Christine Kay
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Oct 14/02) - Victims of convicted sex offender Edward Horne have reached a $21.5 million settlement with the governments of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

It's one of the largest settlements for the sexual abuse of children in Canada's history.

Between 1971 and 1995, Horne was a teacher and principal at elementary schools in Sanikiluaq, Iqaluit, Kimmirut, Grise Fiord and Cape Dorset. It was during this time he sexually abused many of the children he supervised. Most of the victims were between the ages of nine and 11 when the abuse occurred.

Geoffrey Budden, a lawyer from Mount Pearl, Nfld, who represented the plaintiffs, said they were notified several weeks ago that a settlement was imminent.

"The plaintiffs feel relief that it's all over. It has been very stressful for everyone," said Budden.

Budden first became involved in the case after being contacted by a person in Cape Dorset on behalf of 49 men abused as children by Horne.

Twenty-one men from Kimmirut later joined those from Cape Dorset in the lawsuit. As more people began to find out about the group of complainants, more people came forward.

Eighty-five plaintiffs in total are covered by the settlement.

Nino Wischnewski, media co-ordinator for the Government of Nunavut, said the GN is satisfied with the results.

Nunavut's government will be paying a little bit more than $7.5 million of the settlement. The GNWT will pay the rest. About $2.5 million of the settlement will go towards a victim treatment fund.

Although Nunavut's government regrets the victimization which occurred, its leaders are proud of the way a settlement was eventually reached.

"The alternative dispute resolution mechanism meant the plaintiffs didn't have to go to court and re-live the experience," said Wischnewski.

Horne is currently serving a five-year federal penitentiary sentence. He pleaded guilty two years ago to 20 of 72 sex-related charges. Horne had already served six years for sex crimes prior to that.

The two territorial governments paid $4.2 million in advance of the settlement to fund counselling and treatment for the plaintiffs.

Budden said the amount each plaintiff will get is confidential.

"The amounts vary dramatically. There are different categories of damage. Each of the plaintiffs was assessed," said Budden.

Some of the settlement amounts were based on a closed mini-trial, in which NWT Supreme Court Justice John Vertes assigned dollar values to seven different abuse cases.

The settlement still needs to be ratified by the legislative assembly of the NWT. Budden expects that to be done early this week, and payouts are expected before the end of the month.

NWT legal counsel Brad Patzer said he was happy with the decision, which was two years in the making.

"It was a long process but a very effective one ... We were glad we could wrap it up in the way we did," he said.

-- with files from Nathan VanderKlippe