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An Okanagan Indian Band member is suing the Catholic Church alleging she was sexually abused as a child while attending a church-run elementary school in Vernon.

In a statement of claim filed Feb. 22, the woman alleges she was sexually abused by a priest when she was seven years old and attending St. James Catholic School in Vernon in 1970.

The woman is the fourth person in recent years to take legal action against the Catholic Church in Vernon following allegations of sexual abuse that occurred decades earlier.

The plaintiff filed the Supreme Court suit against the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Kamloops and John Doe.

The court document states the woman does not know the Catholic priest's name, but that his identity is known to the Diocese.

According to the notice of claim, the woman attended St. James Catholic School from 1968 to 1972.

"In or around the spring of 1970, when the plaintiff was seven years old and enrolled as a student at St. James School, she was in the schoolyard during a lunch break from classes when she entered St. James Church," reads the notice of claim. "Inside St. James Church the plaintiff encountered John Doe. John Doe grabbed her, picked her up, touched her genitals, penetrated her vagina, and kissed her on the mouth, neck and face."

The court documents say the woman was under the care and supervision of St. James School staff, and that the priest was in a position of power, trust and authority over the woman.

iNFOnews.ca has chosen to not identify the woman.

READ MORE: B.C. man suing after being sexually abused at Vernon church

"The conduct of John Doe was intentional, malicious, and was done with the knowledge that it would cause the plaintiff humiliation, indignity, mental distress and psychological injury," the notice of claim reads. "In the alternative, the conduct of John Doe was done with wanton, careless, and willful disregard for the consequences to the plaintiff’s psychological health."

The court document says the woman has suffered trauma, depression, alcoholism, substance misuse, anxiety and suicidal ideation, among other conditions.

The woman also has a distrust of religious figures and religious institutions.

"As a result of the sexual assault and the injuries sustained, the plaintiff has suffered, and will continue to suffer, a loss of enjoyment of life," reads the document.

The woman is one of a number of people who have taken legal action against the Catholic Church in Vernon.

In 2020, two brothers came to an out-of-court settlement with the Archdiocese of Kamloops after they said they were sexually abused by Father Herbert Bourne at St. James Church during the 1970s.

The brothers' lawyer at the time had said he was sure there were more victims out there.

Recently, another man filed a case against the Vernon church allegedly he was sexually abused in the 1980s by a priest visiting from Montreal.

A former school teacher who taught at a Catholic school in Kamloops in the 1970s was awarded $850,000 in damages in 2020 after a Supreme Court Justice ruled that the Archdiocese of Kamloops had failed to protect the teacher from the "predatory instincts" of a "playboy" priest.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

READ MORE: B.C. man suing after allegedly being sexually abused at Vernon care home

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