TORONTO, Ontario – Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is to apologize on behalf of the province today to former residents of a provincial institution for the developmentally disabled who have alleged abuse.
The apology comes after a judge approved a $35-million settlement last week in a class-action suit against the province over treatment at the Huronia Regional Centre in Orillia, Ont.
The agreement calls for the province to formally apologize for what happened at the now-shuttered facility.
The deal was reached in September just hours before the case was scheduled to go to trial.
The suit covered those institutionalized at the centre between 1945 and 2009 and alleged residents suffered almost daily humiliation and abuse at the overcrowded facility.
Some said they worked in the fields for little or no money, and recalled being forced to walk around with no pants on as punishment for speaking out of turn.
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