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	Psychologist's Case Shows Limits of Law By Lindsay Kines and Jeff Rud Times Colonist September 17, 2007 http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id= 49f7da04-ed72-48ab-96a2-9dadaae41da4&k=54358 He was once the "Saint of Saskatchewan," a Catholic priest whose work with troubled teens earned him the Order of Canada and a citizen-of-the-year award. But Father Lucien Larre has been dogged by controversy in recent years. In 1992, a Saskatchewan jury convicted him on two counts of physically abusing children in his care at Bosco Homes and acquitted him on nine other charges. Larre was sentenced to one day in jail and paid a $2,500 fine for one charge of common assault and one charge that he forced pills down the throat of a teenager to teach her a lesson about drug abuse. The National Parole Board of Canada pardoned him five years later and erased the charges. In 1998, Larre registered as a psychologist in B.C. His work, however, has prompted a number of complaints to the B.C. College of Psychologists in recent years, court documents show. There were no allegations of abuse, but individuals and other psychologists have questioned his methods and the quality of his work. Last November, the college held an extraordinary hearing and suspended his registration pending a disciplinary hearing because it felt he posed "an immediate risk to the public." The public, however, was never told of that at the time. The B.C. law that governs most, and soon all, recognized health professions states that it is the duty of a college to serve and protect the public. But the Health Professions Act places no onus on colleges to publish disciplinary decisions in a timely manner, as required in other jurisdictions. Instead, colleges are required only to let a member of the public "inspect" the registry, which shows whether psychologists have ever had their registrations suspended or revoked or had conditions or limitations placed on their registrations. Generally, it's left to the colleges to decide when and where to publish news of suspensions, resignations and other matters. "When the matter is serious, such as anything related to patient welfare, we act accordingly and ensure disclosure in a very public way, such as through newspapers or notices on the website," Andrea Kowaz, registrar of the College of Psychologists, said in a prepared statement. Larre's suspension came to light only when he appealed to the B.C. Supreme Court, which backed the college's decision to suspend him in a ruling posted on the court's website at the end of March. The Times Colonist, which has been investigating how professional colleges handle complaints and inform the public about disciplinary decisions, asked Kowaz about the Larre case during a telephone interview on April 4. The following day, Kowaz sent the TC a letter saying an advertisement would appear in that weekend's Vancouver Sun "as per our policy to publish decisions where there are public protection concerns." The notice ran April 7 -- more than four months after Larre was suspended. It stated that his registration had been suspended on an interim basis without any findings of fact being made, pending a discipline hearing. Kowaz said in a prepared statement that the college delayed publishing the notice until after his appeal. She said complainants, "interested individuals" and other regulatory bodies were notified immediately, and the suspension was noted in the college's register, which the public can inspect. In the case of a suspension following an extraordinary hearing, she said, "newspaper and website publication may be delayed for a short period of time if there is an expeditious appeal, as there was in Dr. Larre's case." Larre declined to comment on the case, because the discipline hearing has yet to conclude; it is slated to resume next month. He continues to work with clients doing "auditory processing" at his Bosco Centre in Port Coquitlam, though not in any capacity as a psychologist, general manager Ria Kaal said in a telephone interview. The centre's website states that it provides integrated services for children, adolescents and adults with learning disabilities, reading problems, attention-deficit disorders, sensory-integration disorders, fetal-alcohol exposure, brain-wave deficits, auditory-processing disorders and brain damage. Kowaz acknowledged in an interview that the Health Professions Act provides little guidance on when or where to publish discipline decisions, or even whether it's permissible to post decisions on the Internet. "It's all about responding to requests," she said. "For example, if I'm asked, I need to tell somebody the date and time of a discipline hearing and the matter of a discipline hearing." She said the college is guided by its overarching goal of protecting the public and tends toward full disclosure as permitted by legislation. "We would like to get to a place where obviously it's legally permitted to be more explicit about such things," she said. "It's really about helping the legislation get up to date with website and Internet and all the rest of it."
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