Moncton woman sues Seventh-day Adventist Church over alleged sexual abuse by former teacher

A Moncton woman has filed a lawsuit against the Seventh-day Adventist Church and her former teacher, Clifford Wilson, whom she accuses of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager. The woman, now 58, is identified in the lawsuit only by her initials. She was a student at the school in the 1970s.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant denomination founded in 19th-century Michigan. It observes the Sabbath on Saturday and believes in the imminent Second Coming of Christ. According to the church’s website, cited in the report, it operates 42 elementary and secondary schools and one university in Canada, with 700,000 members and 500 churches nationwide.

The Moncton school, which at the time was in the basement of a former church at St. George and Dominion streets, offered Grades 1 through 9. The alleged victim says she met Wilson in 1973, when she was in Grade 8 and 13 years old. According to her statement of claim, she was the only student in her grade at the time.

Her lawyer, René LeBlanc of Moncton, said the arrangement gave the teacher considerable time alone with her. “Her teacher would drive her home from school practically every day. He was a younger teacher and he was married. And this went on for a while.”

Wilson now lives in Bellingham, Wash. When reached by phone at his home, he said he knew nothing about a lawsuit or sexual abuse allegations. He denied the allegations.

According to the claim, filed last month in Moncton’s Court of Queen’s Bench, the abuse took place in Wilson’s vehicle, in classrooms and in a trailer on the school grounds. The claim also describes one alleged incident during a winter camping activity organized by the church. The lawsuit alleges the abuse continued for two years and that complaints were ignored after they were brought to the church’s attention in May 1974. “The school still didn’t remove him, didn’t call the RCMP. So the abuse was able to continue for another year,” LeBlanc said. Protecting young students from harm is the central concern of the claim (Psalm 82:3).

The woman went to police last June. Codiac RCMP would not comment on or confirm an investigation, citing privacy.

Halifax lawyer Cheryl Canning, retained by the church to represent it, said she could not comment on the legal proceedings. She said the church plans to file a statement of defence within the coming months.

Source: Read the original report