Nunavut judge approves $8M settlement for victims abused by former teacher

WARNING: This story contains details of sexual abuse.

A Nunavut judge has approved a settlement in a class-action lawsuit against the Nunavut government on behalf of a group of students who were sexually abused by a teacher in the territory. 

It means the Nunavut government will now pay out $8 million in a lawsuit started by students who were sexually abused by Maurice Cloughley between 1969 and 1981

The Nunavut government agreed to settle the class action in May, and Nunavut Chief Justice Susan Cooper has approved the settlement in a written decision. That decision was filed in the Nunavut Court of Justice on Tuesday. 

Cloughley pleaded guilty mid-trial in 1996 to nine charges of abusing school children in several Arctic communities between 1967 and 1981. He originally faced 22 charges. Cloughley served three years of a 10-year sentence.

The class-action lawsuit alleges the territorial government did not do enough to protect students from abuse and may have known about the abuse without doing anything about it. 

Compensation for the plaintiffs will range from $25,000 to $200,000, based on their injuries.

In her decision, Cooper said the class action lawsuit is estimated to have about 250 members. 

Years in the making 

The lawsuit was first filed in 2004 with 31 plaintiffs. Then, in 2008, a second similar lawsuit with 32 plaintiffs was filed against the federal government and the governments of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.

Those lawsuits stalled until 2015, when two law firms teamed up and combined the cases into a single new case.

Alan Regel, a lawyer representing the victims, previously told CBC News some of the plaintiffs had died since the lawsuit was first launched.