Promise of healing became sexual abuse in homes linked to teen facility, girls allege
Eleven years ago, Alison* says the person charged with her care crossed a line that altered her life – and she’s been living in the shadow of the trauma ever since.
At 16, Alison, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, stepped off a plane in Kelowna, B.C., to attend a residential treatment facility. Marketed as “Canada’s leading program for struggling teens,” Venture Academy looked idyllic; a crimson clapboard farmhouse nestled among rolling fields, and a residential program that houses teens with local families, known as host parents. She’d agreed to attend at her mother’s behest – her home life was unsafe, she says, but she isn’t comfortable saying why.
Instead, Alison says she found herself in another place where safety was promised, but never delivered.
“I wouldn’t have gotten on that plane if I knew what I was getting into,” she tells Global News.
Because, according to Alison, what once felt like a chance at a clean slate began to shift — subtly at first, then unmistakably.
Alison was allegedly sexually abused by her male host parent, one of four underage girls who say they were abused or assaulted by men who became their carers while attending the program, according to court documents and a six-month-long investigation by Global News.
Since launching in Kelowna in 2001, Venture has opened two further locations, one near Red Deer, Alta., and another near Barrie, Ont. The company vows to address everything from family conflict, drug and alcohol use, mental health issues, to smartphone addiction. Its Kelowna location shuttered in 2021 for undisclosed reasons.
Host parents are employed as contractors for Venture, providing housing for teens throughout their stay. They are also responsible for transporting attendees to and from the campus, preparing meals and providing day-to-day care for youth.
Global News’ investigation involved interviews with about 70 alumni, parents, staff and host parents across Venture’s three locations and an analysis of hundreds of pages of court and child welfare documents, uncovering a program that, some say, inflicted psychological and emotional harm under the guise of therapeutic rehabilitation. It also found a residential program that appears to operate with scarce training and little oversight.
“When questions were brought up (about host parents’ behaviour), the answer was, ‘We need host parents,’” says one former staffer at Venture’s Ontario campus, who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions.
Former attendees are seeking accountability in courtrooms.
Three cases, and at least one police investigation referring to two complainants, allege that sexual abuse or assault was committed by male host parents housing underage girls for Venture. One of them has resulted in a criminal conviction.
Alison’s wasn’t that case. Now aged 27, she filed a civil court case in January against her former host parent, his wife, and Venture Academy, suing for a sum they’ve yet to determine. The case alleges that Venture knew, or ought to have known, about the abuse, and that it was “concealed … to avoid scandal.”
“It ruined my life … and I’m still working to this day to try to get the pieces back from that incident,” Alison says.
Venture did not serve its defence within the three-week period set out in the court rules, which is not uncommon for lawsuits.
Court documents allege that the abuse began when her 27-year-old host father began entering her room unannounced after she’d showered and was changing, and making sexual jokes about her. He allegedly provided her with alcohol and cigarettes and took explicit photos of her and another Venture teen. Then, the suit alleges, he was lying on her bed and “touching, cuddling and kissing her,” before things escalated to sexual intercourse between 50 and 100 times over six weeks.
Global is not naming the host parents referred to in this story, because doing so could reveal their victims’ identities, which are protected by publication bans.
Alison remained with the program for two months, and subsequently reported the abuse allegations to police within a year of leaving,
A Kelowna RCMP investigation took six years before an arrest was made. Of the six charges the man initially faced, there was one conviction, but it related to the sexual exploitation of another underage Venture youth.
Venture declined to answer all questions from Global News, citing “reasons of confidentiality and privacy.”
It did, however, provide a statement that described itself as a “lifeline for youth and families in crisis.”
“(Our) locations reinforce our commitment to safety, quality, and responsive care,” the statement says.
Almost a decade after Alison’s experience at Venture, the company’s oversight of host parents remains a concern with the province and the local children’s aid society. Documents obtained by Global News from recent inspections from 2024 and 2025 on the Venture Ontario campus, conducted by the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (MCCSS), and a 2020 child protection investigation by Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions (SMFC) both outline ongoing concerns with host parent vetting, evaluation and training.
“There is no minimum standard for capacity, qualification, training and education for staff and host parents, which impacts the quality of care,” a 2020 letter from SMFC to Venture’s founder Gordon Hay reads.
But an expert interviewed by Global News believes, based on the testimonies of alumni and staff, that the way residential programs such as Venture’s operate can open the door to abuse. It’s reminiscent of the U.S.’s troubled teen industry (TTI), which is currently amid a reckoning over abuse allegations.
