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	Retired Cop Tells Inquiry He Never Used the Term 'Cover-Up' By Trevor Pritchard Standard Freeholder April 10, 2008 http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=979459 A retired Cornwall police officer denied he used the term "cover-up" to criticize his own force's handling of the David Silmser investigation, the Cornwall Public Inquiry heard Wednesday. Staff Sgt. Claude Lortie testified he told his colleagues at a September 1993 meeting he was "ashamed" of the apparent lack of progress on Silmser's sexual abuse allegations against Rev. Charles MacDonald and probation officer by Ken Seguin. But he maintained he had no knowledge of the $32,000 settlement Silmser had struck with the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic diocese in exchange for dropping the investigation against MacDonald. "I walked into that meeting not knowing what was going on. So why would I say 'cover-up'?" Lortie told commission counsel Ian Stauffer. Lortie was the Cornwall Police Service's intelligence officer from 1991 to 1996, and the first officer assigned to look into Silmser's allegations in December 1992. Lortie testified he and Silmser had agreed to meet on Jan. 18, 1993 - the day he was returning to work after undergoing surgery. But before that meeting could occur, former deputy chief Joseph St. Denis told him he would be reassigning the case to Const. Heidi Sebalj, an officer in the force's youth bureau. Stauffer pressed Lortie on how far he got in his investigation before he was taken off the case. He asked how much information Lortie gleaned from Silmser - including whether he'd found out if Silmser was on probation - and if Lortie had interviewed Seguin or MacDonald. Lortie said repeatedly that those were areas he was prepared to dive into after the Jan. 18 meeting. "That's the way I operate," he said. "Give me the facts, or a sworn statement . . . and we'll move on from there." After being reassigned, Lortie said he rarely considered Silmser's allegations. He told Stauffer that until September 1993, he was under the impression that another officer with the force's youth bureau, Ron Lefebvre, was handling the investigation. Lortie said he recalled asking Lefebvre the morning of the September 1993 meeting about the "Father MacDonald" investigation. At the mention of the priest's name, said Lortie, Const. Perry Dunlop - who had been working with Lortie on an undercover drug operation, and was sitting about 15 or 20 feet away - reacted immediately. "Out the door Perry goes," said Lortie. "I knew he wanted to see the statement." Dunlop would later turn Silmser's file over to the local branch of the Children's Aid Society. Lortie said Dunlop's reaction piqued his own curiosity about the Silmser case. He brought it up at that day's meeting with the former chief, Claude Shaver, and the head of the force's criminal investigations branch, Luc Brunet. Neither officer could tell him where the case was at - which was why he called the investigation "a complete shame," Lortie said. Stauffer pointed out that Brunet testified he heard Lortie use the word "cover-up" at the meeting. That simply couldn't have been true, Lortie replied. no idea "When I went into the meeting, I had no idea about a payout, the diocese, nothing," said Lortie, adding he only learned about the $32,000 settlement through the office's "rumour mill" in the next four or five days. City police never charged MacDonald, although he was charged in 1996 with sex crimes by the Ontario Provincial Police. The charges were stayed in 2002 after a judge ruled they had taken too long to come to trial. Lortie also denied discussing the Silmser case with his wife, Carole Cardinal. Cardinal and Seguin were both probation officers at the Cornwall parole office. She testified in December 2007 that while her husband didn't name names, he said he was investigating "a complaint against a priest" and that he would have to reschedule his meeting with Silmser because of the surgery. Lortie said he never had to "reschedule" anything, and suggested Cardinal might have been adding in information that became public when Silmser's statement was released to the media. "She started to try to put the puzzle together," Lortie said. "I can say from her evidence - and she's going to be pretty upset with me - that she's still trying to put the puzzle together." Like MacDonald, Seguin also was never charged by Cornwall police. He committed suicide in 1993. Lortie is scheduled to return to the stand this morning. Contact: tpritchard@standard-freeholder.com
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