Legal Issues

FINANCIAL OUTCOMES FROM HRC CLASS ACTION

The settlement amount was $35 million to be paid by the Ontario Government. There were non-monetary benefits as well such as restoration of the cemetery fence, an apology from the government, historic plaques and signage and most importantly for HRC an agreement that up to $5 million would be spent on projects benefitting survivors if all the funds available were not disbursed. In many class action lawsuits funds that are not claimed are returned to the defendant. No Huronia funds were returned to the government. In all of the institution lawsuits that followed Huronia (including Rideau and Southwestern Regional) millions of unclaimed funds were returned to the Ontario government.

Class Action Settlement Legal Documentation

$35,000,000

total settlement funds

$8,538,944

lawyer fees

$23,450,978

left for survivors

$3,010,077

class proceeding fund of the Law Society

$18,851,078

successful claims payments to survivors

$4,700,000

for projects that benefit survivors

A History and Timeline of the Huronia Regional Centre (HRC) Class Action

by Litigation Guardians Jim and Marilyn Dolmage

When Marie Slark and Patricia Seth were seven years of age, they were placed in the institution known as Huronia Regional Centre and remained under its control into young adulthood. 


Marilyn Dolmage had been a social worker at the institution during the girls’ incarceration and stayed in touch with the two women over the years.

A staff member from HRC had approached Jim Dolmage in the late 1980s and stated that she had worked on the ward where the girls were housed and had witnessed physical, emotional and sexual abuse that happened on that ward. The worker also said that she had been afraid at the time to mention the abuse because she feared that the abuse by staff members would then increase and she was concerned for the residents’ and her own safety. This statement was indicative that the issues were systemic and not just the behaviour of a few bad employees. 

  • 2004

  • 2007

    • January 31  - Jim and Marilyn had a birthday luncheon for Marie and Patricia. They hadn’t seen each other in years and began recalling their experiences at HRC. They each recited a list of atrocities and confirmed each other’s memories. They lived in a unit with more than thirty other young girls. The two had almost total recall of every girl’s first and last name who lived in the unit. They could remember the names of medications they had been forced to take, the dosages and the harmful side effects. Their memories were indisputable and very complete. Everything confirmed the observation of harm that the HRC staff member told Jim, and confirmed it was a systemic problem in the institution.

    • February 14  - Jim contacted Paul Strickland, a lawyer at Siskins Law Firm in London, Ontario. He recommended Andrea DeKay who was involved in class actions with the firm.  

    • March  - Jim started discussions with Andrea DeKay about how to proceed. 

    • August  - Lawyer DeKay sent a series of several dozen questions that she wanted Marie and Patricia to answer. This question/answer session was videotaped and sent to DeKay.

    • Fall and winter  - DeKay researched institutional class actions in Canada and concluded that the testimony of Marie and Patricia was worthy of investigation and was a good start to a class action lawsuit.

  • 2008

    • April  - We got the bad news that Siskins would not proceed with the case because of a conflict of interest. This was a huge setback because DeKay had experience with institutional class actions and personal insights about institutional abuse. Siskins recommenced we approach lawyers at Koskie Minsky to take over the work that Siskins started. 

    • June 11  - Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized to Indian Residential School survivors in the Canadian House of Commons. Seeing that, many people hoped the Ontario government might someday apologize to the people it harmed in provincial institutions.

    • November 24  - Marie and Pat interviewed lawyers at Jim and Marilyn’s house.

  • 2009

    • March 31  - The lawyers asked Marie and Patricia - alone - to come to the Koskie Minsky offices to sign retainer agreements for a class action lawsuit. 

    • March 31  - Huronia, Rideau and Southwestern Regional Centres officially closed – the last three Ontario government institutions. Vigils were held at Queen’s Park and in various communities across Ontario.

    • April 21  - The lawyers submitted a Statement of Claim to the court to begin legal proceedings. 

    • June  - Marie, Patricia, Marilyn and Jim appeared with the lawyers to request that the Ontario Class Proceedings Fund underwrite expenses for the case. They agree to the request. This means the law firm will be spared expenses (however, we did not learn until after the settlement that the Class Proceedings Fund would take 10% of any award as well as be repaid the expenses they underwrote. In hindsight this was a bad decision for the plaintiffs who had been sold the notion by the lawyers that this deal protected them from any liability. We later learned that there was very little chance that the plaintiffs would be held liable.)

