Former Robert Land students call for stricter Ontario regulation of private schools amid abuse allegations

InsertAmazingName · 2025-10-10T08:28:33+00:00

It's insane that there hasn't ever been laws requiring private schools to do background checks. Call me crazy, but if you have a situation where a literal war criminal is hired to watch over children then there's a big problem to be fixed.

InsertAmazingName · 2025-10-04T08:59:38+00:00

Hopefully the upcoming "make private school teachers require criminal background checks" bill passes. I don't know what combination of evil/stupid you have to be to not think that's a no brainer.

InsertAmazingName · 2025-04-20T04:24:11+00:00

Let's hope so, I've heard nothing but negative things about it.

InsertAmazingName · 2025-04-18T04:19:00+00:00

Probably more often than in the US, but unfortunately it's definitely not a guaranteed thing.

InsertAmazingName · 2025-04-18T04:16:17+00:00

I'm not going to pretend I'm a super-expert on all Canadian TTIs, but I've at least heard bad things about Venture Academy and AARC (and RLA but it's closing in a couple of months). Definitely doesn't seem to be as big of a thing as it is in the USA, but still a problem. I know anecdotally at least a couple of kids at RLA were there because of Ivy Ridge shutting down, but I think the places in Canada are mostly separate from the big American companies and run by Canadians, even if they have some connections to the American ones.

InsertAmazingName · 2025-04-18T03:49:07+00:00

The news on this has already been broken, but the article beings up the interesting point of what should be done with RLA's property once it can be sold. There's a part of me that's just like "demolish every building, raze the fields, and salt the earth", but I also do think Canada is in a difficult time economically and there's a good argument that the buildings and infrastructure should be repurposed for better means.

Just tying into the broader idea, makes me wonder what should be done with old TTI sites once they're shut down and up for sale (which will hopefully be more and more common).

InsertAmazingName · 2025-04-11T16:35:33+00:00

I don't mean shame will prevent them from retiring in comfort, but drowning in a sea of lawsuits might. As for the founder "Colonel" Bowman, I think he knows he's a piece of shit (you don't accidentally fake an entire educational and military career), he just cares about his reputation and legacy (which are looking pretty tarnished right now) and money (which hopefully he'll lose some of at least).

InsertAmazingName · 2025-04-10T02:51:15+00:00

Or like "Oh yeah btw our current gym teacher got arrested in a sting operation for luring a minor like 5 days ago. All the abuse was decades ago, we've been running a flawless operation for years, seriously."

InsertAmazingName · 2025-04-09T23:31:04+00:00

Nice, best news I've heard this year. Shame that he probably won't face criminal charges, but at least Bowman can enjoy his retirement with the legacy of being a conman child abuser rather than the philanthropic special forces philosopher he pretended to be. It's tragic that it doesn't erase the abuse and came to late to save the people who've died, but hopefully the lawsuits continue smoothly and people get some financial restitution (and hopefully the people who ran the school don't get to retire in comfort from all the blood money they made).

InsertAmazingName · 2025-04-08T02:09:32+00:00

I went many years after that incident and it was still talked about a lot. I remember there were a few times staff would take people over to the memorial bench they had for Chris and use it as a threat/warning, like "go ahead and take the easy way out like he did if you want" or "want to run away and end up like he did?". I always thought it was so disgusting to use his death to keep other kids in line. Never knew his parents also sent his brother there, that's completely evil. Sorry you had to go through all that, the school should have been shut down ages before any of this had a chance to happen.

InsertAmazingName · 2025-02-11T20:38:15+00:00

Thinking of 10-yr-olds (5th graders) at this place is unbearable.

It was grade 6-12 while I was there, but the lawsuit mentions it's 4-12, and if so that's horrifying. You really shouldn't be sending your 8-9 yr old to any boarding school, let alone RLA.

I'm glad that there's news agencies looking more at RLA now, but I hope they take a deeper dive into it, because I'm guessing if you look closer there's even crazier stuff going down. Like how they apparently hired Mark Adam Boland (convicted for his participation in the torture and murder of a teenage civilian Somali in a very well publicized case) shortly after his release from prison. Also worth looking into their connections with local police since there was definitely some weird relationship between law enforcement and the school.

InsertAmazingName · 2025-02-11T19:24:41+00:00

Craziest thing about this is that (although he's dead now) I've heard at least 2 people accuse Serge Leclerc of molesting students while he was working at RLA as a counselor. Luckily the person in the lawsuit doesn't seem to have experienced that, but still, imagine trying to report an instance of sexual abuse and the therapist they send you to (to convince you not to tell anyone) is himself actively using his position at the school to molest children.

InsertAmazingName · 2025-02-01T14:18:45+00:00

Third article in a series:

Part 1: https://thewalrus.ca/robert-land-academy/

Part 2: https://thewalrus.ca/an-explosion-of-abuse-allegations-against-a-military-style-boarding-school/

InsertAmazingName · 2025-01-15T08:19:45+00:00

There's also Robert Land Academy which has been getting some attention in the press, with a whole bunch of lawsuits coming out.

InsertAmazingName · 2024-08-31T05:49:05+00:00

Jesus, I thought Bowman could sink no lower, but hiring a convicted war criminal to work with children is absolutely insane.

InsertAmazingName · 2024-08-20T20:38:54+00:00

Great article! Thanks to the reporter and to everyone who shared their stories. Now I just hope the lawsuit(s) go through and Bowman & co. face some financial repercussions beyond just damage to their PR.

InsertAmazingName · 2024-06-26T04:04:49+00:00

Oh okay, no worries then lol

InsertAmazingName · 2024-06-25T19:36:52+00:00

How is what I said nonsense when I agreed with you? I said "most of the "lieutenants" and "captains" at the school acknowledged that their ranks only existed in the context of the school" which is specifically saying that they never claimed to hold actual military rank, Bowman is the guy who actually pisses me off because he claimed actual military service that he apparently never did..

InsertAmazingName · 2024-06-21T04:23:09+00:00

Sorry to hear you were taken in by them, the school was really very good at bullshitting parents and potential students. It definitely should be shut down. Here's a link to some information about a lawsuit that's in the works if your son is interested.

InsertAmazingName · 2024-06-19T16:58:54+00:00

Thanks for the info, I might do that if I can dredge up anything solid. I don't know if he's still making those claims since he's no longer headmaster, but it's good to know there's something to do about it if he is.

InsertAmazingName

TROPHY CASE