BishopAccountability.org
	Dunlop Locked up for 14 Days By Trevor Pritchard and Brian Gray Standard Freeholder February 20, 2008 http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=910778 Perry Dunlop will spend two more weeks behind bars while a Toronto court decides his punishment for not testifying at the Cornwall Public Inquiry. The Ontario Divisional Court refrained from sentencing the former city cop Wednesday and remanded him back into custody. That means Dunlop, who was arrested at his Duncan, B.C. home over the weekend, will not learn his fate until March 5. "I did it for all the right reasons," he told Justices Lee Ferrier and Katherine Swinton. "I will never walk back into that Cornwall inquiry even if you put a gun to my head." Last November, the 46-year-old Dunlop was found guilty of contempt for refusing to testify at the inquiry, which is probing historical allegations of sexual abuse in the Cornwall area. Those allegations first came to light in 1993 when Dunlop, then an officer with the Cornwall police, uncovered a $32,000 payout made by the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese to an alleged abuse victim. Dunlop would come to believe there was a ring of pedophiles operating in the Cornwall area. The OPP's subsequent Project Truth investigation, however, resulted in only one person being convicted on any sex-related charges. Yesterday, about two dozen supporters gave Dunlop a standing ovation as he was led into the court in handcuffs. His wife, Helen, sat next to him throughout the proceedings. Dunlop maintained there was an ongoing cover-up to protect the guilty, and told the court that if he returned to the inquiry, he would be ripped to shreds under cross-examination. "It (being cross-examined) is like walking into the SkyDome naked and everyone's coming at you," Dunlop said. Outside the courthouse, a "heartbroken" Helen said she stood behind her husband's decision and wouldn't let him change his mind. "The last time he testified (at a criminal trial) it took him six months to get over it," she said. "Only Perry and I know the misery and the grief and the anguish and the depression that comes with being battered so often over 15 years." Lawyers for inquiry commissioner Normand Glaude argued that an appropriate sentence for Dunlop would be between three and six months in jail. Lead commission counsel Peter Engelmann said afterwards that Dunlop's sentence could be reduced, even eliminated, if he agreed to testify when the inquiry resumes on Monday. "The ball's in his court," said Engelmann. "But, he did say earlier today that even if there was a gun held to his head, he wouldn't be testifying at the inquiry." In the meantime, Dunlop will be held in a Toronto detention centre - and, as a former police officer, likely under protective custody, he said. Dunlop spoke at length yesterday about issues that were "new to the inquiry," said Engelmann, including his interactions with Cornwall crown prosecutors. Those words, he said, only cemented how important it was for the inquiry to hear what Dunlop had to say. "He keeps thinking that this is a criminal trial. He keeps thinking they should call the bad guys to testify," said Engelmann. "I think it's unfortunately just a basic misunderstanding about what the inquiry is." John Swales, who served as a liaison between abuse victims and a London, Ont. law firm with standing at the inquiry, encouraged Dunlop to take up the commission's offer and return to the stand. "It's an opportunity for Perry to say his piece," said Swales, who was also sexually abused when he was younger. "And if he's not happy with the process, I think that can come out in the wash as well." Swales said while it "pains" him to see Dunlop in jail, the hoopla around his refusal to testify has diverted attention away from the real issue: exploring how the institutions failed sexual abuse victims. "There's a lot of hysteria happening, and I think it's becoming more about Perry than what (happened) in Cornwall," he said. In addition to Dunlop's sentence, the divisional court also postponed its verdict on a second contempt charge Dunlop was facing. That charge stemmed from Dunlop's very vocal refusal to return to the inquiry in January after he was found guilty on the original contempt charge. While about 75 people came out to protest Dunlop's weekend arrest in B.C., many more have shown their support for the Dunlop family online. By late Wednesday afternoon, a group on popular social networking website Facebook supporting Dunlop had swelled to nearly 800 members. Megan Schwarz, the site's administrator, said about 200 people had joined the group in the past few days. "I think there's going to be a lot of outrage about (Dunlop having to stay behind bars)," said Schwarz, 22, whose family lives on the same street as the Dunlops in Duncan. As well, a seven-minute clip of Dunlop's arrest on video-sharing website YouTube had already been viewed more than 1,000 times.
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