two other victims of Boucher, who worked in 10 Montreal-area churches between 1985 and 2015.

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The law firm spearheading the action says it covers anyone assaulted by an agent of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal, or as it was known before 1950, the Corporation archiepiscopale catholique romaine de Montreal.

The archdiocese of Montreal said in a statement that it had received notice of the class action. It would not comment further but noted the Quebec Superior Court filing is limited to facts arising from the criminal proceedings against Boucher.

Last week, the diocese announced it would undertake an external audit of its archives and those of four other dioceses that make up the ecclesiastical province of Montreal to assess the number and nature of sexual abuse cases against Catholic clergy between 1950 and present day.

The Canadian Press