New assault allegations emerge against staff member at Sask. private Christian school

Saskatoon police and the provincial education ministry confirmed they’re investigating new allegations of assault at a private Christian school embroiled in a $25 million lawsuit claiming a history of abuse.

In a statement to CTV News on Monday, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Education said it’s aware of the allegations that a staff member at Legacy Christian Academy assaulted a young student, and it is investigating.

The Saskatoon Police Service also confirmed it was investigating a report of an assault involving a staff member of the school.

A spokesperson would not confirm details of the investigation, but said police received the report on June 1.

CTV News contacted Legacy Christian Academy about the latest allegation and has not yet received a response.

The private Christian school is at the centre of a civil lawsuit and several former staff members are facing criminal charges.

Roughly two dozen officials from Legacy Christian Academy and its affiliated Mile Two Church are named in a $25 million class action lawsuit launched by former students who allege they were subject to physical, psychological and sexual abuse at school.

The allegations in the lawsuit have yet to be tested in court.

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In January, the school’s former athletic director Aaron Benneweis was sentenced to two years less a day for sexually assaulting a student when she was between 13 and 16-years-old.

Three other former staff members, including a past principal of the school, are also facing criminal charges.

In the past, school officials embraced the idea of using paddles to administer discipline to students.

In a letter to the ministry obtained by CTV News in April, a former vice-principal announced Legacy Christian Academy would be closing by June 30, as the swirling legal issues had made it difficult to recruit new students.

At that time, the ministry confirmed the Mile Two Church-affiliated Westdale Christian School would be relocating to the facility currently occupied by Legacy Christian Academy.

The relocation of Westdale wouldn’t quite represent a transformation for the school — Westdale is an offshoot of City Centre Church, which was opened by former Mile Two Church elder James Randall.

According to an internal Mile Two Church document, shared with CTV News last year, Randall was called back to help manage the church in June 2023 after its pastor Brien Johnson stepped down.

Johnson’s father, Keith, was the pastor and head of the school when much of the abuse allegedly took place.

Both Keith Johnson and Randall are named defendants in the civil lawsuit. Johnson has not been located since the lawsuit launched, but he is believed to be in Texas.

The provincial NDP’s education critic Matt Love described the closure of Legacy as more of a “rebrand" for the embattled independent school.

“This independent school has a history of abuse and the Sask. Party still increased their funding more than our public, Catholic and French schools got,” he said.

The ministry said it provided $759,825 in funding to Legacy for the 2023 - 24 school year, "provided at a rate of 50 per cent of the per-student average based on the number of students in their school."