Lawsuit accuses Cape Breton monk of filming people in monastery shower

A lawsuit filed in the Nova Scotia Supreme Court against two Nova Scotia-based Buddhist organizations alleges that a monk filmed people showering at a Cape Breton monastery.

A 38-year-old man from Texas claims he visited Gampo Abbey in Pleasant Bay, NS, in November 2021 when seeking monastic ordination.

The plaintiff Christopher Longoria claims that while showering he saw a camera on the wall and approached the monastery’s head monk, Jack Hillie III, who later admitted that the camera belonged to him.

Basia Sowinski of Halifax-based firm Valent Legal is representing Longoria in a civil suit against the operators of Gampo Abbey and its umbrella organization, the Shambala Canada Society. Sowinski filed a draft of the lawsuit, which was not certified by the court late Thursday afternoon.

The civil suit alleges that the defendants knew or should have known that invasions of privacy were taking place at Gampo Abbey and failed to take reasonable steps to mitigate such risks.

“We’re trying to help our client address the harm he’s suffered as a result of this pretty blatant invasion of his privacy,” Sowinski said.

Longoria later filed a report against Hillie and was told the camera contained footage of others unknowingly filmed.

Hillie was criminally charged with voyeurism on April 4, 2022 in connection with alleged crimes committed between December 2020 and November 2021, according to court documents. He will make a plea in Port Hawkesbury Provincial Court on July 4.

Several phone calls and an email to Gampo Abbey went unanswered on Thursday.

Sowinski is seeking damages for pain and suffering caused by the invasion of privacy, though no amount of money was provided. Valent Legal is now interested in speaking to people who stayed at the convent during Hillie’s tenure.

“It’s likely that if they were a resident and showered there, they were observed by his camera,” Sowinski said.

None of the allegations against Hillie or two of the defendants have been tested in court.