Province had concerns about youth group-home operator but didn’t act, proposed class-action lawsuit alleges

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This article was published 11/02/2025 (576 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A proposed class-action lawsuit alleges the province failed to intervene as children in a group home suffered abuse, even though government reviews had raised concerns about facilities operated by the organization.

The allegations against Marymound Inc., its parent company Réseau Compassion Network and the Manitoba government were first outlined in a lawsuit filed in 2023. Two claimants said children in the care of the non-profit agency had been physically and sexually abused for decades.

Lawyers for the lead plaintiffs have proposed the courts certify a class action, which they say is the best way to efficiently deal with the “hundreds” of others who have contacted them since the lawsuit became public.

Affidavits outlining some of those allegations have been filed in Court of King’s Bench, where lawyer James Sayce appeared Tuesday to argue in support of a legal motion to certify the class action so the cases move ahead as one.

“There is a common experience which flows through these affidavits and it is maintained over years and decades,” Sayce told Justice Shauna McCarthy.

“They described a culture of fear and violence. They describe attempts to report this type of wrongdoing — both within Marymound, outside of Marymound to family, to government itself — and these reports falling on deaf ears.”

Marymound is a group home and school that provides social services and education to youths, the majority of whom are Indigenous. Many of them are wards of Child and Family Services agencies.

The lead plaintiffs were each involved with Marymound in the 1990s. Last month, they filed a motion brief detailing a pair of government reports that Sayce said show the province was aware of ongoing systemic failures within the organization.

Those reports outline a “lack of training, lack of staffing, an incarcerial environment” in which children were routinely subject to extreme punishments, including long periods of isolation and restraint, he said.

The lawyer cited the findings of a Manitoba government review from 2007 that highlighted such concerns and resulted in recommended changes within Marymound.

A subsequent review in 2013 found little had changed, causing CFS to again raise the issues with Marymound officials numerous times over the course of several months, he said.

“I am extremely worried that we have been having the same discussion for nine months now, with no improvement in the child safety concerns. A critical failure in oversight has occurred and remains unresolved,” Sayce said, quoting from a 2014 email exchange between the parties.

The government reviews referenced other similar reports, including one from 2001, that have not yet been submitted on the court record, he said.

“What we see is a straight line from 2001 straight through to 2013 where Marymound has an obligation to these kids, Manitoba has an obligation to these kids. The systemic negligence, the systemic failures are continued,” he said.

“Trial will determine who is responsible for what and at what time, who is negligent, if any (and) what fiduciary duties were owed to whom.”

The allegations against the defendants have not been tested in court.

The plaintiffs have asked that, if approved, the class-action suit be open to claimants who attended any Marymound facilities between 1951 until the present day.

Marymound operates several sites in Winnipeg, and runs programs in Thompson. It opened as a girls reformatory in 1911.

Numerous lawyers representing all three defendants were present in court Tuesday, carrying with them hundreds of pages of documents. More files were transported in large cardboard boxes and wheeled into the room on dollies.

The court scheduled two days to hear the plaintiff’s motion to certify the class action. A judge will then determine whether the allegations should proceed as a single case, or if the plaintiffs must file suits individually.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca