A former junior cadet from Victoria is suing a cadet instructor for alleged rape following a summer training camp in the late 1970s.
In a civil claim filed late last week in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver, the plaintiff, identified only as A.B., describes a pattern of grooming by the cadet instructor at a summer camp in Vernon in 1979 that allegedly culminated in rape shortly after the camp ended.
The allegations have not been tested in court. A statement of defence has not yet been filed.
A.B., who was born in 1965, joined the cadets in 1977 and learned to trust and respect “the ultimate authority of his superior officers without question,” the claim says.
He was invited to the summer camp in 1979 as a teenager, where he developed a close relationship with a man in a supervisory position, coming to see him as a father figure. A.B.’s own father had left his family when he was two, and he lived with his single mother in Victoria.
The man, now living in New Brunswick, was a captain on the cadet instructors list of Cadets Canada between about 1979 and 1983, the claim says. In that role, his primary duty was supervising, training and ensuring the safety of cadets.
A.B. alleges that the man deliberately targeted and exploited his need for a father figure and groomed him into trusting the man by giving him more attention than other cadets, which made him feel special, encouraging A.B. to confide in him about his home life and his feelings, touching A.B. affectionately, frequently hugging him and touching his shoulders and encouraging A.B. to keep secrets from other supervisors in the camp.
“The grooming was a deliberate process of manipulation and trust-building used by [the man] to gain access to the plaintiff, lower the plaintiff’s inhibitions, erode the plaintiff’s boundaries, and create a relationship where he could coerce and later sexually exploit the plaintiff, and ensure the plaintiff’s loyalty and silence,” the suit alleges.
In the fall of 1979, the man visited Victoria, where he knew A.B. lived with his single mother. He also knew A.B. wanted to spend time with him as a father figure, the claim says.
The man invited A.B. and two other cadets to stay overnight in his hotel room. The two other cadets shared a bed, while A.B. shared a bed with the man.
In the middle of the night, A.B. woke up and noticed his underwear was pulled down. The man proceeded to anally rape A.B., the claim alleges.
The claim also names the Attorney General of Canada as a defendant because it owns the camp and has exclusive control over personnel.
The attorney general was complicit in “an operational culture that enabled perpetrators,” the claim says, arguing the cause of the abuse and A.B.’s suffering is rooted in this culture.
As a result of the rape and grooming, A.B. has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, suicidal ideation, a severely impaired ability to trust others and be intimate with others, and a lack of self-worth and struggles with authority, the claim says.
A.B. is suing for general damages and past and future health-care costs.
A spokesperson for the Department of National Defence declined to comment as the matter is subject to litigation.
