Canada Residential Scandal

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Sister Dominic Xavier was identified in the report of the 1997 Sabga Task Force as the person who allegedly committed the most “brutal epi­sodes of neglect and phy­sical, psychological and emotional abuse” on girls at St Jude’s Industrial School.

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She abused the position entrusted on her by the Citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. The 1997 task force that was sent out to do an inspection St Judes stated The members of the Task Force were so disturbed by their findings that they sought the urgent interveption of then Archbishop Anthony Pantin in immediately having Sister Dominic removed from her position. Indicating that she posed a very real and present danger to the girls at the Home.

The task force then recommended: that very strong measures be taken, including legal action against her with the potential for incarceration, as well as the removal of authority to run St. Jude from the Carmelite Order, and instead vesting same with a qualified management team Several other recommendations focus on health and medical issues, bedding, furniture, food and nutrition. and placement and overcrowding.Nothing was done.

This Disgusting Human Was Still Given a Glowing Eulogy by Her Church

A woman that was lauded by the church. One has to truly ask themselves. What damage did this woman do to an entire sector of the Trinidad population.

Here is a List of Some of the Abuses Committed at St Judes

• Severe Overcrowding
• Children were made to sleep on mattresses or sheets on the floor
• Sexual Abuse
• Sexual Exploitation by Adults
• A mal nourished diet where worms,nails,hair,rubber bands, stones, weevils and even bits of plastic bags were found in cooked the food.
• Food was used as punishment. They were all forced to say catholic prayers (regardless of their religion) or else food was withheld, or given in half portions.
• Serving rat bitten food to children
• The children were made to use dilapidated bathrooms with no privacy
• Multiple children's hair was sprayed with Bop insecticide to get rid of lice.
• The children were constantly being threatened to be sent to Golden Grove prison upon exhibits of "bad behavior".
• Eight girls in Carmel House were actually sent there (for 1 month and 3 weeks) because Sister Dominic reported that they had attempted to burn down the building, an event that the Supervisor on duty on the night this event was supposed to have occurred (Ms. Rhonda Allen) totally denies ever happened. The Task Force was shown where the "event" alledgedly occured: no bum or scortch marks were evident, just grime. The "crime" these girls had actually committed was that they had spoken candidly in 1996 to Robert Sabga (the Task Force Chairman) when he had visited St. Jude informally, and had alerted him to many of the goings-on there.
• Verbal and psychological abuse are also rampant. Sister Dominic accuses girls who run away of"going to meet man", and other kinds of "man" talk. She accuses girls who are especially close of being lesbians, and has them separated, so close friendships rarely develop. The most common verbal threat, as mentioned earlier, is to have the.girls sent to either Golden Grove or to the Belmont Police Station. · Girls who are non-Christian (eg. Muslim, Hindu) and who suffer some accident or misfortune, are told sarcastically by Sister Dominic that they are being punished (by God,supposedly) for praying to the wrong God or being in the wrong religion.Also, if they do not attend Mass on a Sunday, they are verbally abused (called "heathens"), and denied the opportunity to see their parents when parents visit.
• Sister Dominic was also the person who undertook all of the assessments (peychological, educational, and/or substance abuse/addiction), though what qualifies her to do these were unknown. Her treatment for drug addiction, for instance, was highly questionable: she claimed to "oorrect" addiction by feeding the addicts copious amounts of bread and.butter, as she diagnosed their withdrawal symptoms as hunger. She also dealt with, diagnoses, and treats incest cases. Her expertise and methodology for so doing were unknown.
• The health needs of the children under her care were routinely ignored. Kids were accused of faking illnesses and when they complained they were doused with cold water.
• Children were sent to prison under false pretenses. This was relatively easy since ther were already supposed to be in a correctional setting.
• Childen were exposed to a den of vice and lesbianism at nights

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Educational Training at UWI

Sources at the UWI who administered the Child Care and Counselling Program she took there indicated the following: (i) she took six years to complete a three year course; (ii) her completion certificate was given under duress, because in the opinion of her examiners she was undeserving of the award; and (iii) it was the expressed opinion of those who trained her that she bad very serious psychological and I emotional problems that macifested themselves throughout her program of study, that indicated her profound unsuitability to engage in the type of activities that she was and continues to be engaged in .

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1997 Sabga Task Force Recommendation

"With immediate effect Sister Dominic should cease to be in any way allowed to manage, operate, or seek to influence the management or operation of any aspect or facet of St.Jude. That she be debarred if possible from residence there, and that a restraining order be imposed on her, expressedly forbidding any contact between herself and the management of St. Jude."

"It is further the opinion of the Task Force that a full investigation be mounted to determin the degree and extent of the episodes of abuse and neglect uncovered abnd detailed in this document, and Sister Dominic's status of being a nun notwithstandmg, that any criminal proceedings that are called for be vigorously pursued, up to and including incarceration if so indicated. In short, the Task Force feels that the evidence of abuse is so profound and so extreme that the full weight of the Law needs to be brought to bear. The same goes for all of those matrons and supervisors similarly implicated."

She retired from the home in 1999 and died in 2020.