A former peewee hockey player from Westmount, Que., has filed a suit against the city alleging he was sexually abused by an employee of the parks and recreation department.Thinkstock
Officials in the City of Westmount "turned a blind eye" to years of sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated by a long-time employee and prominent member of the community, a lawsuit alleges.
John Garland was superintendent of Westmount's Parks and Recreation department from 1953 to 1987, during which time he oversaw 40 hockey teams and 600 young players. When he died three years ago, he was hailed as an "institution" in the affluent former Montreal borough.
The plaintiff, Matthew Bissonnette, was 12 years old in 1978, when he started playing peewee hockey on one of Mr. Garland's teams. Mr. Bissonnette says in the lawsuit that Mr. Garland would drive him home from hockey and started inviting him to his home. The abuse began shortly after that and took place weekly until he was 14, he alleges.
The lawsuit says that, in 1993, Mr. Bissonnette made a complaint to police and was told there was not enough evidence to pursue charges. But in 2012, prompted by NHL player Theo Fleury's story of abuse by former hockey coach Graham James, Mr. Bissonnette went back to the station to ask if anyone else had come forward about Mr. Garland. The statement of claim says he was told there was no record of the coach or his 1993 complaint.
"I can't really describe how disheartening that is," Mr. Bissonnette said on Friday by phone from Los Angeles, where he lives and works as a film director.
He said in the lawsuit that he had planned to bring his case back to authorities, this time with the help of a criminal lawyer, but Mr. Garland died before he could do that.
The lawsuit, filed on Friday, alleges it was "common knowledge" among the department's employees that Mr. Garland was taking young players to his apartment, and that by keeping him in a position of authority, the city "permitted him to regularly and consistently maintain unusual and inappropriately close relationships with the boys he supervised."
Mr. Bissonnette is seeking $100,000 in damages and has applied for the case to be made into a class action.
Attempts on Friday to reach officials from the City of Westmount were unsuccessful.