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Staring out from a sepia-tinged photo is a smiling young woman with her blond hair swept up into a ponytail as she puts hay in a net in a horse stall.
“Lee,” whose real name has been concealed due to a court order preventing her name from being published, rode her horse before she started walking. At 20 years old, she was working a dream job as a groom, caring for the animals she loved.
The photograph was taken in the summer of 1980 — the year when everything changed for Lee. A second photo in her hands shows a red mare with a mane the colour of golden wheat. “Lindy” was a thoroughbred she took care of while working at Toronto’s Woodbine racetrack.
The horse belonged to Frank Stronach, the founder of auto parts maker Magna International.
When Stronach decided to move Lindy from Woodbine to his Beechwood farm, Lee, who had grown attached to the horse, approached the businessman for a transfer. In less than a month, she was watering and feeding Lindy at Stronach’s home farm north of Toronto.
At that time, Stronach was 47 years old and married with two children.
In 1980, he was part-owner of a hall of fame champion racehorse named Glorious Song and had begun building his stable of thoroughbreds.
Lee said she was thrilled to be hired to care for his horses. But in the course of a few short weeks, she would quit her beloved job after an alleged attack during her birthday celebration.
“At that moment, (Stronach) wasn’t my employer. He was my abductor, my rapist,” Lee said in an interview with CTV National News.
In connection to Lee’s case, the Peel Regional Police service has charged Stronach with rape and indecent assault.
Lee is one of 10 women who have filed reports with police. Their complaints have resulted in 13 sexual misconduct charges against a man hailed as a Canadian business titan.
In a statement, Leora Shemesh, who is representing the billionaire in his criminal proceedings, turned down a request for an interview with CTV National News, and said that Stronach “intends to vigorously defend against these allegations in court.”
“While we have much to say about these unfounded and unsubstantiated allegations, we intend to save the opportunity to clear Mr. Stronach’s name for the courtroom, where he will be provided with a fair and just hearing,” Shemesh said in an email.
“The media is not the forum for which we will plead our case. The Courtroom is.”
A ‘panicked’ birthday celebration
Lee’s blonde hair has now turned grey, and at 65 years old, the Mississauga woman said she is finally ready to tell her story publicly. Lee’s account has yet to be tested in court.
Forty-four summers ago, shortly after starting her job at Beechwood farm, Lee and two other grooms made plans to celebrate her July birthday a few days early. She was turning 21.
Her female co-workers convinced her to celebrate at Rooney’s, the downtown Toronto bar and restaurant that Stronach owned at the time.
“They said we could get a discount as staff,” recalled Lee. She said she remembers putting on a light grey dress with a high collar and long sleeves that went past her knees. She matched it with pantyhose and suede pumps in the same shade. The monotone look was her favourite outfit.
“It was a nice dress that I usually wore to church on Sundays. It wasn’t outrageous,” she said.
Lee said moments after she arrived at the restaurant, around 8 p.m., Stronach appeared at the table where she was sitting with her co-workers with a bottle of champagne. She said she had not even opened the menu yet.
The young woman was surprised that Stronach knew it was her birthday, because she rarely spoke to him and had made a point to keep her distance, alleging he’d previously made an “off-putting” comment to her about the genitalia of his stallions.
“I said ‘Frank, I don’t drink,’ but he said, ‘Come on it’s your birthday’. I gave into peer pressure.”
Lee said after having a few sips, Stronach pulled her onto the dance floor. It was a fast-paced beat, but Stronach pulled her close and held her “really, really tight,” she said.
“I was trying to get away, then he pushed my dress up and he tore my pantyhose and just put his fingers inside of me,” Lee said, with halting pauses as her voice cracks.
“I said no, I was objecting. Then he took me off the dancefloor and shoved me into a booth away from my table… and got in beside me to continue the assault,” Lee alleged.
Lee said she’s “pretty sure” two men were on the other side of the booth and that Stronach was talking to them while he was allegedly groping her.
CTV National News’ Judy Trinh in an interview with ‘Lee’. (CTV News)
‘Survivor mode’ near the Toronto Harbour
Lee insisted she didn’t have very much to drink, but said the hours that followed were a “blur.” She said she remembers opening her eyes in the dim light and realizing she was on a bed.
“I was on my back and I looked up and I could see my face because there was a mirror above my head. And I could see him on top of me,” she said, drawing in a deep breath. “I could feel him — that he was having sex with me.”
Lee said she was panicking at that stage, and that she told Stronach she had to use the washroom, but could not find her clothes and didn’t know how to escape. She said she didn’t know where she was or how she got there.
“He was a rich man. He could do anything to me. I went into survivor mode. I just said to myself, ‘I’ll do whatever I need to get out of here.’ I went back out. He wasn’t my employer anymore, he was my abductor, my rapist.”
