Sask. private school connected to abuse allegations changes its name again

Warning: this story contains distressing details.

A Saskatoon private school connected to multiple allegations of abuse and human rights violations has changed its name again.

The school, located on Saskatoon's Pinehouse Drive, was once called Christian Centre Academy. That changed several years ago to Legacy Christian Academy.

Starting this year, the school will be known as Valour Academy. Legacy signage outside the school has been removed. The school's voicemail and website now identify it as Valour Academy.

Former students who say they were victimized are furious. They say it's an attempt to avoid accountability.

"The name change is just the latest attempt in a long string of attempts by the school to cover up and ignore what was done and just pretend like nothing's wrong," said Quentin Pelletier. 

Pelletier said he and others were repeatedly hit with large wooden paddles until he graduated in 2007, years after the Supreme Court of Canada ban on corporal punishment.

Former staff of the school and the adjacent Mile Two Church are facing a class action lawsuit from former students who say they were subjected to physical, sexual and mental abuse. Punishments allegedly included violent paddling, but also exorcisms and solitary confinement, according to the lawsuit and multiple interviews with CBC News. The lawsuit is ongoing, with dozens of claimants and respondents involved.

At least three former officials, including two principals, have been charged criminally.

One academic says parents and the public should know the school's recent history, and the provincial government should not have approved the name change.

"It's beyond me as to why they have allowed them to change their name to try and whitewash their history. It's not going to do it,"  University of Regina social work professor emeritus Ailsa Watkinson said.

Aside from the abuse allegations, Watkinson is worried about the outdated, controversial curriculum that is apparently still taught at the school. She said it promotes a "narrow" and "insular" view of the world.

Watkinson, Pelletier and former student Caitlin Erickson say the school should be shut down, or at least have its government funding revoked. It receives a partial annual subsidy worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"Even after all this, there are still taxpayers that are paying for this school," Erickson said.

"It's very frustrating considering how much evidence we've presented. So it does seem now that the government's just OK with it. I don't think the general public is OK with it, though."

No one from Valour could be reached.

A provincial government official said it's aware of the name change and the school remains under probation.