As a Jesuit priest in Ontario, George Epoch sexually abused dozens of children in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. But Epoch’s abuse allegedly dates back even earlier, to the 1950s, when he was teaching at Loyola Lycée, a private Catholic school in Montreal. Two students who participated in Epoch’s 1957-58 prep class told CBC News that the priest touched them inappropriately. Alfred Martijn describes that year as a miserable one, full of fear and worry. In those days, it was mandatory for prep students to be boarders, so it was difficult to escape from Epoch. Alfred Martijn describes the year he spent in Father George Epoch’s class at Loyola High School in 1957-58 as terrifying. He is seen here in that year’s class photo. (Submitted by Bob Lemieux) “When you’re confronted with something that’s completely foreign to your upbringing, it’s more than a shock,” said Martijn, who was 13 at the time of the alleged abuse. “You don’t know how to handle it. You just don’t know. And what rules is fear. You are ruled by fear. It’s that simple.” Trusting his parents was not an option, Martijn said, as they believed the Jesuits could do no wrong. He also could not report the alleged abuse with his classmates at school. “How do you talk to anyone about this? You don’t,” Martijn, now 77, said in a video interview from his home in Belgium. “It was just mentioned in passing, ‘Hey, look out for this guy.’ He is curious. He does funny things””. Following Epoch’s teaching tenure at Loyola, he was assigned to parishes in Nova Scotia and several Indigenous communities in Ontario. After his death in 1986, many of Epoch’s alleged victims came forward to seek financial compensation. To date, the Jesuits have paid hundreds of thousands in reparations and for proper assistance to the victims of the Age. WATCHES | Alfred Martijn describes his fears as a 13-year-old boy:
Alfred Martijn says he was targeted at age 13
Martijn says he was touched inappropriately by Fr. George Epoch as a student at Loyola High School in the 1950s.
From the refuge to the First Nations community
After several brief postings, Epoch was assigned to Jesuit retreat houses in Beaconsfield, Que., a suburb of Montreal, as well as Pickering and Guelph, Ont., between 1963 and 1969. These houses offered shelters for Catholics on the weekend. The priests heard confessions, offered liturgy and didactic talks. Patrick Wall, an American expert on clerical abuse, suspects that the Jesuits may have used these placements as a way to distance the Age from its target population – young boys. “They have to make that funnel smaller and smaller where they try to make it almost impossible for him to reoffend,” Wall said. The Jesuits of Canada denied any special significance to the movement of the Age in these houses. Father George Epoch was assigned to the Manresa Jesuit retreat in Beaconsfield, Que., in 1963-1964. The house was originally owned by Arthur Drummond but was sold to the Jesuits in 1946. The chapel is on the left. (Société historique Beaurepaire-Beaconsfield, Mrs. AT Henderson collection) In 1969, Epoch was appointed as a priest in the Wikwemikong First Nation, on Manitoulin Island in northern Ontario. This is not surprising, Wall said, since the entire church system was under attack and the Jesuits did not have enough priests to staff the parishes. “He’s an ordained, breathing priest, so they sent him to the most vulnerable people they have,” Wall said. “It’s horrible.” Attorney John Tamming has represented dozens of alleged Epoch victims in Ontario. Most of them were from the Saugeen First Nation or Cape Croker, which is north of Owen Sound. Cape Croker is now called the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation. Epoch was the parish priest in these communities between 1971 and 1983. “The extent of the damage it caused is truly staggering,” Tamming said. “It’s abuse on top of abuse because all of my clients’ parents were residential school survivors.” The Epoch personnel file was never disclosed, Tamming said. One of the Jesuit lawyers told him that a large part of it was missing, which he considered suspicious, as it may have included oblique references to misconduct in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. The Jesuits of Canada said any documents related to the Era and its assignments were produced upon discovery. The religious order said it is not aware of any councilors being told that records were lost.
