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CTV News
16-07-2025
- CTV News
Man conceived in late ‘60s residential school sex assault connects with First Nations family
A man who recently found his biological father also learned the dark truth about his conception, allegedly the result of sexual abuse at a residential school. An Okanagan man brought up in Penticton by a family that adopted him as an infant has connected with his biological First Nations family – but the joyous reunion has also opened decades-old wounds. The father and son sat down exclusively with CTV News to talk about reconciling their newfound relationship with the dark chapter in a residential school where it all began. Very early in life, Terry Chase's parents told him he was adopted. 'Maybe five or six years old. So, I always knew. From when I was old enough to understand, anyway,' he said. After nearly five decades of searching for clues about his biological family, a post shared on Facebook generated a lead on Vancouver Island. DNA tests confirmed a match and at 54 years of age, Chase finally met Dorman Joseph, his biological father. 'I'm very happy I can try to help Terry somehow with his life. And be as close as we can,' Joseph said, as he sat with his son at Thunderbird Hall in Campbell River. Chase's longform birth certificate lists his mother as Jane Peacock, a woman he's never met. His father obviously has. 'I was 14 and she was 21 years old,' he said. 'It was ongoing. It wasn't just one time.' It happened in 1968 when Joseph was a student at St. Michael's Indian Residential School in Alert Bay, where Peacock worked supervising children. In 2006, Joseph sued the federal government and the Anglican Church for sexual assault. The parties reached an out of court settlement. St. Michael's was demolished in 2015 – but the emotional scars remain. Now armed with new information, Joseph and Chase have filed another lawsuit against the same defendants – and Jane Peacock – seeking accountability for what happened at St. Michael's. 'You don't hide nothing from nobody. You've got to tell them what it's all about. Who I am. And who he is,' Joseph said while pointing at his son. In a brief statement, Indigenous Services Canada said it has received the filing made in B.C. Supreme Court. 'We remain committed to approaching litigation related to past harms suffered by Indigenous people in a respectful, compassionate and fair manner,' said Jennifer Cooper, a spokesperson. The Anglican Church of Canada did not respond to a request for comment. Jane Peacock's whereabouts are unknown. Despite the dark origins of their story, Joseph and Chase are focused on writing a positive next chapter. For Chase, that means exploring his First Nations heritage and culture for the first time. He recalls the feast his recently discovered family held in the community the day he met his father – and the powerful moment when his nephews sang and drummed in his honour. 'I was in tears. I didn't know a single word of the song, but it was so powerful that I was blown away,' Chase said. Sitting side by side, going through old photographs, it's clear he and his father have a lot of catching up to do. 'You can tell by his baby picture there that he's a Joseph. This photograph part of our family. You can tell just by looking at it,' Joseph said. Circumstances kept them apart for decades, but father and son are finally walking forward together.
CTV News
16-07-2025
- CTV News
B.C. man conceived at residential school in late ‘60s connects with First Nations relatives
A man who recently found his biological father also learned the dark truth about his conception, allegedly the result of sexual abuse at a residential school. An Okanagan man brought up in Penticton by a family that adopted him as an infant has connected with his biological First Nations family – but the joyous reunion has also opened decades-old wounds. The father and son sat down exclusively with CTV News to talk about reconciling their newfound relationship with the dark chapter in a residential school where it all began. Very early in life, Terry Chase's parents told him he was adopted. 'Maybe five or six years old. So, I always knew. From when I was old enough to understand, anyway,' he said. After nearly five decades of searching for clues about his biological family, a post shared on Facebook generated a lead on Vancouver Island. DNA tests confirmed a match and at 54 years of age, Chase finally met Dorman Joseph, his biological father. 'I'm very happy I can try to help Terry somehow with his life. And be as close as we can,' Joseph said, as he sat with his son at Thunderbird Hall in Campbell River. Chase's longform birth certificate lists his mother as Jane Peacock, a woman he's never met. His father obviously has. 'I was 14 and she was 21 years old,' he said. 'It was ongoing. It wasn't just one time.' It happened in 1968 when Joseph was a student at St. Michael's Indian Residential School in Alert Bay, where Peacock worked supervising children. In 2006, Joseph sued the federal government and the Anglican Church for sexual assault. The parties reached an out of court settlement. St. Michael's was demolished in 2015 – but the emotional scars remain. Now armed with new information, Joseph and Chase have filed another lawsuit against the same defendants – and Jane Peacock – seeking accountability for what happened at St. Michael's. 'You don't hide nothing from nobody. You've got to tell them what it's all about. Who I am. And who he is,' Joseph said while pointing at his son. In a brief statement, Indigenous Services Canada said it has received the filing made in B.C. Supreme Court. 'We remain committed to approaching litigation related to past harms suffered by Indigenous people in a respectful, compassionate and fair manner,' said Jennifer Cooper, a spokesperson. The Anglican Church of Canada did not respond to a request for comment. Jane Peacock's whereabouts are unknown. Despite the dark origins of their story, Joseph and Chase are focused on writing a positive next chapter. For Chase, that means exploring his First Nations heritage and culture for the first time. He recalls the feast his recently discovered family held in the community the day he met his father – and the powerful moment when his nephews sang and drummed in his honour. 'I was in tears. I didn't know a single word of the song, but it was so powerful that I was blown away,' Chase said. Sitting side by side, going through old photographs, it's clear he and his father have a lot of catching up to do. 'You can tell by his baby picture there that he's a Joseph. This photograph part of our family. You can tell just by looking at it,' Joseph said. Circumstances kept them apart for decades, but father and son are finally walking forward together.
