St. John's, Nfld. - It's unclear what the Roman Catholic Church was supposed to do when allegations arose in the early 1990s of widespread abuse of Innu children in Labrador, says the bishop responsible for the area.
Bishop Douglas Crosby, was responding to reports his predecessor, the late Henri Goudreault, did nothing when told of the allegations by a nun in 1992.
"She said she told him about allegations, but the allegations are allegations that happened before he even came to the diocese," said Crosby, who was appointed as bishop of Labrador City-Schefferville in 1998.
"I've been informed of those allegations. What do you do?"
Earlier this week, a lawyer in St. John's confirmed about 50 civil lawsuits have been filed since 1997 alleging physical and sexual abuse of Innu children during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
The plaintiffs, mostly men in their 20s to 50s, have taken aim at the Roman Catholic Church, a Labrador school board, four teachers, various clergy members and two levels of government.
Most of the allegations dealing with the school board have already been dealt with in the criminal courts, said lawyer Jack Lavers.
But many of the allegations against the Catholic clergy have not.
Court documents show almost all of the defendants named in the civil suits have filed statements of defence and deny any wrongdoing.
The documents also state the church officials never received any formal complaints about abuse of children.
But Yvonne Maes says that's not true.
The former nun, who worked in Sheshatshiu, Nfld., in the early 1990s, said Goudreault ignored her when she told him Innu men and women had come forward to tell her of sexual abuse in the 1960s and 1970s.
"The biggest shock was that I was part of a cover-up," she told CBC Radio this week. "The church wasn't really interested in acting."
Maes later left her religious order after 37 years as a Roman Catholic nun. "I don't know if there's a God any more," she said.
Crosby suggested Goudreault didn't ignore the situation because he was the one who had asked Maes to look into rumours of abuse in the Innu communities of Davis Inlet and Sheshatshiu.
"My understanding is that this sister was hired to help these people - to go in there and do something about the situation," he said.
"What she spoke to (Goudreault) about were events that took place many years before he even got there . . . What does he do? I think he did look into it. That's why she was there."
Crosby then suggested some of the alleged victims had approached church officials to tell their stories and police were called in.
"When Bishop Goudreault was here, I believe he did (call police)."
The civil lawsuits cover two generations of Innu. One set of cases involves alleged abuse of children while in the care of the church in the 1960s and 1970s while the others involve alleged abuse of children while in school in the 1980s.
The rumours of abuse started to surface after revelations emerged in the 1980s about abuse at the infamous Mount Cashel orphanage in St. John's.
In the past decade, at least 10 Christian Brothers have been convicted of offences involving dozens of children. Criminal proceedings are ongoing in Newfoundland.
Lavers said he knew of only one priest in Labrador who had been convicted of sex abuse charges related to Innu children.