CANADA
Ottawa Sun
Tue, April 4, 2006
CORNWALL — For decades, children who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of caregivers were not properly identified by the very agencies established to protect them, an inquiry heard Monday.
Despite the fact the Children’s Aid Society was established in the 1960s, it was years before sexual abuse victims were treated differently than children suffering other forms of abuse, the inquiry into the response to historical allegations of child sexual abuse in this eastern Ontario city was told.
“In the 1960s, it was about protecting neglected children,” said Bill Carriere, special assistant to the executive director of the local CAS. “There was no reference to children who were being abused.”
Carriere said the agency was set up to protect children who were suffering neglect, a term which seemed to encompass any form of maltreatment reported to case workers.