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In his London, Ont., firm, lawyer Robert Talach is known as “the priest guy.”

That’s because, for more than a decade, Talach has done little else in his practice but sue the Catholic Church on behalf of Canadians who say they were sexually abused as children by priests. He has represented abuse victims from Vancouver to Moncton,

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“I’m almost 13 years into just chasing the priests,” he said in an interview. “I do one United Church case every year, maybe one Anglican. But I have 50 Catholic cases … It says they have a problem.”

He believes the Catholic Church, by requiring a celibate priesthood, made sexuality a forbidden subject among priests and the bishops responsible for managing them. It meant, he said, that even sex abuse was not discussed.

“Very rarely have I encountered a whistleblower priest,” he said. “Nobody steps forward. Nobody squeals on their brother priest.”

Talach has represented more than a dozen clients from Ottawa, most of whom where victimized by Rev. Dale Crampton, the most notorious name in this city’s clergy abuse scandal.