  • 2010

    • March 2, 3 and 4  - The certification hearing began before Justice Cullity to decide if the case had the merits to go forward to trial.

    • April 19  - Justice Cullity decided the case could be certified but asked for further information, reconvening the hearing.

    • July 28  - The second step certification hearing took place and Justice Cullity certified the HRC class action.

    • July 30  - Cullity provided written reasons for certification.

    • October 12  - The government appealed the certification decision.

    • November 8  - The government appeal was denied so the case was permitted to proceed to trial.

  • 2011

    • June  - Letters were sent to all the class members whose addresses could be found letting them know about the lawsuit and inviting anyone to opt out who might want to begin an individual lawsuit. We were never told if anyone opted out but these individuals didn’t have the resources to begin individual lawsuits where the cost was estimated at $200,000 just to begin proceedings.

    • November 17  - The plaintiffs and litigation guardians worked with a team of allies to provide instruction to KMLaw about what potential settlement conditions we would agree to.

    • November 27  - CBC Radio first aired “Gristle in the Stew” This was an investigative interview of Patricia and Marie by David Gutnick. This piece went on to win international acclaim, and attention for the HRC class action.

  • 2012

    • January  - Settlement discussions with the government were cancelled.

    • While our lawyers were preparing for trial, this whole year passed with delaying tactics by the government lawyers.

  • 2013

    • May  - A press conference at Queens Park was held to try and get some movement on the case. 

    • July and August  - The Koskie Minsky lawyers applied pressure on the plaintiffs to settle the case. (Over 90% of class action lawsuits are settled out of court - a fact we did not know. By settling, the defendant gets to avoid having the facts of the case enter the public record and the lawyers are guaranteed their fees. The plaintiffs had been led to believe that they would be going to court and would have an opportunity to publicly explain all the harm that had been done to them.) 

    • September 5  - Lawyers for the plaintiffs filed their Opening Argument with the court – taking a big step towards trial.

    • September 9  - Toronto Star columnist Carol Goar wrote  “There can be no turning back. The trial date is set. Courtroom 5 in the old Canada Life building is booked for two months. The two sides have agreed in writing to be there. The witnesses are ready to testify. “We’re going ahead no matter what,” said Kirk Baert, the lead lawyer in a historic class action suit against the government of Ontario. He never doubted this moment would come.” 

    • September 10, 11  - The lawyers put intense pressure on the plaintiffs to prepare for trial.

    • September 12  - The lawyers suddenly put intense pressure on the plaintiffs not to go to trial, but instead to settle. The lead lawyer from Koskie Minsky told the plaintiffs that if they agreed to settlement they could receive their awards later that fall. This proved to be completely false and misleading.

    • September 13  - The Koskie Minsky lawyers agreed to terms with the government lawyers in a private session without the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs were very angry with this action and disagreed with the terms. The plaintiffs refused to accept the proposed settlement and the lawyers refused to change it. 

    • September 14-15  - The plaintiffs demanded that the Koskie Minsky lawyers be replaced by lawyers from the Siskins Law Firm if talks were to continue. 

    • September 16  - On the day when the trial was scheduled to begin, the plaintiffs (and many class members and allies) arrived at the courthouse not knowing what would happen. Later we found out KMLaw had asked for a one-day extension. Andrea DeKay re-entered the case and leads discussions between the plaintiffs and the government lawyers.

    • September 17  - By the early a.m. hours, we seemed to have reached the limit of what we could change and obtain in the settlement. After the plaintiffs and litigation guardians left, the Koskie Minsky lawyers signed the final agreement without notifying the plaintiffs that they had done so and failed to provide the plaintiffs with the final agreement they signed. 10 am – the trial began but the lawyers immediately announced that a settlement had been reached.

    • September 18  - The Toronto Star published a front-page story about the settlement, which featured a photo of the HRC cemetery. (The Star followed up with an investigation into the cemetery because the plaintiffs had managed to have improvements to the cemetery included as part of the settlement. The public began to learn about the disgrace the cemetery had become.) 

    • September  - Letters were sent to known class members with notice of settlement and inviting objections. We found many errors on the government’s address list.

    • October 7  - Marilyn took a delegation to Queen’s Park to ask that the Premier deliver the apology.


    • October 30 - The plaintiffs first learned that the Class Proceedings Fund would be taking 10% of the settlement funds (after legal fees and costs) and the lawyers would be paid before the class members.

