Crown wards’ class-action lawsuit hits another hurdle

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Thousands of people abused and assaulted as children while under Ontario’s protection are facing another legal wrinkle in a drawn-out, class-action lawsuit against the province.

The lawyer who took over their case from another firm in early 2024 is heading to a new firm.

That lawyer, Margaret Waddell, said her move should help the Crown wards’ class-action lawsuit that she will continue to lead.

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“I will continue to have carriage of the Crown wards matter, and I believe that the move will be a positive one for that case,” Waddell wrote in an email Monday to The London Free Press.

Waddell is leaving the firm she co-founded, Waddell Phillips, and heading to Sotos, both based in Toronto.

“Sotos has a strong and well-regarded class-action team that will add extra bench strength to my cases,” she wrote.

But after court battles, protracted negotiations, legal appeals and a dispute over the essence of the case during the past 13 years, many former Crown wards will find the latest change disturbing, said one former ward.

“It raises a lot of questions. There’s this fear of one more obstacle, one more thing to be uncertain about. Will there be delays? It’s anxiety-provoking and re-igniting trauma,” said Arthur Gallant.

Gallant, 34, said he endured abuse at 22 different placements as a ward of the province, and is being treated for PTSD.

He said he won’t speak on behalf of other wards, but knows how many will react to the latest twist.

“Our lives were upended and we lacked control over decisions that were made on our behalf and when things were framed as being really good, it actually meant something really bad was going to happen. Change was never good. Change was almost always bad.”

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There’s been nothing official said to former wards about the latest development, said Gallant, who first learned of Waddell’s move in a Globe and Mail article posted Dec. 20.

Other former wards contacted by The Free Press and those sharing experiences on social media said they too knew nothing about the change.

It’s hardly the first challenge they’ve faced.

In legal documents sent to The Free Press, dozens of the former wards described sexual, physical and emotional assaults, medical mistreatment, withholding of food and proper clothing, constant ridicule and other abuses while children under the protection of the province – the Crown – and living in foster, adoptive and group homes.

Their complaints were denounced by social service workers and teachers, and led to even more punishment by their caregivers, the former wards said in interviews and testimony.

Toronto law firm Koskie Minsky launched a class-action lawsuit in 2012 on behalf of the former wards who suffered sexual, physical and emotional abuse from 1966 to 2017.

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The province and Koskie Minsky province reached a settlement in January 2021 for $10 million, paying out an average of $3,000 per former ward.

At a hearing in May 2021, 60 former Crown wards objected to the settlement and compensation, and Superior Court Justice Helen Pierce agreed, calling the deal a “capitulation” to the province.

In a significant part of the ruling, Pierce also rejected the province’s and class-action lawyers’ contention the lawsuit’s focus was only on the province’s failure to help those former wards seek compensation through individual lawsuits or the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.

That was a “reframing” of the class action’s original intent that was to seek direct compensation from the province for pain and suffering endured by the former wards, Pierce ruled.

Both Koskie Minsky and the province appealed her decision. Their appeals were dismissed without comment by the Divisional Court in September 2021.

The former wards learned in February 2024 that Koskie Minsky was handing the case over to Margaret Waddell at Waddell Phillips.

At the time, Waddell made it clear to potential clients on a Facebook page she also believes the lawsuit is not about direct compensation, but on the province’s failure to advise wards about their rights to take legal action.

“At this point, I don’t have any information that I can share with you about the case, other than to say that negotiations with Ontario are ongoing,” she told The Free Press on Monday.

rrichmond@postmedia.com

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