Former RWB student gets go-ahead for class-action lawsuit against school, instructor

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This article was published 04/07/2018 (2810 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A class-action lawsuit is a step closer to fruition for former students of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet who claim they were victimized by the school’s former photographer.

Lawyers for Sarah Doucet, a 46-year-old Ontario resident who studied at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet (RWB) between 1981 and 1991, received approval from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to pursue a class-action suit against the school and former photographer/instructor Bruce Monk. Doucet claims Monk photographed her nude while she was an RWB student and sold the images online without consent. The claim argues his conduct amounts to sexual assault, breach of trust and breach of privacy against Doucet and other students, some of whom were allegedly underage.

Monk has denied the allegations and none of them has been proven in court.

The court’s June 27 decision gives the go-ahead for a legal process on behalf of all former RWB students who allege Monk photographed them nude, posted the images and sold them online. RWB and Monk can still appeal the decision, which would delay the class-action. They have until July 12 to notify the court if they want to appeal.

One of Doucet’s lawyers, Toronto-based Margaret Waddell, said Wednesday her firm has heard from about 60 former students who could be involved in the class action. The women all claim Monk coerced them into taking off their clothes while he photographed them, Waddell said. Four former students, all women, were cross-examined by defence lawyers prior to the court’s decision.

The decision sends a message that Doucet’s claim can be prosecuted on behalf of all former students, Waddell said.

“And that’s really important, especially when we’re dealing with these kinds of intrusions on privacy and sexually-charged kinds of claims, because people are often very reticent to bring those sorts of complaints into the public forum, where they’re going to be brought under public scrutiny and be re-victimized by the process. But through a class-action procedure, they don’t. Sarah’s taking it all on the chin for the benefit of everybody, which is a very brave and strong thing to do,” she said.

The claim argues RWB should be held “vicariously liable” for Monk’s actions because, it alleges, the school turned a blind eye, did nothing to stop him and created an environment that allowed the alleged abuses to happen.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the RWB said it can’t comment on details of the legal process or the June 27 court decision.

“Our primary focus is the safety, security and well-being of every student entrusted to our care; It is a responsibility that we take very seriously, and we assess and evaluate our processes, procedures and training programs on an ongoing basis,” said the statement from spokeswoman Natasha Havrilenko.

She said RWB did a “major review” of its policies last year and updated them in accordance with guidelines from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. Staff training on the new policies is ongoing, Havrilenko wrote in an email. Prior to the review, RWB had developed child-protection-related policies more than 10 years ago.

Lawyers for Monk and for the RWB couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday. If they decide not to appeal this decision and the class action goes ahead, those who were students between 1984 and 2015 would automatically be included in the claim unless they decide to opt out. But there’s still a long legal road ahead, Waddell said.

“Assuming that there is no settlement, and at the moment nobody’s talking settlement, this will be just like any other litigation where we expect it to run for two or more years before we get to a point where we get to a trial.”

Monk, who was an RWB student himself starting in 1984, became an instructor and photographer for the school three years later. Dancers would ask him to photograph them for their portfolios, something he did apart from his work with the school. He was fired in April 2015, after media reports were published about the allegations that he had photographed young dancers nude. Former students had been coming forward about nude photos since 2012 and several police departments had opened investigations. The Winnipeg Police Service investigated Monk and searched his apartment in January 2015. But in March 2016, Crown attorneys in Winnipeg told three of the women no criminal charges would be laid because Monk’s conduct didn’t violate the child pornography laws that were in place when their photos were taken in the early 1990s, according to the Ontario court decision.

The decision notes Monk has never testified about his version of events. It says his lawyers argued the photo shoots didn’t happen the way the women described.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay