March 1, 2024 • Volume 38, No. 21
Next edition March 14
L’édition de cette semaine à l’intérieur...
$220M class action suit launched against former St. Matt’s teacher, school board By Fred Sherwin The Orléans Star
Former St. Matthew High School teacher and convicted sex offender Rick Despatie is facing a $100-million class action lawsuit filed by some of his victims. The Ottawa Catholic School Board is also being sued for $120 million. OTTAWA CITIZEN PHOTO
Two former students at St. Matthew High School who were victims of convicted teacher Rick Despatie have launched a $220-million class action lawsuit against Despatie and the Ottawa Catholic School Board for “aggressively downplaying, diminishing and discounting” multiple complaints brought against the disgraced former teacher between January 1, 1989, and April 30, 2022. Despatie was found guilty on four counts each of sexual assault and sexual interference, two counts of criminal harassment, and one count of sexual exploitation last September. He was sentenced to serve two years in prison in
January, but is currently out on bail and while he appeals the conviction. Although the charges stemmed from incidents involving four former students, many more students had brought allegations against him. A number of those allegations were made public on various social media platforms when a criminal investigation against was made public on April 21, 2022. That investigation eventually led to 54 charges being brought against him by the Crown Attorney’s office. They were later reduced to 20 charges in an effort to keep the trial reasonably brief with the greatest chance of conviction. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
IT’S BEEN NICE. BUT NOW I’M DEAD. (Or perhaps just really, really sick.)
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