    • December 2 - Andrea DeKay helped the plaintiffs to have $1 million of their fees held back from the lawyers until after all matters were settled (we feared the lawyers would simply have walked away from the case once their money was paid).


    • December 9 - Premier Kathleen Wynne apologized in the Ontario Legislature for what had been done to the survivors of HRC. The gallery was full of survivors, their families and supporters.

    • December 23 - A draft settlement was reached in the class actions concerning 2 other Ontario institutions - Rideau Regional Centre and Southwest Regional Centre. Many aspects of these settlements were copied from the HRC settlement, but no money was to be paid to RRC and SWRC people harmed before 1963 and a lesser proportion of their leftover funds could go to projects (and thus left over funds might revert to the government).

  • 2014

    • February - A sign was installed (as required in the class action settlement) on Memorial Avenue to show people the location of the HRC cemetery. 

    • February 24 - A Fairness hearing approved the  Rideau and Southwester Regional Centre settlements.

    • February 25 - Fee Approval Hearing for Huronia, Rideau and Southwestern Regional Centre class actions was held.

    • March - We required the lawyers to get the government to search databases to try to correct the list of class members and their addresses.

    • April 4 - Claim forms and instructions were mailed to class members whose addresses were on amended but still faulty government lists.

    • April 25-26, May 25-26, June 20-21, and July 25-26 - As required in the settlement, site visits to HRC took place. At the end of these visiting days, we held the first gatherings of survivors and allies at the cemetery.

    • April to November - HRC plaintiffs and litigation guardians travelled across Ontario to assist class members and allies with claims.

    • June 25 - The deadline to submit claims was extended (from August 5 to November 30/14).

    • August 24-25 - Another site visit was held at HRC, but this was open to the public.

    • September 15 - The plaque required by the settlement was unveiled at HRC.

    • October 16, 17, 18 - The last HRC site visits involved researchers and viewing of institutional artifacts.

    • October 30 - Those artifacts were moved out of HRC by Wilfrid Laurier University and Tangled Art + Disability.

    • Fall - Ground Penetrating Radar was conducted to determine the perimeter of burial area at the cemetery so that a new fence could be installed there as required by the settlement.

    • November 30 - Deadline for class members to submit claims.

    • December 2 - “Surviving Huronia: An Interactive Evening, with Art by Survivors of Huronia Regional Centre and Allies” was presented in Toronto by Tangled Art + Disability

  • 2015

    • January - Jim and Marilyn noticed irregularities in claim review process.

    • February - We wrote a letter to judge asking that the government correct its incomplete list of people buried in the HRC cemetery. 

    • February - Survivors discovered there would be a delay in processing claims.

    • March - We received the first Timmins Martelle Heritage Consultants report on its “Ground Penetrating Radar and Cemetery Boundary Investigation”.

    • April 29 - In a phone meeting with Community Living Ontario, the lawyers revealed that claims had been downgraded for survivors who could not speak. Even if detailed claims had been submitted, they could receive only the basic minimum payment of $2000. The plaintiffs asked many questions arose about the terms of the settlement, which their lawyers refused to answer.

    • May - Plaintiffs and litigation guardians wrote a letter asking lawyer Ian Binnie to review downgraded claims and ensure that the claims review process accommodated people with disabilities.

    • July - Remember Every Name began investigating the sewer system in the HRC cemetery, finding evidence that a sewer pipe was dug through the cemetery, disturbing hundreds of graves – with the assistance of internationally acclaimed forensic anthropologist Dr. Jerry Melbye. Remember Every Name persisted in asking questions about the sewage pipe disturbing graves and wrote many letters to government the rest of the year and into 2016.

    • August 7 - On the last day when claims submitted by class members were reviewed, the lawyers released to us the response Ian Binnie had written to our May letter. This revealed that no money would be granted for claims involving neglect, despite the fact that the case had been certified especially because of government neglect. Claimants had to specify that the serious injuries they received were the result of “assault” and that sexual activity was “non-consensual. Ian Binnie set the age or mental age of 6 years as the point at which people were capable of giving that sexual consent.

    • August - Claim cheques were mailed to claimants.

    • October 16 - KMLaw went to court to get judge to release the $1 million we had required the judge to holdback, as a financial incentive for them to complete their work.

    • September 27 - Timmins Martelle Heritage Consultants submitted their second report to the government - a “Third Party Records Review” researching the government’s list of who was buried in the HRC cemetery. They found it impossible to know the number of people buried, but they provided lists of who government records showed to be buried in the rows without markers and the rows marked only by numbered stones.

