of Fitzgerald to the Commission: "Brother Fitzgerald was his grade 3 teacher in 1974. He said that at the end of school every Friday Brother Fitzgerald would line up his students and kiss them goodbye. He kissed some with his tongue." He died in 1987 before any charges were laid against him. Minutes of the meeting of the Christian Brothers Provincials with their lawyers on December 7, 1993, showed that the meeting was not focused on settling the proceedings: the concern was the cost, and there was no sentiment of recognizing the suffering of the survivors. In May 2013, the Christian Brothers admitted to Victoria's parliamentary inquiry into child abuse that they did what they could to defend order members accused of sexual assault against children. During the 2016 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Ballarat it was found that 853 children were sexually abused by one or more Christian Brothers with the average age of 13. 281 Christian Brothers have had abuse complaints substantiated, and the Christian Brothers have paid $37.3 million in compensation. During the Ballarat Case Study of the Royal Commission it was found that Glynis McNeight, a private investigator, was paid by the Christian Brothers (through a retained law firm) to investigate two individuals who had alleged having been sexually abused by Brother Edward Dowlan. McNeight's report was tabled that contained a strategy to manipulate witnesses such as a victim could "easily be torn down in the witness box" and "the person himself is a very nervous, excitable type who will reduce to tears and bad language easily". It was also shown that the Christian Brothers knew of abuse at the hands of Brothers but did not tell police and spent almost $1.5 million defending pedophile Brothers Robert Best, Edward Dowlan and Stephen Farrell. Canada The Christian Brothers in Canada have had more than 300 former pupils alleged physical and sexual abuse at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in Newfoundland. When allegations of physical and sexual abuse started to surface in the late 1980s, the government, police and local church leaders conspired in an unsuccessful cover-up. In Ontario in January 1993 the Christian Brothers reached a financial settlement totaling $23 million with 700 former students who alleged abuse. Allegations of sexual abuse at Mount Cashel Boys Home orphanage in Newfoundland (Canada) led to a royal commission (The Hughes Inquiry) and further investigations followed