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	Cornwall under 'Cloud' As Abuse Probe Goes on Ex-Officer at Centre of Inquiry Faces Sentence By Gregory Bonnell Toronto Star March 4, 2008 http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/309106 CORNWALL, Ont.Struggling to reinvent itself economically and socially, this eastern Ontario community will watch its murky past dredged up yet again tomorrow as a former police officer appears in court for refusing to appear at an inquiry largely of his own making. Entering its third year with a running tab of some $23 million, the Cornwall public inquiry began making national headlines again in January when former Cornwall cop Perry Dunlop vowed to defy a court order compelling his testimony. Making good on his promise, Dunlop whose off-hours investigation in 1993 led to explosive claims of a widespread pedophile ring that have since taken on a life of their own sits in a Toronto jail cell, convicted of contempt for refusing to tell his story and waiting to learn his sentence. The words "Cornwall" and "pedophiles" are once again being linked in the national consciousness. "It's certainly a part of our history that is a dark cloud," said Cornwall Mayor Bob Kilger. "But right now, we have continued to move this city forward, economically, socially. It is a community that is very tightly knit, made up of honest, hard working people like everywhere else." Allegations of systemic sexual abuse against young people were thrust into the spotlight when Dunlop's off-hours investigation produced a bombshell allegation: a clan of well-heeled, powerful pedophiles sexually abusing children. Former Cornwall resident Ron Leroux swore in an affidavit that for decades, powerful people many of them community leaders would gather at a cottage for bizarre sex rituals performed on young boys. He recanted his story when he testified before the inquiry last summer. Dunlop, however, remains unswayed, convinced there was a pedophile ring operating in Cornwall that was covered up by police, the church, politicians and Crown lawyers. Dunlop, who now lives in Duncan, B.C., with his wife and three daughters, has said that conspiracy extends to the continued persecution of his family. Others in the community say that while they don't believe in a "managed" conspiracy of men plotting actions in back rooms, there are many real victims of sexual abuse in the city of 50,000 a truth that needs addressing before the community can move forward. "At best, there is a conspiracy of silence. We see that even in the present day," said Paul Scott, president of Citizens for Community Renewal a group with standing at the inquiry. "I think there's still a lot of people who want to sweep this under the carpet and basically are in denial about it. That's going to be a problem."
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