Lee said Stronach eventually gave her back her clothes and escorted her out of the bedroom. She said she walked up “four or six” steps and could see Toronto Island from a window — that’s how she knew she was near the harbour.
Lee said she feared for her life but said that Stronach “acted like nothing had happened.” Instead, around dawn, he drove her back to Rooney’s so she could get her car, she alleged.
According to Lee, Stronach later called her at home. Her mother picked up the phone, but she refused to take the call, she said. That day, she quit her job at Beechwood farms and never spoke to Stronach again.
Earlier complaint that went nowhere
Other than providing vague details to a church member and a therapist, Lee kept the alleged incident a secret for decades.
“I felt humiliated. I felt ashamed. Back in those days when a woman was raped, I mean people said it was her fault. I didn’t want to tell my parents and I didn’t know who to turn to,” she said.
Then in 2015, motivated by the nascent “MeToo” movement, Lee reported the incident to Toronto police.
“I felt if he did it to me, there were others. I was feeling like I was a chicken and finally felt I had the strength to come forward,” she said.
In October 2015, Lee sat down for a video interview with Toronto police investigators at 53 Division on Eglinton Avenue, but said she left feeling deflated.
“The interview was antagonistic. I felt interrogated and pushed. Not believed. They kept pushing for more information and I gave them all that I had,” she said.
Lee said Toronto police never followed up, and there was no progress for another nine years.
This past April, after another woman filed a report about Stronach to Peel Regional Police, investigators found her old TPS report and moved forward with charges. When Peel police called her in June to let her know they were arresting and charging Stronach in her case, Lee described it as “a weight being lifted.”
“They believed me. That’s all I really needed to hear. For so long, I felt of no worth. (Stronach) was so important. I just shovelled manure.”
Calls for a review of initial investigation
Michael Wilchesky is a litigator representing Lee. He helps victims of sexual abuse seek accountability through the civil courts, and said he wants to know why TPS didn’t proceed with charges in his client’s case in 2015, which could have potentially stopped other alleged assaults from happening.
“It’s my understanding that Peel police used Lee’s statement to Toronto police to lay charges against the perpetrator… I don’t know why nothing was done at the time.”
Wilchesky said he believes TPS should review Lee’s case. Two other women have accused Stronach of sexual assault since Lee first went to 53 Division nearly a decade ago.
According to court records, Stronach has also been charged with sexual assault in incidents that allegedly occurred in April 2023 and February 2024.
Wilchesky said TPS needs to explain its actions.
“It’s really important that people feel they have an outlet to disclose these assaults and that people are going to be held accountable, that these disclosures are not just going to be dismissed by police,” Wilchesky said.
Aretha McCarthy is the chief executive officer of Hope 24/7, a non-profit agency in Brampton, Ont., that provides trauma counselling for sexual assault victims. She is also urging Toronto police to review Lee’s case to reassure survivors they will be believed and to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“It’s hard to speak to police about it and when they get there to be shut down and be brought back in a shell. That’s even more traumatizing,” said McCarthy.
In an email response, Sandy Murray, who is the senior advisor to the board of civilian members tasked with overseeing the Toronto police force, says the board is “prohibited from making policies or decisions with respect to specific investigations, the discipline of specific police officers, and the day-to-day operations of the police service.”
“A request to review a specific investigative file would fall under this prohibition,” said Murray.
When asked by CTV News if Toronto police would review the case, a TPS media relations officer said the force will not comment on a matter before the courts.
It took Lee 44 years to speak publicly about the alleged assault in 1980.
In those decades, 91-year-old Stronach has transformed himself from a millionaire to a billionaire. Streets and community buildings in Ontario are named after the Austrian-Canadian business titan. In 1999, his achievements were recognized by his adopted country when he was awarded the Order of Canada.
Meanwhile, Lee’s career aspirations to be a veterinarian were derailed since taking that job at Beechwood Farms. She said the trauma and shame led to years of “being lost.”
“I’m wiser now. And stronger, but it broke me.”
Other than Lee, there are nine other women who have accused Stronach of sexual offences. Their allegations begin in 1977 and stretch to 2024. Their stories haven’t been told. Neither has Stronach’s version of events.
If you or someone you know is struggling with sexual assault or trauma, the following resources are available to support people in crisis:
If you are in immediate danger or fear for your safety, you should call 911.
A full list of sexual assault centres in Canada that offer information, advocacy and counselling can be found on the website for the Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres.
Helplines, legal services and locations that offer sexual assault kits in Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia can be found here.
National Residential School Crisis Line: +1 866 925 4419
24-hour crisis line: 416 597 8808
Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline: +1 833 900 1010
Trans Lifeline: +1 877 330 6366
Sexual misconduct support for current or former members of the Armed Forces: +1 844 750 1648
Read about your rights as a victim here.