CANADA
Ottawa Citizen
Bob Rupert, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Monday, February 13, 2006
The first objective of an inquiry that opened today into alleged decades of sexual abuse of young people in Cornwall will be a "broader understanding of the historical, legal and social perspective" of child abuse.
During the first two weeks of the inquiry, scheduled for 100 days between now and November and held in a room in a former cotton mill in the city's once-thriving industrial district, Commissioner Justice Normand Glaude, his staff and the 14 parties with standing at the inquiry will hear from expert witnesses on sexual abuse, incidents in the past and how legal and social institutions responded to them.
The inquiry will first hear testimony from David Wolfe, a university of Toronto professor of psychiatry and psychology who is an authority on physical, sexual and domestic abuse. Mr. Wolfe's special interest is the impact of childhood sexual abuse on its victims.
Among other professional roles, he is chairman of a United Nations international committee on child abuse in peacetime. He also maintains a clinical practice in Toronto for children and adults exposed to traumatic events in childhood.