    • December - Debbie Vernon contacted Terra Discovery and found that they had completed their investigation to trace the position of the sanitary sewers through the cemetery. This report was provided to Deardon Stanton engineering (to later be referenced by Timmins Martelle Heritage Consultants in their third report, which was not provided to Remember Every Name until July 6, 2016).

  • 2016

    • April 26 - A hearing was held at which a judge approved the settlement and legal fees in the Schedule 1 class action concerning 12 other Ontario-run institutions.

    • May 8 - “Lost but not Forgotten” Mother’s Day memorial procession.

    • July 6 - After months of delays, managers and communications staff from the Ministry of Community and Social Services and the Ministry of Infrastructure met with members of Remember Every Name. They presented a third report by Timmins Martelle Heritage Consultants – at that meeting, having refused the requested disability-related accommodation of sending it out in advance. Showing diagrams that were so small they could barely be read, the government maintained that the sewage pipe was dug through the HRC cemetery in the mid-1930s and did not disturb any graves. They did not provide the ground penetrating radar evidence that should have very readily shown the location of the pipe. Dr. Jerry Melbye assisted Remember Every Name to understand and dispute this report. His offer to investigate further was denied by the government. (Remember Every Name continues to challenge the government’s cover-up of this travesty, through its own research.)

    • July 11 - CBC Radio aired a documentary– “The Gristle in the Stew: Revisiting the horrors of Huronia” about some of the legal pressure exerted on the plaintiffs by lawyers, to settle the HRC class action.

    • August 10 - A court hearing was held to determine how unclaimed funds leftover from the Huronia, Rideau and Southwestern Regional Centre settlements would be allocated. After we challenged the process the government proposed which our lawyers had agreed to, our lawyers attempted to remove the HRC lead plaintiffs and litigation guardians. Disagreeing with them, Justice Perell authorized us to hire another lawyer (and subsequently we engaged noted Canadian class action scholar Jasminka Kalaijdzic).

    • October - Applications were sought for projects to be supported by leftover class action funds. 

  • 2017

    • January - Deadline for cy pres applications.

    • May 14 - “Lost but not Forgotten” Mother’s Day memorial procession.

    • June 5 - We went back to ask Justice Perell to decide which projects should receive unclaimed leftover class action funds.

    • July and August - After we noticed errors, the judge made his final decision which was finalized in a September court order. The government installed monuments at the HRC cemetery with information that often conflicted with their own research, as documented in the 2015 Timmins Martelle Heritage Consultants “Third Party Records Review”. For example, the names engraved on most row end markers are not the same as those listed in government documents.

  • 2018

    • Projects approved for funding received notification. Remember Every Name received funding for 2 projects – to support annual Mothers Day memorial gatherings, for survivors to commission a memorial to be installed at the HRC cemetery and for a website.

    • May 13 - “Lost but not Forgotten” Mother’s Day memorial.

    • L’Arche Toronto’s Sol Express stages their play “Birds Make Me Think About Freedom” about institutions, the class action and survivors at Toronto Fringe Festival.

    • Remember Every Name engaged noted metal sculptor Hilary Clark Cole to work with survivors to create a memorial, in conjunction with Signature Memorials.

  • 2019

    • There were many months of meetings and much delay, while Remember Every name sought government permission to install the monument at the HRC cemetery.

    • March 19 - Community Living Ontario hosted “Flying to Freedom” - an event to commemorate the 10 years since all Ontario government-run institutions closed. Many of the class action funded projects made presentations.


    • May 12 - “Lost but Not Forgotten” Mother’s Day.

    • August 24 - The beautiful Remember Every Name Monument was finally unveiled in a ceremony at the HRC cemetery.

  • 2020

    • October 30th - Remember Every Name’s website launch.

    • Class action funded projects – many of which were delayed because of the Covid pandemic – continue to gather and share the stories of institution survivors. Since they began their work in 2007, the HRC lead plaintiffs had all along hoped that the neglect and abuse at HRC would be revealed publicly at a trial, and the government would be held responsible. While the settlement involved much pressure and compromise and inadequate compensation to survivors, we hope those stories will now be heard.

Why class-action lawsuits aren't always what abuse survivors hope for:


The HRC class action was very frustrating. The W5 TV investigation will remind survivors of how unfair it was. But that’s why we want the public to know what you went through. We want that to change.


- Marilyn and Jim Dolmage

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