Victims of sex offender receive $21 million settlement

Victims of convicted sex offender Ed Horne have reached a $21.5 million deal with the governments of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Lawyers for the victims say everyone is relieved negotiations are finally over.

Eighty-two men and three estates sued the governments for failing to protect them from Horne when he was a teacher.

Horne taught in several Nunavut communities in the 1970s and '80s. He sexually assaulted young boys over an 11-year period. Some were students in the schools where he taught. Most of the boys were under the age of 11.

Horne is now serving a five year sentence for 20 of those offences.

Geoffrey Budden is one of the lawyers representing the men in the lawsuit. He says they are satisfied with today's settlement.

"They were relieved that the matter is over. I think as individuals they were pleased with what they were to receive and they were all very pleased that the settlement also includes a $2.5 million fund for counselling and treatment."

The deal was reached out of court through a process called alternative dispute resolution. Nunavut finance minister Kelvin Ng says the governments feel the final settlement is fair.

"It's good for victims in that they can get on with their lives. It puts another point of closure for them and obviously from the government perspective it gets closure to outstanding liabilities that are out there. It's fair, we think, for the government and the victims."

Ng says Nunavut will pay about $9.5 million of the overall deal and the Northwest Territories will pay the rest. That's about $12 million under a cost sharing formula developed when the territories divided.

Some of this money has already been advanced to the victims.

The deal still has to be ratified by both legislative assemblies. Ng says that's likely to be a formality.