Insurance company says Bathurst diocese knew of abuse by priests

Lawyers for Aviva Insurance are arguingits policies do not cover sexual abuse by priests within the Catholic Diocese of Bathurst.

The diocese has filed a civil lawsuit against the insurer to help it recoup more than $7-million it paid out to victims of sexual abuse.

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"Clearly there is no coverage," said Aviva's lawyer Charles LeBlond in his opening statement Mondayin a Monctoncourtroom. "There is no coverage for criminal activity."

In his statement, LeBlond also said "there is a fair bit of documented evidencethat the dioceseand the bishops of the daywere aware."

Father Levi Noel and Father Charles Picot, both former priests in the diocese, have been criminally charged with numerous counts of sexual abuse, some dating back to the 1950s.

The Bathurstdiocese had an insurance policy with Aviva from 1957 to 1983.

Last week, the court heard from former Supreme Court justiceMichel Bastarache. He explained he interviewed 90sexual assault victims as part of a compensation process.

Those victims named a total of 26priests, including Noel and Picot, as abusers in the diocese.

LeBlond told the court there is documentation that Noel had been shipped from parish to parish, including one letter,"where the bishop sent him north where nobody knew his past," said LeBlond."Abishop accommodating a priest, knowing he would reoffend."

LeBlond went on to say thata reasonable bishop would have at least removed the priest from contact with children.

Chris Blom, one of the lawyers representing the diocese, acknowledges the church had knowledge some priests were molesting children.

But, Blom argued thatin the 1950s and several decades that followed, the diocese did not know abuse was an insurance risk. And he saidthe insurer never asked the diocese whether there was abuse within the church.