BishopAccountability.org
	Appeal Court Decision Having Wide-Ranging Impact on Cornwall Inquiry By Elisabeth Johns Ottawa Sun January 22, 2008 http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/OttawaAndRegion/2008/01/22/4787977.html CORNWALL, Ont. — An appeal court ruling from last week has already had an impact on procedure at an inquiry probing the institutional response to allegations of a pedophile ring in Cornwall, Ont., and commission staff warned Tuesday the decision could have even further repercussions. The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the Ontario Provincial Police on Friday, overturning a previous decision by the Ontario Divisional Court. The force was opposed to the commissioner heading the inquiry hearing two witnesses, a woman and her mother, discuss their allegations about how police in Alexandria handled the woman's rape complaint in 1993. On Tuesday, counsel representing the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese, the provincial police and the police union opposed the introduction of evidence which related to how the Cornwall probation and parole office responded to allegations of abuse. Contained in the evidence were documents of sexual abuse allegations disclosed by probationers to the Cornwall probation office. Some of those allegations weren't disclosed until after April 14, 2005, which was after the cutoff date for the commissioner to hear such allegations, argued David Sherriff-Scott, diocese counsel. Sherriff-Scott said the appeal decision effectively limited the scope of the inquiry's mandate, which is to examine institutional response to historical allegations of child sexual abuse. Lead Commission Counsel Peter Engelmann cautioned following the appeal decision that he was unsure whether the ruling would impact only the evidence of the two women or if it would have broader repercussions. On Tuesday, he said the concern now is that some of the parties may suggest the evidence that's already been heard from victims or alleged victims shouldn't be dealt with since they will maintain it doesn't fit in with the inquiry's mandate. "It's clear (the decision) is going to have an impact," Engelmann said. Commission staff will be reviewing the appeal ruling carefully, he said, to figure out if they will get permission from the Supreme Court of Canada to file an appeal of the Court of Appeal's ruling. They have 60 days from the decision date to do so. In testimony Tuesday, the inquiry heard that some city police officers used to drop probationers off at the home of a probation officer who would later be accused of sexual abuse. Recently retired probation officer Jos van Diepen briefly mentioned that he remembered hearing his colleague Ken Seguin tell him members of the Cornwall police used to drop probationers off at his home sometime in the 1970s. Van Diepen said it was a well-known fact in the Cornwall probation office, and that Seguin would have talked about it before his suicide in 1993. Seguin was never charged with any abuse, but was accused of sexually abusing probationers in his charge. "When I had those conversations with the police officers, it would have been post-Seguin's death and it would have been in context that we were both sort of hoodwinked here," van Diepen said.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.