“It’s something that has lived with me forever”
Bob Lemieux was in the same class as Martijn at Loyola High School. At first, Epoch treated him nicely and praised his work, Lemieux recalls. Bob Lemieux as a 12-year-old boarder in his prep year at Loyola High School in 1957-1958. That year, he was taught by Father Georgios Epoch. He says the priest touched him inappropriately. (Provided by Bob Lemieux) In retrospect, Lemieux wonders if he was being groomed. One day, Epoch took him alone to a classroom and forcibly kissed him and put his tongue in his mouth, he said. The incident sent him into a panic. When Lemieux came home on the weekends, he cried and begged his parents not to send him back. “I was petrified,” said Lemieux, 77, who now lives outside Kalamazoo, Mich. “It’s something that has lived with me forever.” His parents brushed off his protests. Lemieux reckons they probably thought he didn’t like boarding school. He also grew up in an era where the Jesuits were implicitly trusted. He did his best to distance himself from Epoch after that, but lived in constant fear, knowing that he was vulnerable if Epoch threatened him with more sexual advances. A talented hockey player who played in the junior ranks and briefly with the Oakland Seals in the NHL, Lemieux said it’s probably no coincidence that he developed a reputation as a tough guy. Bob Lemieux says he hopes by speaking out about his alleged abuse, he can bring about meaningful change in the Catholic church. (Provided by Bob Lemieux) Decades later, when he heard about the lawsuits in Ontario, he contacted the lawyer and offered to testify. But the cases were settled out of court. “I wanted to make sure he was punished for his actions,” said Lemieux, who has no doubt the Jesuits were aware of Epoch’s behavior at Loyola. Now, he wants to hold the church accountable. “It’s time for me, as long as I’m alive, in the time I have left, I have to try to put my foot down and call these people out,” said Lemieux, who is still religious. “We can no longer accept lame duck excuses.”
It calls for accountability
Martijn’s motivation to come forward is based on a similar desire to see the church make meaningful changes. Frustrated by what he perceived as the church’s failure to address clerical sexual abuse, he shared his experience of the Age with his classmates at the 55th school reunion in 2018. Next year the Jesuits of Canada hired a company to comb through their personnel files of credible allegations of abuse dating back 60 years and pledged to release a list of priests’ names. Martijn contacted them with his story. “I just wanted to get rid of this ghost that was haunting me,” said Martijn, who recounted three separate incidents where Epoch allegedly touched him inappropriately. Like Lemieux, he was invited to meet alone with Epoch, ostensibly to discuss his report card. Martijn said Epoch would lock the door from the inside and ask him to sit on his lap. Father George Epoch taught at Loyola High School between 1947-1949 and again from 1954-1958. He is pictured here in the 1956 Loyola College Review yearbook. (Concordia University Archives) On weekends, the classroom building was usually deserted, so screaming was pointless, Martijn said. It was also difficult to physically deflect Epoch’s relentless advances as he was a large man. “You’re just a 13-year-old kid. You don’t even weigh 50 kilos, you don’t have a chance. When it was wrapped around you, there was no question of resistance,” Martijn said. One day, he bit Epok’s lips so hard that when the priest tried to kiss him, blood gushed out. “He was struggling to get me out and he was pushing and shoving me and hitting me in the head with his fist to get me down, but I was so scared I didn’t want to let go,” Martijn said. He remembers that Epoch had a fat lip for quite some time due to the injury. Epoch never approached him again, but Martijn said the priest singled him out in class. Martijn developed a rebellious streak and, within months, earned a reputation as a troublemaker and poor student. Throughout his teenage years, Martijn struggled with self-doubt and avoided physical intimacy.
The Jesuits are urging victims to come forward
When asked about the abuse allegations, Loyola High School said it was aware of Epoch’s “devastating history of sexual abuse” in other communities because of media reports. In the 1950s, the school was run directly by the Jesuits. “Any allegations at that time would have been brought to their attention and subsequent records would similarly be owned by the Jesuits,” said Loyola High School Principal Mark Diachyshyn. Diachyshyn said the safety and security of Loyola students is of the utmost importance. There are now strict legal procedures in place for reporting suspected child abuse. The Jesuits of Canada declined an interview request. In an email, spokesman José Sánchez said that once abuse allegations surfaced in Ontario in the 1990s, the religious order’s lawyers reviewed Jesuit records for previous allegations. Epoch taught at Loyola from 1947-1949 and again, after his ordination, from 1954-1958. “There is nothing in the Jesuit records to indicate that any complaint was ever made against Father George Epoch, who appeared to be a popular teacher at Loyola,” Sanchez said. In the 1950s, Loyola College and High School were directly administered by the Jesuits of Canada, a religious order of the Catholic Church. …