“These kinds of programs are so exploitable by people who are looking to sexually abuse children,” says U.K.-based researcher Sarah Golightley, who has spent nearly a decade examining the troubled teen industry in the U.S.
Young people with mental health problems in these programs are often seen to be “crazy,” she says, and because staff and parents have been primed not to believe them, any teen who comes forward with complaints of sexual abuse can expect not to be believed.
That was the environment, teens and staff say, that was entrenched at Venture.
Venture Academy operates three for-profit treatment centres for struggling youth – the first month can cost families more than $15,000, and it’s about $10,000 for every month after that. It’s an option many families turn to as the public health system struggles with the rise of teen anxiety and depression, and skyrocketing wait times for publicly funded treatments.
Alison recalls being “tricked” into attending Venture by her mother, who she says described it as a boarding school. She disembarked her flight in Kelowna, recalling it was “sunny.”
But her experience, she says, soon turned dark.
According to allegations in her lawsuit, Alison was living with a young host couple when the abuse began. Two months prior, another Venture student was allegedly removed from that home by Venture, because there was a concern from the girl’s parents and staff that their daughter was “too close” with the host father.
After two weeks of the man “grooming” Alison, according to court documents, Alison and the host father began having sexual intercourse. The man said if she told anyone, he would go to jail and his “children would suffer, according to allegations in court documents.
The man’s wife discovered the abuse after a few weeks but “took no steps to stop or report (it),” court documents say.
Eventually, Venture asked Alison to leave the program because her behaviour was worsening, court documents allege. When Global asked her to elaborate on what happened, she declined.
The company continued to house other underage girls in the man’s home and did not terminate his employment until months later, in August 2014, court documents say. Venture allegedly did not report the sexual abuse to police.
Because of the sexual abuse, Alison was so scared she would be sent to another residential treatment program that she ran away and lived unhoused for about six to 12 months, court documents say. During this time, Alison says she was subjected to further sexual assaults and became pregnant.
In April 2015, Alison reported the alleged abuse to police, Kelowna RCMP confirmed to Global News. But the former host parent wasn’t arrested until six years later, in Peterborough, Ont. Kelowna RCMP wouldn’t elaborate on why the arrest took six years, except to say it followed an “extensive investigation.”
The former host parent faced two counts of sexual exploitation and one count of sexual assault in relation to Alison, and two counts of sexual exploitation and one count of sexual assault against another Venture youth.
In April 2022, he pleaded guilty to one count of sexual touching with respect to the unnamed complainant, while the rest of the charges were stayed. He was sentenced to 28 months in prison, ordered to register on the national sex offender registry for 10 years, and released from prison in October 2024.
The host parent’s Parole Board decision highlighted similarities with allegations in Alison’s case. He plied his victim with alcohol and cigarettes and groomed her to the point that the sexual offending occurred two or three times per week, according to the decision. The man’s wife found them in bed naked together, the documents state, but she did not report the behaviour to police until 18 months later.
In a victim impact statement, referenced in the Parole Board decision, the girl said she was so embarrassed by the “mental anguish” of the assaults that she began cutting herself and attempted suicide by drug overdose.
“Reports indicate you also abused another victim under similar circumstances but were not convicted; you dispute this information and any relationship with a second victim,” the decision states.
Alison’s lawsuit lists 14 mental health issues she says she has been left with, including complex post-traumatic stress disorder, an eating disorder, paranoia and chronic pain.
“(The abuse) changed who I was as a person,” she tells Global News.
“It truly does affect you forever. It doesn’t just go away.”
The host parent declined to answer questions from Global News, stating, “I can deal with this privately.” He also said he had not yet been “served anything,” and the address noted on Alison’s lawsuit is wrong.
Venture did not respond to detailed questions about the case.
Looking back now, Alison says she was too young and vulnerable to know she was being groomed.
“A whole range of adults failed, not only me, but other kids in the program as well.”
In July 2016, another lawsuit was filed against Venture involving Kelowna host parents.
According to allegations in those court documents, a host father repeatedly sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl in 2010. The incidents happened in the early mornings in her bedroom while the host mother was out of the house, court documents allege. The man allegedly fondled the young girl’s buttocks and legs, hugged her intimately, used sexually suggestive bodily contact and made sexually threatening comments.
Both Venture and the host parents filed defences denying the allegations of sexual assault and sexual exploitation of a minor.
