The Montreal Institute for the Deaf and Mute was a boarding school operated by the Clercs de Saint-Viateur (English: Clerics of St Viator) between 1848 and 1983 in Montreal, Quebec.[1]
The Montreal Institute for the Deaf was founded as L'Institut catholique des Sourds-Muets[2] (The Catholic School for Deaf Boys) in 1848[3] in Faubourg, Quebec, a neighbourhood in the northeastern corner of Montreal.[4] In 1850, the Institute moved to the Mile End area, at the corner of Boulevard St-Joseph and Rue Saint Dominique in Montreal.[4][5] By 1887,[6] workshops for teaching the trades such as bookbinding, shoemaking and printing had been built within the school.[5]
In the 1921, the Institute moved[7] to a new building at 7400 Boulevard Saint-Laurent[8] in Montreal.[9] The building is now listed as a heritage building by the City of Montreal.[10]
In 1983, the Institute ceased teaching at the 7400 Boulevard Saint-Laurent location.[11]
The following year, the Institut catholique des Sourds-Muets changed its name to L'Institut Raymond-Dewar (English: The Raymond Dewar Institute).[12]
In 2012, 60 former students of the Institute filed a class action suit claiming they were sexually abused by priests in the school.[13] The initial class action was joined by other former students, bringing the total number of plaintiffs claiming abuse to 150 students with claims of abuse ranging between 1942 and 1982.[14] The claims by former students were not legally contested by the Clerics of St Viator.[15] This led to a settlement in 2016 of $30 million from the Clerics of St Viator and the Raymond Dewar Institute.[14][16] The settlement was the largest settlement ever awarded for a sexual abuse case in Quebec history.[14][17] The settlement, authorized in the Superior Court of Quebec, provided for a payment of $20 million from the Canadian Clerics of St. Viator, and $10 million from the Raymond Dewar Institute, the name the school adopted in 1984.[18][19][20]
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45°32′08″N 73°37′18″W / 45.53550°N 73.62154°W / 45.53550; -73.62154