CTV News
16-07-2025
- CTV News
Shocking revelation in adopted man's search for family, identity
Vancouver Watch A man who recently found his biological father also learned the dark truth about his conception, allegedly the result of sexual abuse at a residential school.
The Independent
11-07-2025
- The Independent
Some abuse claims made because people ‘encourage' each other, inquiry told
A former senior staff member at a residential school for children with special educational needs has told an inquiry some allegations of abuse arose because people were 'encouraged' to make them. The inquiry was hearing evidence on Friday from a witness known as 'Martin', who worked at the independent Starley Hall School in Fife for a number of years. He was given an alias as he was granted anonymity by the inquiry. When Martin was asked about allegations of abuse made by former pupils, including 'various allegations' of abusive behaviour against himself, he said: 'Sometimes complaints made about residential schools are not about abuse but about misunderstandings. 'A lot of people wanted to say bad things happened at Starley Hall School,' he went on. 'Some people's lives didn't turn out as they wanted to them to, and there's a lot of reasons for that.' He added: 'Some people have been encouraged to make statements and have been in contact with each other and have encouraged each other.' Martin explained this can lead to people changing how they remember events, and that something that was 'dealt with at the time' can come to be described 'much more seriously' 20 years later. He acknowledged this risked sounding 'trite' in front an inquiry set up to look into allegations of child abuse across Scotland. 'It is not dismissing the fact difficult and wrong things happened,' he said, 'but I do think some of the stories that have come out have come from people talking to each other and encouraging each other.' Counsel Ruth Innes put it to him it he was suggesting people had 'colluded' to make the allegations against him, and that the people making them were just 'looking for somebody to blame'. The witness responded that it may be a case of people 'trying to work out why they are in the position they are in'. He also said that while abuse should 'in no way, shape or form' be accepted or tolerated, the 'expectations, regulations and cultures' in place today are different from those that were around decades ago, and that this needed to be taken into account when complaints are made. The witness was also asked about how the school maintained discipline, including its policy on the use of restraint for physically disruptive pupils. He explained that for many years there was no specific standard for restraining pupils, but that this changed when the school had staff trained in the 'management of violence' programme. The inquiry heard that this method, which was developed for dealing with young offenders, involved some holds that worked using 'pain control' to restrain pupils with staff pressing on pupils' pressure points. Asked whether this was appropriate in a special residential school setting, Martin said it was the 'only course' the school could find at the time, and that the school had just been trying to 'make children as safe as possible'. He also said 'pain control' was not the 'motive' of the programme, but was one of the reasons the school moved on to a different restraint programme after two years. The inquiry is investigating abuse in residential settings including boarding schools, religious establishments and foster care. The inquiry before Lady Smith continues.
CTV News
10-07-2025
- CTV News
B.C. man says son conceived in residential school abuse, both sue church
The Law Courts building, which is home to B.C. Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, is seen in Vancouver, on Thursday, Nov. 23, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck VANCOUVER — A British Columbia father and son are suing the Anglican Church of Canada, alleging the son was conceived as a result of sexual abuse by a female employee of St. Michael's Indian Residential School in Alert Bay in the late 1960s. The lawsuit says the father was 14 years old when he was victimized by a school supervisor in 1968, and he settled a lawsuit with the church in 2008 over the alleged sexual assault at the school on Cormorant Island, northeast of Vancouver Island. Court documents filed this week in B.C. Supreme Court say the plaintiffs only recently found out they were related, leading to a 'traumatic reunion,' and their relationship has been confirmed by DNA testing. The notice of civil claim says the father, now 72, 'had no idea' he had a son that was given up by the woman to a non-Indigenous family months after his birth, and the son, now 56, was traumatized by the 'shocking revelation' he was a child conceived through the rape of his biological father. The lawsuit says the plaintiffs contacted the church this year about compensation, but were allegedly told the church considered itself 'completely absolved' of liability due to settlement of the father's earlier legal action. The allegations have not been proven in court and the Anglican Church of Canada has not filed a response to the lawsuit, and the plaintiffs' lawyer and the church did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The civil claim says the plaintiffs were 'left with no choice' but to sue the church for damages in order to 'seek closure and healing from these traumatic events.' This report by Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press, was first published July 10, 2025.
