Former Legacy Christian Academy student says Saskatoon city councillor paddled him

One of the former students in a lawsuit alleging abuse at the hands of teachers and staff at Legacy Christian Academy (LCA) is also alleging he was paddled by Saskatoon city councillor Randy Donauer.

“I cried because I was beat and then we hugged and we prayed,” Coy Nolin told CTV News.

“Then it was, 'You're going to do better? Yep, I’m going to do better,' and went about business as usual.”

Nolin and other students of LCA, previously known as Saskatoon Christian Centre Academy, came forward earlier this year alleging that staff routinely paddled students and engaged in controlling and abusive behaviour.

Nolin is also a plaintiff in a proposed class action lawsuit stemming from the abuse allegations.

Nolin says he has filed a police report about the alleged incident allegedly involving Donauer, which he claims happened in 2003 at a church camp when he was 16 years old.

He says Donauer was already a member of Mile Two Church when his family joined when he was 10 years old, and everyone at the church knew each other.

“There was someone else who was the kid's camp director, but (Donauer) was there in like an 'above that' capacity,” said Nolin.

He says there were two other teenaged staff that were close and it became a joke that they were dating, which “was not something to joke about, relationships of any kind."

Former student at Saskatoon Christian Academy

Nolin says when Donauer found out, he and the others involved were disciplined.

“I was told that spreading rumors and gossip was sin, and that it was ungodly, and I needed to be more of a 'man of God' and then I had to bend over and get spanked.”

Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) said it can’t identify who criminal complaints have been filed against, but said that it’s received approximately 40 complaints total related to the school and church.

In August, SPS said that criminal complaints involving the school had been turned over to the Crown prosecutor's office.

The alleged incident would have happened seven years before Donauer was first elected as Ward 5 city councillor.

In an email, Donauer said he would only be making one statement on the issue.

“I deny any wrongdoing. If any of these unsubstantiated assertions are made against me, I will vigorously defend them,” said Donauer.

Nolin says it was the only time that he was paddled by Donauer, but that Donauer had a reputation among those at the church.

“He was such a nice man, and all of a sudden it would just like click and it was just aggressive and over the top,” he said.