Johnny Garland, a former longtime Westmount Recreation Department chief who died in 2012, has been named in a class action suit request that alleges years of sexual abuse on young boys under his authority.

Matthew Bissonnette, now a California-based filmmaker, alleges that Garland committed many acts of sexual assault between 1953 and 1987 in the motion to authorize a class action suit filed Tuesday at Quebec Superior Court.

Garland is alleged in the suit to have invited boys to his home at Sherbrooke and Grosvenor and to have sexually assaulted some of them, including several from the Pee Wee All Stars hockey team he coached for decades.

Bissonnette is suing the City of Westmount for allegedly turning a blind eye to Garland's acts.

Bissonnette says that Garland sexually abused him on many occasions between 1978 and 1980, when he was 12 to 14 years old. Bissonnette filed a criminal complaint against Garland in 1993 but prosecutors eventually declined to proceed. He tried again in 2012 but Garland died several months later.

Bissonnette is seeking $100,000 for “physical, psychological and moral damages” and an additional $25,000 in punitive damages.

Officials from the City of Westmount declined to comment on the case but told CTV Montreal that they have a lawyer looking into the suit. None of the allegations have been tested or proven in court. 

Bissonnette issued this statement to CTV Montreal Friday: 

"I am coming forward because it is the right thing to do. It is my hope that the city of Westmount also views this as an opportunity to do the right thing: to acknowledge and apologize to all its citizens, and to John Garland’s victims, for the abuse that was allowed to occur. I hope the city views this as a chance to help Garland's other victims come forward, and to provide them with the resources to recover from the damage and on-going effects of childhood sexual abuse, a process that lasts a lifetime. It’s an obvious and well-worn point, but only by being honest and open about our history, and by righting past wrongs, can we expect to prevent it from being repeated."

Bissonnette is an accomplished Hollywood filmmaker who wrote, produced and directed Passenger Side (2009) and Who Loves the Sun (2006). He also wrote and directed Looking for Leonard (2002).

CTV Montreal is asking anybody with information concerning these allegations to email Cindy.Sherwin@bellmedia.ca