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	Don't Expand Inquiry's Mandate, Judge Told Appeal Court Rebukes Commissioner for Broadening His Mission 'Beyond All Proportions' By Kirk Makin The Globe and Mail January 19, 2008 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080119.CORNWALL19/TPStory/TPNational/Ontario/ A judge heading a controversial inquiry into an alleged pedophile ring in Cornwall, Ont., was dealt a stinging slap in the face from the Ontario Court of Appeal yesterday for unwisely trying to expand his sprawling probe into a "truly breathtaking" new realm of evidence. In a 3-0 decision, the court expressed amazement that Mr. Justice Normand Glaude would even consider expanding his mandate beyond allegations that a ring of influential local men assaulted scores of children and conspired to protect one another from discovery. Judge Glaude's misunderstanding of his mission "single-handedly broadens his mandate beyond all proportions," Mr. Justice Michael Moldaver said, ruling in favour of a legal challenge from two police forces, a Roman Catholic diocese, a police association and the Ontario government. "In short, the Commissioner's view of his mandate runs the risk of standing the so-called 'main focus' of the inquiry on its head and creating an unwieldy - if not unmanageable - mega-inquiry that could go on for years at great public expense." Judge Glaude was appointed in early 2005 to probe the collapse of 115 charges against 15 people during a police operation known as Project Truth. His instructions included scrutinizing the response of police and social workers to the allegations of "historical abuse" and trying to heal painful divisions in the community. Barely past the halfway mark, seasoned observers have estimated that the final bill will be between $40-million and $50-million. Judge Glaude had proposed to hear evidence from a woman who claims she suffered emotionally from a 1993 sexual assault at knifepoint by two teenaged boys. She alleges that the police officer to whom she reported the crime treated her in an abusive and insensitive manner. Commission lawyers maintained that they were permitted to delve into all cases involving allegations of sexual abuse against young people in the region made before the commission was established. However, Judge Moldaver said this would "open the door to similar testimony from hundreds of complainants and their family members who might wish to come forward and speak of their experiences with the police and other institutions - both pro and con - not to mention the hundreds of judicial officers, police officers, CAS workers and the like who would no doubt wish to respond." The court backed its conclusions with excerpts from the documents that created the inquiry, ministerial statements and debates in the Ontario Legislature. All pointed toward a far more restricted mandate, Judge Moldaver said, writing on behalf of Mr. Justice David Doherty and Madam Justice Eileen Gillese. With the inquiry heading into its third year of testimony, the court said, "it is hard to believe that the commission, his counsel and the parties would, at this late stage, be involved in a debate about the subject matter of the inquiry and the breadth of the commissioner's mandate." It said that expanding the commission's mandate would give it jurisdiction to look at past, present and future behaviour of a broad spectrum of institutional players "presumably from the date of Cornwall's inception in 1834 to April 14, 2005 - the date on which the Commission was formed." The challenge to Judge Glaude's ruling was launched by the Ontario Provincial Police, Cornwall police, a police association, a Roman Catholic diocese, and the Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services. Judge Glaude won the first round in Divisional Court. Yesterday's ruling overturned that decision.
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