Former Gloriavale member breaks media silence

Friday, 1 May 2015

A man who left Gloriavale says the sex abuse claims in the media recently are exaggerated.

James Ben Canaan, who left the secretive community two months ago with his family, broke his media silence on Friday. Working on a dairy farm and living near Temuka now, he said the media had not presented what was '100 per cent true'. 

Speaking to Radio Live, the father of 12 said sexual abuse and beatings were not condoned and against the community's core beliefs.

He conceded there was physical punishment such as being smacked on the backside, 'but not physical punishment that has been described on television, that is way over the top'. 

With 500 people living closely together at Gloriavale, Ben Canaan said people knew what was going on with everyone, there were not many secrets.

Though he does not know much about leader Hopeful Christian's sex abuse convictions, he was not aware of any sexual abuse while living at Gloriavale for the first 41 years of his life.

The reason he left was because the community leaders always taught the members that the only way to live as a Christian was within the compound. Ben Canaan had heard other preachers outside Gloriavale on the internet and knew that was not true.

The leaders also told members that no-one else taught Christianity the way they did.

'You are not allowed to question and if you do you are put down pretty quickly.'

He said the only abuse he was aware of was the mental pressure from leaders if members did not conform or wanted to leave. He disagreed that community members were brainwashed.

If someone wanted to leave and spoke to the leaders about it they would be asked to attend a meeting with about 12 to 15 leaders who would try to talk them out of it 'forcefully'.

It was that potential pressure that led the family to leave at night, secretly, taking only a few clothes and some blankets. Some other families had been separated when one had been talked into staying and the other had left, he said. 

All members must sign a form to give all their money to the Goriavale trust or they are not allowed to get married. Everyone has a bank account but no one knows how much is in it. When Ben Canaan and his family left they discovered the truth. Each had $5.

'I do not want to make trouble for Gloriavale. A lot of people I love and friends I've known all my life are still there,' he said.

He is not angry, which he attributes to his Christian faith.

'When you are growing up there you don't realise the lack of freedom until you leave. I did not feel oppressed as I didn't know anything else. We are told we could not possibly survive out there.'

It is a very good place to raise a family within the community, he said.

'There's a lot of support and help. The schooling is at a high level. My 15-year-old has NCEA level 3.'

Though four of Ben Canaan's siblings have already left Gloriavale, his parents haven't, and he will not be allowed contact with them or his large extended family.

He is thankful that a Timaru church is being very supportive of him, his wife and 12 children.