'A practice of shunning': Judge paints picture of private Saskatoon school's culture at time of sexual offences

Details about the overreaching culture of a private religious school were read on record by a judge for the first time on Thursday.

Judge Marilyn Grey described Legacy Christian Academy as a "very insular community with little outside influence" that requires students to blindly obey authority.

Grey painted a picture of the environment of the school, ahead of sentencing Aaron Benneweis — a former gym teacher and athletic director of the school. Benneweis pleaded guilty to sexual assault and sexual exploitation of his then-13-year-old student, Jennifer Beaudry.

Grey noted Benneweis did not have "any professional training as a teacher."

She said the majority of teachers at the school did not have accreditation; the school assigned staff from the church, that operated the school, and hired them as teachers. Family, church and school all overlapped.

"If a family joined the church, the children were required to attend the academy. Church members were not allowed to associate with anyone outside of the church and would be removed from the membership if they did," Grey said.

When the pastor heard about the abuse Beaudry faced at the hands of Benneweis, the pastor said it would be "gracious" for Beaudry's family not to make a police report.

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"If [Beaudry] did report, [the pastor] asked that she tell the police that she was 16 when the events occurred," Grey said.

"It should also be noted that the pastor had a great deal of influence over the victim's family. Her mother was employed by the church, their only social interactions were with others in the church and there was a practice of shunning within that congregation."

Caitlin Erickson, a former student of Legacy Christian Academy, named in a proposed $25 million class action lawsuit against the school, says having these details put on the public record bodes well for the students' case.

"The judge did a really good job of putting on the record what the environment of what the church and school was like. I think that's really important for people to understand why it took so long for people to come forward and why so many things went on there that should not have gone on there," Erickson said.

"It really does give context."

Erickson is one of many students involved in the lawsuit, claiming abuse by school staff. The allegations have yet to be tested in court. The lawsuit also names the provincial government and Mile Two Church — which runs Legacy Christian Academy.