Children at Island religious commune were treated as slaves, trial told

Charlottetown Guardian/September 20, 2002

Charlottetown -- Children at an Island religious commune were treated as slaves, a 14-year-old outcast from the group testified at its leader's trial Thursday. Lucille Poulin, 78, a former nun, is accused of assault against five children who lived in the small commune near Fredericton, P.E.I., where she was teacher, spiritual leader and boss of a small farm and restaurant. The eldest of her alleged victims took the stand Thursday to testify about the long hours of work and regular beatings that were meted out under Poulin's instruction.

"Who was the big boss?" Crown attorney Darrell Coombs asked.

"Lucille, because she had control of everything," the boy answered.

The court has ruled that the names of the children and their parents cannot be published.

The boy told court that Poulin's spiritual leadership evolved to the point that she was able to assign the commune's men, women and children to perform the farm and restaurant duties she wanted.

The boy said he believed in Poulin's leadership to the point that he felt she had almost supernatural powers.

"I know I believed. We really thought she had power over heaven - over our souls. We thought we'd go to hell if we disobeyed her," he said.

Those fears worsened when his older brother died in December 1999.

"I didn't know if he'd done something wrong or if he died of natural causes," the child testified.

The boy moved to Prince Edward Island from Alberta in 1995 with his parents and four siblings, following a commune member's dream of the Island. Six other siblings remained behind.

In court Thursday, the slight, neatly groomed boy said play was all but forbidden at the farm and relationships between children and parents were strongly discouraged.

He said beatings with a wooden paddle called "the rod" were meted out for infractions that ranged from sleeping late to lying or stealing an extra piece of bread.

A boy who wet the bed was given regular morning paddlings, he said.

The witness said Poulin would lash out with the paddle when she was schooling the children but that she left the more serious punishments to the adult men, who she felt were stronger.

He said Poulin became upset when she felt that the boy's father and one of the other men weren't putting enough effort into the punishment.

"(One man) would give it everything he had, that's what she liked so she asked him," he said.

"I remember one evening she said (my sister) had to get a beating because she hadn't had one in a while. They met at the home and she got 21 or 28" whacks with the paddle.

The boy testified that his work day began before 6 a.m. and often went until 11 p.m. He said classes were fit in around his duties as a dishwasher and helper at the commune's restaurant.

He said Poulin put farm and restaurant work ahead of schooling in the children's schedule. The ex-nun claimed to speak with God.

"As far as us, she really had us for her work slaves. She said she talked to him (God) but as far as that I don't think it was anything serious. It was just her own game."

Defence lawyer Zia Chishti asked the boy if it wasn't the case that Poulin had tried to raise him to be obedient to his guardians and to God.

"Lucy was telling you not to tell lies and to obey God," the lawyer said. "And it was for you betterment?"

The boy rejected the suggestion that Poulin's instruction had improved him.

"I don't believed it benefited me," he said. "She taught me her own version. It's not what I believe. I believe in Jesus Christ."

Earlier in the day, the boy's father faced cross-examination from Chishti about his involvement in the commune. The man, who has not been charged, has testified that at Poulin's instruction he would strike the children with the rod.

"I was afraid of the word of God that she taught to us," he said. "We had to obey the prophet."

"You were taught to obey God but not the law?" Chishti asked.

The man said Poulin taught that divine instruction came before earthly laws.

"To obey the law, yes; but not to disobey the scriptures."