Sexual abuse is alarmingly common yet hidden. The U.S. Bureau of Justice reports that 2 out of 1,000 people in the United States will be a victim of sexual assault in any given year. Further it suggests that only 32% of all sexual assaults are reported to police.

In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of child sexual abuse in Canada. Almost every month the public hears new cases of adults retelling incidents of abuse from their childhood. Often these events were concealed or latent for years as was the case with the recent conviction in Calgary of hockey coach Graham James. Perhaps because of a new era of openness towards sex and abuse, these stories have been brought to the public courts. More often however, victims do not have the courage or stamina to pursue their assailant in the courts because these types of lawsuits can take years to resolve.

The allegations from the Mount Cashel orphanage in Newfoundland are perhaps the most notorious in Canada. In that case, 45 men recalled years of terrible abuse suffered during the 1970's at the hands of members of the Christina Brothers Order. Nine church members were sentenced to jail terms following criminal proceedings. Aside from the criminal investigation however, civil lawsuits were also brought against the Christian Brothers Orders. The victims sought monetary compensation for the abuse.

The Newfoundland case is only one in a long line of civil lawsuits for sexual abuse that are before the courts across Canada. Dozens of lawsuits are commenced each year. There are now precedents for suing parents, step-parents, foster-parents, guardians, and provincial governments. In fact, the lawsuits are so numerous that some lawyers call this a growth area of litigation. Most of the cases contain graphic and disturbing tales of violence and abuse of trust.

Although some child abuse victims may sue the offender for moral reasons, civil lawsuits primarily deal with money. The degree of monetary compensation in lawsuits varies with the degree of assault. Sexual assault can range from a single inappropriate touch to years of systematic rape. At the same time, the effect of the assault on the victim can range from minor embarrassment to disease and a lifetime of depression and drug addiction. Consequently, the range of compensation in these types of cases is from a few hundred dollars to hundreds of thousands. Shane Earle, one of the victims of the Mount Cashel affair, obtained a court award of $400,000.

Many victims of abuse do not pursue compensation through the courts because the offender is poor. If the assailant has no money it is senseless to spend thousands of dollars on a lawsuit. Consequently, lawyers look for defendants with lots of money or "deep pockets". Former residents of a Nova Scotia girls home recently won a large award against the government in that province. In that case, senior government officials failed to take any action when they knew an employee was molesting young girls in the 1970's. The officials were just as blameworthy as the sex offender. Undoubtedly the offender was penniless but the government had resources to pay and that was one reason why the government was sued.

Victims of sexual abuse often state that memories of the abuse haunt them for a lifetime. Different people adapt to the trauma in different ways. Some try to forget. For others though, there is a need to put things right - a need for a resolution. For those people, a civil lawsuit may be a solution. In these types of court cases the victim is able to tell h is or her story and judgment is passed on the offender. In addition however, a monetary amount is assessed as compensation. Money may not be complete compensation, but it may be the only substantive way to reimburse the pain and loss that a victim suffer.