City school division named in new Graham James lawsuit

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/11/2023 (662 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Convicted sex offender Graham James and the St. James-Assiniboia School Division are being sued for millions of dollars in damages for alleged incidents of sexual abuse while James was a substitute teacher in 1983.

The lawsuit was filed Nov. 7 in the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench by Thunder Bay, Ont.-based lawyer Natalie Gerry on behalf of the alleged victim, who the Free Press is not naming due to the nature of the claims.

The plaintiff is seeking a total of $6.15 million in damages and lost ability to earn a living, as well as court costs and interest.

The legal filings do not make explicit reference to James’s subsequent record as a serial sex abuser during his time as a junior hockey coach.

Gerry did not return repeated requests for comment Tuesday.

James, now 71, is known to have worked as a substitute teacher in the Winnipeg school division in the 1980s, despite not having a university degree, which is alluded to in the legal filings. His last known address was a Quebec halfway house, where the lawsuit was served.

James’s criminal history of abusing his players while working as a junior hockey coach in Saskatchewan, and earlier, in Winnipeg, is notorious.

However, the new civil lawsuit is focused on alleged abuses while James worked for the school division. It claims St. James-Assiniboia knew of his predatory behaviour, with another teacher allegedly catching James in the act of fondling the victim, who is now about 50 years old.

The lawsuit claims the school division breached its duty to the plaintiff and was negligent and vicariously liable for the alleged abuses.

The legal filings claim St. James-Assiniboia knew or ought to have known James had been previously accused of sex crimes — he was convicted in 1998 of a 1971 indecent assault — but hired him as a substitute regardless, even though he was unqualified to teach.

A past Free Press investigation found James had used his hockey connections to get work as a substitute.

The lawsuit claims James owes the plaintiff damages for sexual and psychological abuse, as well as breaching his obligations to him as a student.

Neither James or the school division have filed statements of defence in response to the new allegations, which haven’t been proven in court.

James has been criminally convicted of sexually assaulting five former players, some of whom he abused hundreds of times.

Former high-level hockey players Sheldon Kennedy, Theoren Fleury and Todd Holt have all publicly shared their ordeals; the identities of two others are protected by publication bans. Police estimate the true number of victims is between 25 and 100.

Most of the assaults occurred in Swift Current, Sask., during the eight years James was coach and general manager of its Western Hockey League club.

James’s formative teen years were spent in the St. James area. He began coaching minor hockey and substitute teaching in the west Winnipeg suburban neighbourhood in the late 1970s, before moving on to the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, and later, the WHL.

James first met the plaintiff while working as a substitute at Strathmillan School in 1983, when the alleged victim was 10, the lawsuit claims.

The plaintiff developed trust for James as an authority figure, as the substitute took a particular interest him in class and singled him out, the court documents say.

“James would place his hand on the plaintiff’s thighs during class time while pretending to lean over to look at his schoolwork,” the lawsuit says. “The plaintiff was confused and embarrassed by this unwanted touching.”

The abuse escalated when James kept the boy after class one day in May 1983, the lawsuit alleges.

“He then proceeded to rub the plaintiff’s thighs and put his hands up (his) shorts so that his hands made contact with the plaintiff’s genitals,” the lawsuit alleges. “The plaintiff was confused and petrified with fear.”

According to the lawsuit, a female teacher saw James touching the boy through a window and shouted at him to stop. The boy ran out of the room and to his home.

A short time later, the lawsuit alleges, the principal of the school called the boy and James into his office and asked if anything had happened in the classroom. However, “(the plaintiff) was humiliated and afraid, he kept his head down and did not speak, as he had been instructed to do many times by… James,” the lawsuit reads.

The lawsuit claims subsequent abuse occurred in June 1983, after James spotted the plaintiff at a playground and learned the boy and his sister were staying at a relative’s home.

At that residence one night, the documents say, the plaintiff awoke to James encouraging the sister to touch the boy’s genitals, before James allegedly performed oral sex on him and forced his penis into the boy’s mouth.

The plaintiff claims he has suffered post-traumatic stress, other mental health issues and significant emotional turmoil, including issues with intimacy and relationships, and his schooling and career have since suffered.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca