Government liable for Gloriavale redress, leavers group says
A woman who claims she was enslaved at Gloriavale from birth says an apology without accountability is “pointless”.
The Royal Commission into Abuse in Care’s final report recommended Overseeing Shepherd Howard Temple issue a formal apology for neglect and abuse in Gloriavale.
The inquiry found the Overseeing Shepherd and senior leaders at fault for allowing physical and sexual abuse to happen, failing to protect survivors, allowing offenders to remain in the community and continue abusing while seeking forgiveness from victims and not reporting abuse to police.
Former member Pearl Valor said she was pleased the Commission’s report stated the leaders created a culture through the community’s doctrine that allowed abuse to occur.
Valor is one of four former members, representing other Gloriavale leavers, who filed a civil case, against five government agencies for failing to protect them, and Gloriavale leaders for holding them as slaves.
She said she was part of the slavery case because of the culture the leaders created through indoctrination.
“The culture I was born into was manipulative, harmful and oppressive,” she said.
Valor said she was also part of the case to help others still living under the same conditions in Gloriavale today.
“I didn’t get a childhood. I didn’t get a life and the children deserve to have a life and choice.”
Valor said an apology without accountability was “pointless“.
“There needs to be accountability. That’s more important than an apology. The police are doing a good job but it’s a long slow process unfortunately. And it relies on people speaking up and a lot of people in there will not be speaking up,” she said.
A spokesperson said police staff were monitoring the workforce elements currently before the Employment Court.
According to RNZ, Valor, Anna Courage, Gideon Benjamin and Hosea Courage are seeking damages of $2.5m and a High Court declaration the Government has breached international treaties by failing to protect girls and boys from the worst forms of child labour.
The statement of claim said the former members were “deliberately entrapped into slavery”.
The Royal Commission urged the Government to immediately “take all practicable steps to ensure the ongoing safety of children, young people and adults in care at Gloriavale”. It also called for a national care regulatory system overseen by a single care safety agency.
Gloriavale Leavers’ Support Trust manager Liz Gregory said she was disappointed in the lack of specific recommendations for the Government in relation to its oversight of the Gloriavale Christian Community on the West Coast.
She said the Commission’s report made “disturbing reading” but held information already known to leavers, the trust and the Government.
“I have to admit to being quite disappointed at the two recommendations. It recommends the Government act immediately to ensure the safety of people in Gloriavale by a department that is not set up yet,” she said.
She said a public apology by Gloriavale leaders for failing to protect children against abuse was a “PR exercise” that sounded more like an appeal to the rest of the public not to boycott their companies.
“Gloriavale hasn’t seen the depth of the harm and horror perpetuated on people. Gloriavale remains a psychologically unsafe place today. A rinse and repeat of that apology is inappropriate.”
An apology also needed to come from Government departments for failing to act and protect people in Gloriavale.
She said more than 60 leavers provided evidence to the inquiry, which had been provided to multiple government agencies since at least 2015.
“[The report] did not begin to show the extent of the failure inside Government to do anything with the information it had about abuse. That’s disappointing for us as an advocacy group,” she said.
“We would like a much more direct approach for an independent investigation to examine the role the Government had in failing to safeguard children in Gloriavale.”
The Government needed to examine why Gloriavale still had charitable status and funding from the Ministry of Education for a school where teachers were under police investigation for sexual and physical abuse of children.
She called for a fair independent survivor-centric redress scheme and believed the Government was also liable for compensating Gloriavale survivors.
The Royal Commission said the average cost of abuse in a survivor’s lifetime was $857,000.
Gloriavale leadership has been approached for comment.
Community and Voluntary Minister Louise Upston said her thoughts were with those who shared their experiences with the Royal Commission.
She said the Department of Internal Affairs would review the findings of the report to identify any possible breaches of the Charities Act 2005, in line with its regulatory mandate.
She said the legal action brought by the leavers of the Gloriavale community against the Gloriavale leadership and the Crown was a separate matter that she could not comment on while it was before the court.
“This matter is before the Court and involves several different agencies. It is appropriate that these matters are handled independently by the courts,” she said.
“Our Government is committed to responding to the findings and recommendations in the Royal Commission report into Abuse in Care, and the redress report recommendations, and will make decisions on initial priorities in the coming months,” she said.