According to a report from CBC News, Scouts Canada has signed confidentiality agreements with more than a dozen child sex-abuse victims, thereby protecting criminals from media attention.
Not only are the victims paid to be silenced, many of the agreements include a clause which prevents them for revealing what they were paid to keep quiet -- or the fact that a settlement even exists. Some settlements were estimated at $200,000.
It's a sick irony that such abuses took place in an organization like the Scouts whose core message, says London, Ont. lawyer, Rob Talach, “and core objective in society is a morally positive one.”
CBC’s investigative unit revealed a total of 24 lawsuits filed against Scouts Canada since 1995, of which 13 plaintiffs reportedly signed confidentiality agreements.
Similar settlements occurred within the pedophile ring exposed in the Roman Catholic diocese in Cornwall, Ont.
What's the price of keeping quiet? In child sex abuse cases, victims are largely invalidated. According to a victim who spoke anonymously, Scouts Canada never admitted responsibility.
“Scouts Canada was interested in minimizing the financial cost to them and to making sure that nobody else ever found out about it.”
Another plaintiff claimed the confidentiality clause was "extremely frustrating” since the instinct was "to get on a hill and just shout it out.”
Indeed, keeping quiet further victimizes victims and most likely prevents full healing. The CBC likened the victims' silence to being "muzzled."
Mark Johnston broke his agreement to speak out about the settlements.
“How can you make sure people are aware that this kind of stuff can happen if you don’t talk about it?” asked Johnston. “If you remain totally silent, then it’s just going to happen again.”
The world needs more Mark Johnston's to show powerful 'corporations' like the Scouts and the Roman Catholic Church that you can't buy your way out of everything.
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