Official finding Christian institutions & contexts Catholic Quebec, Canada · 2025

Quebec: Court of Appeal authorizes class action against the Order of Dominicans naming nine friars including Benoît Lacroix

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Record class

Institutional event

Evidence status

Official finding

Authority role

religious priest/friar

Organization

Ordre des Dominicains, Order of Preachers (Dominicans)

Archive classification

This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.

The named Dominican friars are alleged to have used their standing as ordained religious teachers and pastors — including Benoît Lacroix's prominent public role as a Dominican intellectual — to abuse victims under their spiritual and pedagogical authority.

Pastoral or clerical authority
Guru or spiritual-teacher authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2025-04-03 · class action authorized

Quebec Court of Appeal (civil). The Court of Appeal authorized a class action against the Order of Dominicans in Quebec covering alleged sexual assaults from 1940 to the present, naming friars Benoît Lacroix, Fernand Patry, Charles-André Cabana, Bertrand M. Boisvert, Yves Léger, André St-Jacques, Jacques Létourneau, Étienne Morin, and Philéas Roy; more than a dozen victims had registered. Facts remain to be proven at trial absent a settlement.

Documented coercion mechanisms

pastoral authority
institutional access

Cited record

Sources

Le Quotidien (2025) 'Agressions sexuelles: une action collective contre l'Ordre des Dominicains autorisée'. Available at: lequotidien.com (Accessed: 19 July 2026).: French original: "La Cour d'appel a autorisé... une action collective contre l'Ordre des Dominicains... Tous les faits devront ainsi être prouvés dans le cadre d'un éventuel procès, à moins que les parties en viennent à une entente à l'amiable." English gloss: The Court of Appeal authorized a class action against the Order of Dominicans; all facts will need to be proven at a potential trial unless the parties reach an out-of-court settlement. More than a dozen alleged victims are registered, naming nine friars including Benoît Lacroix, and covering the period since 1940.

Source provenance

Source access and integrity log

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Source and tier basis: https://www.lequotidien.com/actualites/justice-et-faits-divers/2025/04/03/agressions-sexuelles-une-action-collective-contre-lordre-des-dominicains-autorisee-AZM4JXGG5VCYLHRDJQ3J3WKPEI/ Legacy citation preserved without a normalized source tier or evidentiary-role code. SHA-256 d8e192b4ea7ea9ff77f5e1b2f7b4e972a47763ce5042c78425ec58934f684dc8
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger

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