WARNING: This story details allegations of abuse.
More than 50 years and 3,500 kilometres separate Paul Grimston from the Ontario government-operated detention centre where he was forced to live as a child. But the 69-year-old says the memories of the beatings and abuse he suffered there are still “fresh every day.”
“The problem is that it never leaves you,” he said in an interview with CBC from the motorhome where he lives on Vancouver Island. “I’ve seen and suffered a lot of horrific things.”
In December 2017, Grimston and others who went to the training schools launched a class-action lawsuit against the province. The court certified it to proceed in December 2018.
Seeking an apology and a settlement, they’re still waiting for closure.
“The training schools contained a toxic environment in which degrading and humiliating treatment of children in the Crown’s care was the norm; physical, sexual and psychological abuse was rampant,” says the statement of claim for the class action filed by the law firm Koskie Minsky LLP in Toronto.
The suit seeks $600 million on behalf of the estimated 21,000 children sent to training schools between Jan. 1, 1953, and April 2, 1984.
CBC contacted the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General with questions about the case. The ministry said it can’t comment on the class action as it is currently before the courts.
However, the ministry’s statement of defence said it denies all allegations of liability and wrongdoing.
None of the allegations or arguments in this article have been tested in court.
Thousands of children suffered abuse at Ontario’s training schools – Born Bad
Thousands of children were sent to training schools after being labelled “unmanageable,” struggling in school or being accused of petty crimes like vandalism.
Grimston said a probation officer deemed him “too much” for his single mother to handle after he skipped school once.
“Mom said the Ontario Training Schools basically took me. I have nightmares of the crying fits I suffered the first month, every night.”
Grimston said he was 13 years old when he arrived at Brookside School in Cobourg.
According to Grimston, he was beaten and abused at the training school.
The physical and psychological harm that students experienced damaged their ability to trust others, have healthy relationships, and find or maintain jobs, says the statement of claim.
Grimston said his experiences made him wary and distrustful of authority figures, including teachers. While he dreamed of becoming a veterinarian, he said he dropped out of school due to the impacts of the trauma.
But Grimston still considers himself luckier than most of his former classmates. He said the weight of their experiences led some to addiction, prison, or death by suicide or overdose.
“We’re dying. I’m 69 years old and lots are older than I am, and many have died. I mean, why should they wait any longer?”
Andrew Eckart, a staff lawyer at the University of Windsor’s Class Action Clinic, said “it’s not a rare or unique circumstance that the class representative passes away before the conclusion of a class action.”
Lawsuits like the one filed against Ontario Training Schools can often take five to 10 years between the initial claim to settlement, said Eckart, who is not involved in this case.
Cases of institutional abuse or historical sexual assault often involve a significant number of documents, finding decades-old records and retaining experts to help both sides understand the facts, he said.
The law firm representing class action claimants said it’s a timely process because there’s an “enormous” volume of records and evidence to review.
The allegations span over 40 years and 13 institutions, Adam Tanel, a partner with Koskie Minsky LPP, said in an email to CBC.
“Class counsel routinely spend millions of dollars on these actions, and are not paid anything until and unless they are successful,” said Tanel.
“We gain nothing from delay. However, our first goal is always to prosecute our actions effectively. We cannot and do not sacrifice thoroughness for the sake of speed.”
Eckart said the Class Action Clinic has received many calls from people who lived in Ontario Training Schools as well as those involved in similar cases — including plaintiffs who are upset about the length of the proceedings.
Some also feel they’re being left in the dark and want more updates on what’s happening in settlement talks.
“Settlement discussions are confidential for a reason, and that is because you want to encourage frank discussion and issues between the parties on how to resolve it,” said Eckart.
There are incentives for defendants to delay settlement and payment, he said.
“Money that you don’t have to pay today will be worth more tomorrow.
“We’re dealing in this particular case with a government liability, Crown liability. So in addition to fiscal considerations, there’s also political considerations.”
While the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General wouldn’t comment directly about the case, responding motions filed by the province include a 2018 report from a psychiatrist the province retained as an independent expert.
Dr. Graham Glancy said it’s not possible to determine whether spending time at the training schools definitively caused psychological harm.
“Although some individuals may be felt by the court to have been abused in training school, these individuals and others would also have been exposed to positive or ameliorating aspects of the regime,” said Glancy, citing education, consistent routine and counselling as other boons of those schools.
“Child sexual or physical abuse does not cause a psychiatric disorder in every case, but only in a minority of cases.”
“These were vulnerable kids…treated like criminals” – Born Bad
Kirk Keeping of Thunder Bay was the class action’s original lead plaintiff, but is no longer alive to represent the fight.
Keeping’s sister, Paula Lacosse, said he developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to repeated abuse over two years at the Ontario Training School for Boys, also known as Pine Ridge School, in Bowmanville.
In affidavits filed by Keeping and his ex-wife, they describe his recurring nightmares and that Keeping would wake up screaming about staff who abused him. They also detail his struggles to hold a job or have a relationship with his then wife at the time and son.
Keeping died after having a heart attack in 2021.
“He had that hope up until the day he died that the survivors would get some type of answer, some type of compensation and at least an apology,” said Lacosse.
Lacosse said Keeping was sent to the training school for truancy. He had dyslexia and his sister suspects he may have also had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as he struggled with reading and listening to teachers.
In an affidavit, Keeping described being sexually abused by two different staff members, staff regularly beating students, and days-long stints in solitary confinement.
“He wanted someone to admit, ‘Yes, this did happen to you and we’re very sorry,’” said Lacosse.
Being the lead plaintiff brought Keeping unwanted attention in the small northern Ontario city of Thunder Bay, but Lacosse said he put up with it because he wanted to see healing.
“He always spoke about bringing it forward, not just for him [but also] for everybody that suffered this abuse,” said Lacosse.
Keeping hoped former classmates would be able to use any settlement money to better their lives by finishing school or getting help, she said.
But the class action reopened old scars, said Lacosse, who wonders if initiating this case has caused more harm than good.
Lacosse doesn’t think vulnerable people like her brother should have to wait for years to resolve abuse claims against institutions. She said the court system needs to change.
“For the entire duration of this class action, the civil justice system has been severely underresourced,” said Tanel.
Tanel pointed to a 2023 letter from Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Wagner to Justin Trudeau, the prime minister at the time, in which Wagner voiced concerns about a chronic shortage of judges in the Federal Court system putting criminal trials at risk.
While Ontario’s criminal courts have been in the spotlight for long delays and collapsed cases, Eckart said the same issues are also bedevilling the civil justice system.
The province said it has appointed a total of 87 new judges in 2024 and 2025, said Julia Facca, press secretary for Ontario’s attorney general, in an emailed response to CBC.
“By 2027-28, Ontario will have invested more than half a billion dollars to address backlogs, including by allocating up to 52 new judges to the Ontario Court of Justice and hiring nearly 700 more Crown prosecutors, victim support and court staff,” said Facca.
But Eckart said the system still feels underresourced and plaintiffs are understandably frustrated.
“I think it’s absolutely a funding issue. We just need to hire more judges.”
If you’re affected by this report, you can look for mental health support through resources in your province or territory.
