A Superior Court judge has given the go-ahead to a proposed class-action lawsuit against the province by former students of a school for the blind in Brantford who claim they were abused.

Former students of W. Ross MacDonald, who attended the provincially run facility in Brantford from the 1950s until the ’80s, allege they suffered a laundry list of abuse, including being slapped, kicked, punched, forced to drink from a urinal, and made to eat their own vomit as punishment for throwing up — all at the hands of teachers and staff at the school.

Teachers and staff also abused students sexually, or permitted students to abuse one another in this way, the claim states.

The claimants, visually impaired, blind and deaf-blind former students, are seeking $200 million in damages, and as many as 1,000 former students could be affected, say their lawyers.

In her decision released late last week in Toronto, Superior Court Justice Carolyn Horkins ruled the class-action covers all students who attended or resided at the school from January 1 1951 to the present.

The Crown had sought to limit the class-action to only those who attended after 1963.

Bob Seed, 66, the lead plaintiff in the class-action bid, claims the abuse he suffered as a student at the school started in the early 1960s when he was around 14.

In Grade 8, Seed alleges, he was physically abused by a teacher who, he says, conducted classes like a boot camp. Seed says the man grabbed him by the throat, spat in his face and shoved him, desk and all, to the back of the classroom — then came back and punched him.

Seed says he spent more than a week in the school’s infirmary recovering from his injuries.

The allegations haven’t been tested in court and the province hasn’t filed a statement of defence because it was awaiting the judge’s ruling on the certification bid.

One of the key arguments brought forward by the plaintiffs is that the province breached its fiduciary duty to the students at the school.

The Crown said the class-action shouldn’t proceed because the plaintiffs hadn’t brought forward facts to establish that the province put its own interests ahead of the students’ interests.

But for highly technical reasons the Horkins allowed the breach of fiduciary duty claim against the province to proceed.

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It’s unclear whether the province will be appeal the certification ruling. A spokesperson for the province said the decision is being reviewed.

No date has been set for the lawsuit to proceed.