With Philip Heerema sentenced, attention turns to potential class action lawsuit against Stampede

Now that the criminal process has run its course regarding former Young Canadians School of Performing Arts staffer Philip Heerema, lawyers representing families of victims hope the potential class action lawsuit against the Calgary Stampede will move forward this year.

On Wednesday, Philip Heerema was sentenced to 10 years in prison for multiple sex offences against former male students in the school, with crimes ranging between 1992 and 2013 and a judge calling the actions “morally despicable.”

The school includes students aged 11 to 18 and puts on the Stampede Grandstand Show every summer.

While Heerema was charged in June of 2015, lawyers acting on behalf of several former students filed a statement of claim last April, alleging the Stampede failed to act on knowledge of Heerema’s inappropriate conduct.

With the sentence, a lawyer with the firm – Jensen Shawa Solomon Duguid Hawks LLP – says it hopes a certification hearing for the suit will happen this year.

Kajal Ervin said they are preparing materials and it’s possible that with the sentence being handed down, others could join the class action.

Stampede CEO Warren Connell reiterated the organization’s previous statement that when it first became aware of Hereema’s action, he was removed from the grounds within half an hour.

“We continue to maintain that stance and we have nothing contrary to dispel that,” he said, adding their internal investigation remains ongoing. “Us supporting the Prosecutor’s Office and the Calgary Police Service is obviously finished, but obviously we’re waiting to see what comes to light with respect to some of the allegations that were contained in the lawsuit.”

Nothing has been proven in court.

At first, Heerema pleaded not guilty with his lawyer cross-examining witnesses on their credibility, but he eventually pled guilty mid-trial to eight sex abuse charges, including sexual assault, sexual exploitation, child porn and luring.

“We had faith in the criminal justice system and I think justice was served,” Connell said. “I don’t think this is about closure for the Stampede.”

“Our programs are all about continual improvement, you don’t reach a plateau and then stop, you continuously try and improve those programs.”

But a mother of one of the victims wasn’t satisfied with Young Canadians leadership.

“The Young Canadians family as they like to call themselves, they have done nothing to support him (her son) at all, not a thing,” she said after the sentence. “He was still in the Young Canadians when he reported this and as he said in his victim impact statement, he felt like he was involved in a scandal.”

“The majority of the Young Canadians family stood behind Phil and made him feel like he was, that he was an awful person, that he had the nerve to make these kind of accusations against the great Phil Heerema.”

Upon hearing the parent’s words, Connell said he could only speak to what his organization has done.

“We’ve been very open and transparent with the parents themselves as well as the students and right from the beginning,” he said, adding they’ve offered counselling services, group and individual meetings. “We have reached out to all of the families with respect to the Young Canadians.”