Class-action lawsuit alleges former Montreal principal sexually abused young students

The founder of the FACE school in Montreal is being accused of sexually assaulting young male students during extracurricular trips to his farm in Cornwall, Ont. and visits at his home during the 70s and 80s. (CTV News)

WARNING: This story contains graphic details that may be disturbing to some readers

A former Montreal school principal is accused of sexually assaulting multiple young students, some as young as seven, during extracurricular activities at his farm in Ontario and his home in the 1970s and 1980s. 

A new class-action lawsuit alleges Phillip Hart Baugniet, now a resident of British Columbia, used his position of authority to gain the trust of young male students in order to abuse them while he was the principal at the former Victoria School at 1822 de Maisonneuve Boul., and then later at the FACE school — which he founded in 1975 — on University Street.

An application to authorize the class-action lawsuit was filed last week in Quebec Superior Court in Montreal, however, a judge has not yet ruled on whether or not it can proceed.

None of the allegations in the application have been tested in court.

The 25-page document filed by the Montreal law firm Kugler Kandestin lists the sole plaintiff as a man in his early 40s, only identified as "C," who went to FACE from 1986 to 1989.

He alleges that during the 1988-1989 school year, when he was seven, he was among several students invited to Baugniet's personal farm in Cornwall, Ont. — a "tradition" of the school. During the stay, students would sleep in small huts on the farm grounds. One night, the principal entered the hut C was sleeping in and molested him, "telling him that this would 'keep him warm,'" according to the lawsuit.

C allegedly saw Baugniet sexually abuse another student.

The lawsuit alleged that in the winter of 1990-1991, the man's former principal also sexually abused him when he followed him into the bathroom at Baugniet's home.

The alleged sexual abuse deeply affected C in the years that followed, which led to him turning to drugs and alcohol to cope with the psychological trauma. He also suffers from depression, anxiety, and struggles to develop relationships with others.

"He got married in 2013, but his marriage ended a few years later. C attributes the failure of this marriage to his substance abuse problems, which stem from the sexual assaults perpetrated by Baugniet," the application alleges.

The lawsuit describes the alleged accounts of three other men who attended the two schools where Baugniet served as principal, as well as an English and math teacher, and were sexually abused by him during visits to his farm and other locations. The men were between the ages of 10 and 13 and allege the abuse happened during the 1973-1974 school year.

One of the men, described in the application document as "Member 3," alleges that during a three-week stay at the farm in the summer of 1974, a drunken Baugniet entered the converted barn where he was sleeping, removed his pants and sodomized him. He was 13 at the time, but the sexual abuse allegedly did not end there.

"During the nights of the third week of the stay, Baugniet sodomized Member #3 several times. On one occasion, Baugniet also performed oral sex on Member #3," the lawsuit alleged.

"Baugniet mentioned to Member #3 that what happened was a secret and that if he revealed the sexual assaults to anyone, he would kill him."

Like the plaintiff, the other member's allegations describe years of shame, guilt, confusion, fear of telling their parents what happened, and in some cases, drug abuse.

The lawsuit is seeking $450,000 in damages, as well as $750,000 in losses and $10 million in damages for the "intentional attack on the dignity and physical and psychological integrity" of the alleged victims.

The lawsuit alleges that the former school board, the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal (PSBGM), which was responsible for the Victoria School until July 1, 1998, was informed of the sexual assaults on the young boys.

"By keeping Baugniet in a position of authority, the PSBGM exacerbated the situation and allowed Baugniet to continue to sexually assault group members with impunity," according to the lawsuit, which added, "the PSBGM failed to act and to put in place the necessary measures that would have prevented the sexual assaults committed by Baugniet on the members of the group."

The English Montreal School Board (EMSB), which took over responsibility for the the Victoria School in 1999, is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

The Centre de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM), which oversees the FACE school, is also named as a defendant.

Both the EMSB and the CSSDM declined to comment on the lawsuit to CTV News on Tuesday.