Global Courant
Jack Whalen spent two years of his childhood locked in a box barely larger than the back of a pickup truck. He has spent countless nights reliving those memories in his head.
His dreams are violent. He once broke his nose on his bedside table while beating the guards in his sleep.
Tired of feeling helpless, Whalen came home from Ontario last week and built a replica solitary confinement cell at the Whitbourne Boys’ Home — complete with the pinstripes he made to count the days he spent inside.
On Monday morning, he placed it in the freezing cold and rain outside the Confederation Building in St. John’s in hopes that the county attorney general would see where he spent his formative years.
“I dream about it every night. I’m just looking for closure,” he said.
The county settled a lawsuit last year with former inmates of juvenile detention centers in Whitbourne and St. John’s. They donated $12.5 million to a group of about 110 people.
Whalen recreated the cell in the back of his pickup and wrote on the outer walls. Inside, he posted 730 frames, marking the approximate number of days he spent indoors. (Dan Arsenault/CBC, Ryan Cooke/CBC)
Jack Whalen was not one of those people. The difference? Whalen was physically and psychologically abused, while the others were victims of sexual abuse.
The province has no statute of limitations for cases of child sexual abuse. The same exemptions do not apply to victims of childhood physical abuse. Whalen would have had until his 21st birthday to file a claim, or until his 29th birthday if the abuse was discovered later in life.
LOOK | Jack Whalen has built a replica of the solitary confinement cell in which he spent nearly two years as a child: Jack Whalen spent nearly two years of his childhood locked in a box barely larger than the back of a pickup truck. Now he has built a replica and is using it to urge the government to change.
Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick are the only provinces with statutes of limitations for child physical abuse.
“I really don’t understand why we don’t follow the rest of Canada,” Whalen said. “The other eight provinces have already changed it, but Newfoundland and New Brunswick are behind. I really don’t understand why.”
Daughter becomes a lawyer
While Jack Whalen is asking the county government to change the rules, his daughter is asking the courts to declare them unconstitutional.
Brittany Whalen was 16 when she asked her mom why her dad isn’t helping with her homework. That conversation ended with a promise.
“My wife thought it was time to tell her and told her I grew up in the Whitbourne Boys Home and was not allowed to go to school,” explains Whalen.
“I went in with 6th grade and came out with 6th grade. My daughter was shocked by that and vowed to become a lawyer and take this case to court. She did exactly what she said she was going to do, and I am very proud of her for that.”
Whalen came home after receiving some bad news from his doctor. He is now trying to accelerate change in his home province. (Patrick Butler/Radio Canada)
She is now representing her father and is intervening in another Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court case challenging the Limitations Act.
Whalen said he appreciates his daughter’s work, but “the wheels of justice turn slowly”.
After getting news of his health in Ontario, Whalen decided to come home and look for ways to speed up the timeline. He plans to tour the city with his solitary confinement cell this week to raise awareness of what he and other children have been through in Whitbourne.
Then he said he might drive all the way to Ottawa.
“We’re going to have to make more noise,” he said.
Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
