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	Diocese Erred: Lawyer; THE CANADIAN PRESS July 17, 2008 http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1118046 An eastern Ontario Catholic diocese failed in 1993 to follow its own protocol for dealing with priests suspected of sexual abuse, its former lawyer told a Cornwall public inquiry yesterday. Jacques Leduc had been retained by the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese to help negotiate a settlement with David Silmser after the former altar boy accused Rev. Charles MacDonald of sexually abusing him in the 1960s and 1970s. Leduc said the diocese breached its protocol twice: no one was designated to take Silmser's complaint to the Children's Aid Society, nor did the diocese generate a written report on the case. The long-running judicial inquiry is probing how the police and other public institutions responded to allegations of systemic sexual abuse, dating back decades, in the eastern Ontario city. Silmser had met with Leduc and two priests in February 1993 to seek a letter of apology from Mac- Donald. Seven months later, Silmser settled with the diocese in exchange for not pursuing criminal or civil charges.
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