Former Students Allege Exorcism, Violent Discipline and Other Abuse at Saskatoon’s Christian Centre Academy, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Former students of Saskatoon’s Christian Centre Academy, now called Legacy Christian Academy, allege they were subjected to exorcism, violent discipline and other abuse at the school. CBC News spoke with 18 former students, some of whom had not previously spoken publicly. Some of the students and their parents shared diaries, police statements and other documents with CBC News.

One former student, who was 16 at the time, says that in May 2004 he was interrogated for several hours in an office at the school after informants told the director that he was gay. He says the director called him “evil” and “an abomination.” He and his mother agreed to a home visit, expecting to discuss his suspension. He says four officials from the school and the adjoining Saskatoon Christian Centre church placed their hands on him shortly after they entered the house and began yelling and making sounds known as “speaking in tongues.” He says the activity lasted more than an hour, while his mother cried in a corner of the room. He also says the director then struck him with a wooden paddle hard enough to leave bruises and cause him to limp. He described it as “one of the worst days of my life.” These are his allegations.

The former students have filed criminal abuse complaints. After a 12-month investigation, Saskatoon police gave the file to Crown prosecutors in April to consider possible charges, according to police emails to students. The Crown has not said when it will decide. The complaints include frequent paddlings, many of which allegedly took place after the Supreme Court of Canada outlawed corporal punishment by educators in early 2004. Other allegations include coercion, traumatizing rituals and solitary confinement. No charges have been laid, and the allegations have not been tested in court.

Former students describe the physical, financial, social and emotional control exercised by school and church officials as absolute, and say it has taken years to recover their dignity and stability. Some say they are still struggling. Caitlin Erickson, the first student to go to police, described the environment as similar to a cult. “It’s taken a long time for people to speak up,” she said. “I mean, it was a cult. It was essentially a cult.”

Many of the alleged incidents involved leaders and staff of both the school and the adjoining Saskatoon Christian Centre, now known as Mile Two Church. The two institutions have long shared a building in Saskatoon’s Lawson Heights neighbourhood. Officials with Legacy Christian Academy, which changed its name from Christian Centre Academy in 2013, first agreed to an interview and said they would answer all questions. The next day, they emailed a written statement and declined to answer further questions. The statement said the academy was “grieved to learn of former students who feel they were subjected to abuse” and encouraged any former student to file a report with police “so these matters can be investigated and dealt with properly and legally.”

The school’s current handbook says it is guided by the “doctrinal beliefs” of Mile Two Church, including the infallibility of the Bible.

Source: Read the original report