Sexual assault proceedings target nuns from Laval convent

A nun is photographed on Friday, May 21, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

A congregation of nuns is the subject of a class action lawsuit for sexual assaults committed against young girls between 1940 and 1971.

The application, filed on Tuesday, concerns the Notre-Dame de charité du Bon-Pasteur Congregation, whose members are known as the Religieuses du Bon-Pasteur, not to be confused with the Sœurs du Bon-Pasteur, whose congregation is called the Servantes du Cœur immaculé de Marie.

The representative of the group, identified by the initials F.S., alleges that she was sexually assaulted by a nun named Sister Yvette while she was a boarder at the Sainte-Domitille Convent in Laval.

According to the proceedings filed, F.S. and her younger sister were placed in the convent in 1970 by social services after spending three years in a series of foster homes following their parents’ separation in 1967.

Regime of isolation and silence

Upon her arrival at the convent, she was subjected to a regime of isolation and silence in order to make a “break” with the outside world, and for a period of three months, she was not allowed any visits from her family or loved ones.

The account given by F.S. in the application for authorization refers to multiple sexual assaults by Sister Yvette, which began shortly before Christmas 1970 and were repeated on a regular basis thereafter.

Sister Yvette, who was the director of her group, threatened to take away her visiting and outing privileges if she told anyone about these events, causing F.S. to fear losing contact with her older sister, who sometimes visited her at the convent.

F.S. and the other boarders were subjected to constant surveillance and a code of silence imposed by the nuns, including Sister Yvette. For example, the boarders always had to move around in groups with a nun and could not be found alone together without a nun intervening to order them to join the group and remain silent. The ban on talking was in force on the stairs, in the corridors and in the dormitories, and even going to the bathroom was done in groups and under supervision.

F.S. also says she saw a girl from her group leave with Sister Yvette about ten times and suspects that she was also being abused.

Nuns dismissed by the State

The situation changed completely in August 1971 when, upon returning from a summer break, the residents were greeted by lay staff. The convent had become a youth centre and the nuns were housed in another part of the building with no contact with the residents.

In the news release issued by the law firm Arsenault Dufresne Wee, which is leading the class action lawsuit, F.S. states that she “decided to file this class action lawsuit to break the silence. I had to free myself from the hell I experienced before I died. I hope that others will also dare to speak out. I am moving forward for all the women who were victims at this institution.”

The proceedings ask the court, if the application is accepted, to order the congregation to pay F.S. $450,000 in non-pecuniary damages, another amount to be determined by the court in pecuniary damages, and a lump sum of $20 million to the entire group in punitive damages.

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 27, 2026.

- Pierre Saint-Arnaud