CANADA
Ottawa Citizen
Tara Brautigam, The Canadian Press
Published: Wednesday, March 29, 2006
CORNWALL - An inquiry probing how public institutions responded to historical allegations of child sexual abuse does not have the authority to issue recommendations to the Catholic Church, a lawyer for the diocese said yesterday.
The Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese doesn't want to be considered a "public institution" as is spelled out in the terms of reference established for the inquiry last year by the Ontario government, said lawyer David Sherriff-Scott.
Considering the diocese a public institution just because it provides services to the poor and downtrodden would be unfair and would distract the inquiry from its true mandate, Mr. Sherriff-Scott told commissioner Normand Glaude.
The inquiry is investigating the handling of long-standing allegations of child sexual abuse in Cornwall.