New Horne lawsuits could cost governments millions

The governments of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories face another major lawsuit involving convicted sex offender Edward Horne.

In 2002, the territorial governments paid out more than $21 million in damages to 82 men and three estates.

The men had sued the governments for failing to protect them from Horne when he was a teacher in Sanikiluaq, Cape Dorset, Iqaluit, Grise Fiord and Kimmirut in the 1970s and 80s.

Horne pleaded guilty to 20 charges of assaulting children in September 2000, and was sentenced to five years in jail.

Now one woman and 68 men allege Ed Horne sexually assaulted them when they were students at schools where he taught between 1971 and 1985.

They're from the same communities as the first group.

The complainants allege the government at the time knew sexual abuse was happening in the schools and at Horne's home, and failed to prevent it.

They also say Horne's qualifications were not properly investigated.

Their Newfoundland lawyer, Geoffrey Budden, says there are several reasons why this second group didn't come forward during the first lawsuit.

"Some of these people no longer live in their home communities, others were under the impression that it was only for people who had been through the criminal process," he says. "And yet others, it took them that much longer to work up the nerve to come forward with their allegations."

Budden says his team took precautions as they assessed the claim.

He says they wanted to weed out individuals who could possibly be making up allegations.

"We obviously look for confirmation that these people were in fact, students at the school when Horne was there, either in his class or in other classes where he would have had a supervisory authority over them," he says. "We also make our own assessments from our interviews with the men and also the experts we retain would do assessments, psychologists and other experts."

The governments of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories have not yet filed a statement of defence.

Nunavut's deputy minister of Justice, Nora Saunders says the lawsuit is in the early stages and there will be no comment at this time.