British Columbia jail guard accused of 200 sexual assaults is subject of new lawsuit

Article content

A proposed class action lawsuit accuses the British Columbia government of negligence for allegedly allowing a provincial jail guard to sexually assault more than 200 young inmates over 21 years.

The civil lawsuit filed Monday in the British Columbia Supreme Court opens a new front in a legal fight that goes back decades.

Article content

Hundreds of former inmates have previously accused retired prison guard Roderic David MacDougall of sexual abuse, in criminal courts and in dozens of civil lawsuits. The proposed new class actions allege violations of victims’ rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Article content

Karim Ramji, the North Vancouver-based lawyer behind the new claim, has previously filed other lawsuits against MacDougall and the provincial government. Some of those cases are still moving slowly through the courts. A lawsuit, filed by Ramji in 2014 on behalf of two alleged victims, will be tried this fall.

“That case took 10 years; you can imagine all the other cases,” Ramji said Monday.

In 2019, Ramji filed suit on behalf of 61 men who had civil claims pending at the time. That lawsuit, which described MacDougall as “one of Canada’s most prolific sex offenders, with more than 200 former inmates already coming forward,” was a type of litigation known as a representative action. That action has been effectively on hold for years, and Ramji said he will now put it on hold so he can focus on the class action lawsuit.

This new class action lawsuit will provide “a more efficient format” for the matter to proceed on behalf of any victims whose claims have not yet been resolved or for any victims who have not previously come forward, Ramji said: “This is about access to justice. “

Article content

Article content

MacDougall worked as a correctional officer in four different British Columbia prisons between 1976 and 1997, spending most of his time at Oakalla Prison in Burnaby. He was first criminally charged in 1998, a year after he left his job.

Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against MacDougall and the province since 2002 that have not been resolved by the courts or resolved, the new lawsuit says, and the proposed class action could include any of those unresolved lawsuits, as well as any other potential victims who It had never been introduced before.

The new plea alleges violations of the victims’ constitutionally protected right to “life, liberty and security of the person,” as well as their right not to be subjected to “cruel and unusual punishment.” The victims’ rights were violated not only by MacDougall’s sexual assaults, but also by the province for its “systemic negligence” in allowing the abuse to occur for so many years, the lawsuit alleges.

In the lawsuit Ramji filed in 2014, lawyers representing the province of British Columbia argued that the plaintiffs should not be able to claim damages under the Charter, and the court agreed.

Article content

The availability of Charter damages for these men is the “key issue” in this case, Ramji said: “Prisons are not Charter-free zones.”

MacDougall is believed to be in his early 70s and lives in the Lower Mainland. Reached by phone Monday, MacDougall said he was not aware of the recently filed class-action lawsuit and declined to discuss the allegations.

“They won’t get me to comment,” MacDougall said.

MacDougall did not respond in court to many of the lawsuits filed against him over the years.

However, he maintained his innocence in a criminal trial in 2022, where he was found guilty of sexual assault, indecent assault and extortion in relation to five teenage inmates in the 1980s.

The new class action lawsuit will need to be approved by a Supreme Court judge before it can proceed.

With files from Lori Culbert

[email protected]

twitter.com/fumano

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know – add VancouverSun.com and LaProvincia.com to your favorites and subscribe to our newsletters here.

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber: for just $14 a month, you can get unlimited access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The province.

Article content