Apologising publicly for abuse in care, face-to-face, in Dunedin was important because of the "significant reports of abuse" in the city, an abuse survivor says.
The Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand (PCANZ) delivered the public apology to survivors of abuse in its care at an event held at Tuhura Otago Museum on Saturday — the first of two in-person apologies organised throughout the country.
The church said Dunedin was its "birthplace" in New Zealand and its roots were a point of reflection and accountability.
During a speech at the event, faith-based abuse survivor Frances Tagaloa singled out Dunedin-based institutions.
"In Dunedin, abuse at Knox College, [during] O Week, was an open secret until 2011, when the church finally acted," Mrs Tagaloa said.
"The master and board were removed, but survivors were silenced, while the master was honoured with a painting and a grand farewell.
"The church allowed it.
"Knox College, which is accountable to the Presbyterian Church, still enforces non-disclosure agreements, silencing survivors."
Survivors were also abused under the care of Presbyterian Support Otago (PSO) and records were destroyed as a Royal Commission of Inquiry was getting under way, she said.
Mrs Tagaloa, who is also a member of the church’s new survivor advisory group, later told the Otago Daily Times Dunedin was among three locations survivors recommended the church hold in-person events.
"We felt it was important to be here because we knew there were some significant reports of abuse here in Dunedin, whether it would be Knox College or Presbyterian Support as well as Presbyterian Church."
Knox College board chairman Murray Rae said the board appreciated and supported the apology.
"We also commit to following the processes for resolution and redress that have been recommended by the survivor advisory group."
Those processes were to be survivor-centred.
"Accordingly we will work with the survivor advisory group and abide by its recommended processes to address any questions arising from incidents that have occurred at the college in the past."
Among the nearly 50 attendees at Saturday’s apology was faith-based abuse survivor and University of Otago alumni Heidi Nayak.
"And because of what has happened here, there were a lot of survivors who wanted it to happen here."
Mrs Nayak, another member of the survivor advisory group, said she felt grateful to have been able to help shape the apology.
Some survivors would feel heartened by the apology, others would be "angry" and not trust it.
It was now on the church to implement its new survivor-designed holistic redress system and follow through, she said.
The final report from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care stated that former PSO chief executive Gillian Bremner instructed a staff member, in late 2017 or early 2018, to destroy records about children and young people in the organisation’s care.
It noted there was a "distinct legal separation" between the church and its support organisations.
However, most board members for homes run by support services were comprised of members from the Presbyterian Church and, until the 1980s, governance boards for the support services organisations were comprised "largely" of Presbyterian ministers, the report stated.
The church said many survivors saw the church and its support services as the same, despite being separate legal entities.
PSO, in September last year, issued its own public apology for the suffering and harm experienced by children in its care.
In an open letter, signed by then interim chief executive Robbie Moginie and board chairwoman Stephanie Pettigrew, PSO said it had learnt some of the people it entrusted to care for children had inflicted harm on them.
"For these children, the experience of home was one of fear, hatred and loneliness that words can’t describe."
The impact on them could be "lifelong and profound", including making it harder for them to nurture loving adult relationships and putting them at risk of drug and alcohol dependency.
The organisation also made the process of healing more difficult by denying those in its care "important information held about their young lives, when records were destroyed in 2017-18", the letter said.
"We know how important such records are, not just to those who spent parts of their childhood in our care but to their families.
"We fully accept that they should not have been destroyed, and we lament that those important links to the past have been lost."
