The Yukon government (YTG) has no specific process for dealing with childhood sexual abuse claims, even though it will soon face a number of suits in civil court, according to legal sources.

Earlier this week, the Star reported on an impending case of a former Takhini Elementary School student suing YTG for repeated sexual abuse he or she claims to have suffered in the mid-1970s at the hands of a public school teacher.

The government will be faced with issues similar to those in the highly-publicized residential schools cases, some observers predict.

The federal government and churches developed a process to settle these claims which involves an out-of-court settlement program called Alternative Dispute Resolution, as well as civil lawsuits. Complainants can choose to follow either legal route for compensation.

Dan Shier, the former Takhini student's local lawyer, says the government has no clear course of action to face these kinds of claims.

'The YTG still has its head in the sand,' he said in an interview this week.

'There is no mechanism set up for settling these kinds of cases.... It is all done on a case-by-case basis.

'The typical response (from the territorial government) is fight, fight, fight.'

The government could be on the cusp of a wave of similar claims. Shier says he's aware of six cases of child sexual abuse from public institutions that are currently being developed.

The government has dealt with similar cases in the criminal justice system.

Over the last generation, local educators have gone to trial and been convicted of sexually abusing students. The case revealed this week, though, is among the first to land in civil court.

Those now coming forward for compensation are younger than the victims of residential schools. They entered the education system after the federal government had closed the doors on the residential school system.

This next wave of sexual abuse cases will likely come from the public school system, group homes and detention centres, Shier believes. All of these institutions are run by the territory.

The cases are likely to keep 'going on and on and on,' he predicted.

'It is a very painful process,' said Shier. '(The upcoming cases) have the same effects and the same consequences as residential schools.'

Although native children were not the only victims of childhood sexual abuse in public institutions, most of the plaintiffs coming forward are aboriginal. It's incidental that the victims have been native, according to Shier.

'It is a sad fact of life that aboriginal children were still perceived as more vulnerable,' he said. 'The perpetrators saw that.'

The government is being sued because the abuse allegedly happened in the workplace. In much the same way, a worker who is hurt on the job sues the company, not the individual boss who asked him or her to do the dangerous task.

Also, many of those who abused the young children are now dead or have little income.

The court process is too painful for plaintiffs to pursue unless there is some promise of real monetary and moral compensation, said Shier.

YTG is being held responsible for permitting the abuse to occur by failing to prevent the abuser from being placed alone with children and unsupervised for long periods of time, court documents say.

The government is accused of breach of care for failing to notify parents and students, for not sufficiently investigating the teacher and for failing to protect the young child from the abusive situation.

The plaintiff is asking for financial restitution from the government for the physical and emotional suffering caused by the abuse.

While monetary compensation is an important step in recognizing loss of income caused by health and self-esteem problems, as well as substance abuse stemming from the sexual abuse, a government apology is also a key step in the healing process, according to Shier.

In terms of the residential schools situation, the federal government and churches have claimed responsibility, admitting the system was harmful and wrong.

The federal government has apologized for the legacy of pain stemming from these schools.

'The Government of Canada acknowledges the role it played in the development and administration of these schools,' reads the apology.

'Particularly to those individuals who experienced the tragedy of sexual and physical abuse at residential schools... what you experienced was not your fault and should never have happened. To those of you who suffered this tragedy at residential schools, we are deeply sorry.'

'YTG needs to say we were wrong; we hired a bunch of pedophiles,' says Shier.

As of yet, the territorial government has offered no public apology.

It is not commenting on matters stemming from the sexual abuse case that is in the courts at this time, in order to maintain the integrity of the trial, a spokesman said this week.

Another complicating factor is that the Yukon government was not self-insured at the time of the 1970s assaults in the current claim, says Shier.

Over the years, the government has bought coverage from many different insurers. Sometimes the coverage between different companies even overlapped, he says.

It's not always clear exactly which insurance company was responsible for insuring schools at the time of the claimed assaults, he explains. This means there may be numerous insurance companies and many stakeholders involved in each case.

'Everybody is pointing fingers at everybody,' says Shier.

Government officials were also not able to comment on the matter of insurance.

While the issue of child sexual assault may be new to civil courts in the territory, Shier sees them as part of a long line of cases that began with the Mount Cashel cases in Newfoundland.

Those cases brought the issue of institutional child abuse into the public mind. The residential schools suits and now those within the territory itself are all part of the same continuum.

'No, it's not the time victims can go forward, they should go forward,' said Shier. 'In today's society there is a sense we need to right this wrong.