CANADA
CBC News
Last Updated Mon, 13 Feb 2006 17:24:22 EST
CBC News
A judge opened an inquiry into an alleged pedophile ring in Cornwall on Monday, saying he expected it to allow healing in the eastern Ontario city.
Justice Normand Glaude said the inquiry would be "a lengthy and sometimes difficult process."
The commission is investigating how the justice system responded to allegations that high-profile members of the community sexually abused children over 50 years.
Some people have accused the police and other authorities of covering up the alleged sex-abuse ring because it involved people in positions of power.
Others have questioned the allegations, describing them as a form of mass hysteria or witch hunt that damaged the community and wrecked the reputations of innocent people.
Initial investigations by local and provincial police found no wrongdoing, sparking the first allegations of a coverup.
In 1997, a provincial police investigation called Project Truth resulted in 114 charges against 15 men, including a doctor, lawyers and three Roman Catholic priests.