N.S. lawyer worries province's hardball tactics could harm his client

A Halifax lawyer is worried about the health and safety of his client because of the length at which provincial lawyers plan to question the man in a civil sexual abuse case against Nova Scotia's Department of Justice.

Devin Maxwell represents a man who is suing the government for abuse suffered at the hands of Cesar Lalo, arguably Nova Scotia's worst pedophile.

Lalo abused dozens of children — mostly boys — when he worked as a probation officer dealing with young offenders.

An exact tally of the number of victims has never been compiled.

Prosecutors stopped pursuing cases when they felt they had enough convictions to have Lalo declared a dangerous offender. However, he never received that designation; he was declared a long-term offender instead.

In addition to the criminal proceedings, many of his victims launched civil lawsuits against him and the province.

Case approaching discovery phase

Two landmark cases determined that the province was vicariously liable for the harms Lalo caused because he was employed by the government. The cases, in which the plaintiffs were only identified by their initials, resulted in damage awards in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The lawsuits have kept coming, even though Lalo died in 2019.

Maxwell has represented more than a dozen claimants against Lalo and the province. He said he's been working on this latest case against the province for about two years.

Because the case involves allegations of sexual abuse, CBC is not disclosing the man's name. It's approaching the discovery phase, when his client must be questioned by government lawyers.

"At the best of times, this is going to be a difficult thing for them to do, to come forward and to have to tell the story and to relive the events of their childhood, these abusive events, which they spent the entirety of their lives trying to repress, trying to forget about," Maxwell said.

"So at the best of times, this is a difficult process."

Lawyer, counsellor 'frightened' 

Maxwell says he's been shielding his client about what he may face and became worried about how his client might react when he learned government lawyers had set aside two full days to question him.

"He's dealing with a lot of things as a result of his abuse and the idea of him having to sit there and recount his abuse, then go home and stew about it overnight, and then return the next day, frankly frightens me," Maxwell said.

"I've spoken to his counsellor and frankly it frightens him as well."

Maxwell said he and the counsellor are discussing ways to prevent the man from harming himself.

Maxwell said no one is really disputing the abuses that Lalo committed, so he can't understand why the discovery process has to be so long. He said the province has talked in the past about being more sensitive in treating abuse victims

"We're not concerned about protecting Lalo. We know what he did and we know that he's guilty. So at this point I don't understand why the province isn't engaging these accommodations and this sensitivity that they talked about even 20, 22 years ago."

Justice Department response

When asked about Maxwell's concerns, the Justice Department issued a statement.

"Every claim has to be assessed on its facts, which includes a discovery of the claimant," the statement reads in part. 

"We are committed to treating every claim sensitively and with maximum respect for the claimant, while still doing the fact-finding necessary to review their claim."

The statement goes on to say that Maxwell can take his concerns to the department's legal services division.

As for how many cases the province is dealing with and how many have been settled? The Justice Department had this answer:

"Because there are a number of active cases at any time, we don't discuss particular cases or overall numbers in a way that might influence any given case."

For anyone who has been sexually assaulted, there is support available through crisis lines and local support services via this Government of Canada website or the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. ​​If you're in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.