The sexual assault allegations came after the girls’ parents sued Venture Academy and its founder, Gordon Hay, in a separate lawsuit in 2011, seeking damages for breach of contract, fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation, and breach of fiduciary duty. Venture and Hay denied the allegations, and a year later, the case was settled.
Then, in 2013, Venture sued the girl and her mother for defamation, claiming they “embarked on a campaign to undermine Venture.” In doing so, Venture says the mother breached a 2012 settlement agreement, which included non-disparagement clauses. Both the girl and her mother denied the allegations.
Global attempted to contact the mother and daughter to ask them about their experience at Venture, but was unsuccessful.
Read Part 1 of Global’s investigation into Venture Academy
In 2022, a year after the Kelowna campus closed, Venture argued that the case involving sexual assault should be dismissed and that it should not be held liable. Part of its argument rested on the claim that the host father, now facing health issues, was unfit to testify.
Shortly after, the girl filed to have the case dismissed without costs. Venture agreed, and the case was dismissed on March 30, 2022. The defamation lawsuit is ongoing.
Global News uncovered another court case involving Venture, relating to its Barrie campus. In February 2014, a Toronto couple sued the Ontario branch of the company for $100,000, saying their 14-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted.
According to allegations in Ontario court documents, the girl attended Venture in 2011 and was treated as an “individual of sexual interest” to her male host parent, who made sexual comments and gestures of a sexual nature to her, as well as appearing around her in a state of partial undress.
That behaviour escalated to sexual assault when the man forcibly groped her, the documents allege.
About four months into her stay, Venture Academy transferred the girl to another host parent’s house, characterizing it as “standard procedure,” according to court documents. The couple removed their daughter from the program, the documents say, and reported the host parent’s conduct to the police. The couple declined to speak to Global News through their lawyer. A source close to the case said it was settled.
Monthly payments for host parents, according to a Venture job listing from late May, start at $2,100, and the only qualifications necessary appear to be a valid driver’s licence, Level 1 first aid, and a criminal record check with a vulnerable sector search.
Venture declined to comment on its vetting processes.
But child welfare authorities in Ontario have repeatedly raised concerns about aspects of the host parent program.
In 2020, SMFC’s child protection investigation found that Venture’s host parents were not always prepared or enabled to support youth with mental health issues, substance abuse, concurrent disorders, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and/or complex trauma.
Five of the investigation’s 26 recommendations referred to the management of host parents, urging Venture to ensure adequate training and support and to ensure they all have child welfare, criminal background and vulnerable sector checks.
But problems with the residential program continued. A 2022 report by MCCSS’s investigations and enforcement unit found that four of the eight files examined by investigators did not have the required evidence that police record checks were completed, and three did not include a foster parent assessment conducted by Venture.
In 2024, MCCSS’s licensing report alleged that Venture’s host parent files lacked evidence that training requirements were met. In 2025, a child’s file lacked a host parent’s approval to even be a host parent, according to the report.
MCCSS would not answer specific questions about these reports.
Lise Milne, a social work professor at the University of Regina and the research chair for the Child Trauma Research Center, says the perceived lack of oversight of Venture’s residential program, based on allegations from staff and host parents, could have allowed abuse to occur.
“This results in these types of abuse situations occurring more prominently, especially when there’s no oversight, especially when a child does not have the channels to speak about what’s happened to them,” Milne says.
Milne says that because child sexual abuse has so much shame associated with it, many children do not disclose allegations until adulthood, which she believes is why so many cases go unreported.
Based on allegations from Venture alumni and staff, Golightly draws a parallel between Venture and companies operating in the TTI in the U.S. – an area that has faced growing scrutiny, prompting Senate committee reports, documentaries, and the establishment of a new litigation group focused on investigating “troubled teen industry abuse” cases.
“The stories … about abuse and the way that young people have been treated is unfortunately very similar to many of the stories we’ve heard in the United States,” Golightley says.
Instead of responding to questions from Global, Venture sent a two-page statement about the company, its ethos and operations. It described itself as a company that “prioritizes transparency, feedback, and continuous improvement,” with a “strong parental and family component.”
The company also quoted a survey of parents and youth who participated in the program between 2016 and 2024. Without disclosing any methodology or sample size, it said 99 per cent of parents felt their child benefited from the program, 99 per cent of parents agreed or strongly agreed that their child was safe and well-supervised while in the program, and 97 per cent of youth agreed or strongly agreed that they had a positive overall experience during their time at Venture.
“When families have nowhere else to turn, Venture Academy is there, providing the hope, care, and stability they need,” the statement says.
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