List of students alleging abuse at Sask. Christian school growing rapidly
CBC
The chorus of former students from a private Saskatoon Christian school with stories of abuse and degradation is growing.
They include children and grandchildren of top officials from Christian Centre Academy and the adjacent Saskatoon Christian Centre Church.
The school is now known as Legacy Christian Academy. The church has also undergone a name change, to Mile Two Church.
"This place has left a long trail of abused and damaged people. I'm glad we got out of that cult-ish community," said 19-year-old Garrison Davis, the grandson of the church's original pastor.
Saskatoon police are encouraging other alleged victims and their supporters to contact them.
"As police, we understand that the decision to file a formal report is a personal one, particularly when it relates to interpersonal violence," reads the statement emailed to CBC News on Thursday. "We ... encourage those who have information believed to be relevant to the investigation to come forward and support those who wish to make a formal report in doing so."
Earlier this week, a CBC News investigation revealed 18 former students have filed criminal abuse complaints with the Saskatoon police. Since that story was published, CBC News has spoken to nearly a dozen more. Most say they will go to police.
The new allegations cover a wider time period than the initial complaints.
Davis said he was repeatedly paddled as late as the spring of 2012, and it was common to hear of similar assaults on other students at this time.
"It's not like getting swatted with someone's hand. It's a hard, wooden paddle that's specially made. It would absolutely leave pretty intense bruising and would be sore for days afterward," he said.
The Supreme Court of Canada declared all corporal punishment by school officials to be illegal as of January 2004. Legal experts said any paddling or other force applied after that time would clearly constitute criminal assault, and private schools are subject to the same laws.
School officials have repeatedly refused interview requests, but have issued two written statements.
In the first, they said that paddling has not occurred in "more than two decades." In the second, issued this week, they say they've "offered numerous public and private apologies" to students in recent years.
But students say paddling and other abuse was widespread for years after the Supreme Court ruling, and no student is aware of apologies of any kind.
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