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	Lawyer Tells Inquiry about Misplaced Trust Ex-Counsel Advised Diocese $32,000 Settlement with Sex-Abuse Claimant Would Be Cheaper, Admits Failure to Read Final Documents 'Disastrous' By Matthew Pearson Ottawa Citizen July 17, 2008 http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=43c02455-083a-4fee-941a-655ba52d4c6c CORNWALL - A former lawyer for the Alexandria-Cornwall Catholic diocese who failed to read the final version of a $32,000 non-disclosure agreement told a public inquiry Thursday the move had "disastrous" consequences for him professionally. Jacques Leduc, a Cornwall lawyer who acted for the diocese "from time-to-time" between 1978 and 1994, took the stand Thursday for the forth day in a row. Mr. Leduc acted as a lawyer for the diocese in 1993 when it negotiated a $32,000 settlement with David Silmser, who agreed to withdraw a criminal complaint against Rev. Charles MacDonald. Mr. Silmser was a former altar boy who alleged he had been sexually abused by the priest. Mr. Leduc said Father MacDonald's lawyer, Malcolm MacDonald, drafted the non-disclosure document. After the final version was signed in September 1993, Mr. Leduc said he handed it over, unopened, to a church official because he trusted Mr. MacDonald, a man he testified to having "sporadic" interactions with. In January 1994, news of the settlement hit the media and touched off a sex scandal in the Cornwall area that helped spark the Ontario Provincial Police-led Project Truth investigation and, years later, to this current inquiry into the institutional response to allegations of systemic historical sexual abuse, now in its third year. Mr. Leduc, 57, said it was the only time he did not look at finalized documents in a civil case in which he was involved. He also admitted his trust in Mr. MacDonald was ill-placed, and damaged his reputation. "It was a very embarrassing situation," he told he inquiry. When asked by Helen Daley, the lawyer representing Citizens for Community Renewal, if he addressed his concerns with Mr. MacDonald or made a complaint to the Law Society of Ontario, Mr. Leduc said he did not. "I just wanted to keep my hands off this issue," he said. Mr. Leduc said he was not aware of the close personal friendship between Mr. MacDonald and Father MacDonald. Mr. Leduc testified he met with Bishop Eugene LaRocque on Aug. 25, 1993. During the meeting, the bishop raised a concern that a settlement with Mr. Silmser could be perceived as hush money. Mr. Leduc said he met with the bishop a second time days later, this time at the request of Mr. MacDonald. At that meeting, Mr. Leduc said he argued more forcefully that the $32,000 settlement would cost the diocese less than the potential damages a civil court could award. "Better an uncomfortable settlement than a terrible judgment," Mr. Leduc said, adding he felt at the time that the settlement was an opportunity to mitigate risk at a reasonable cost. Mr. Leduc, who in previous testimony faced questions about his claims of spotty record-keeping, told the inquiry any files he had prior to 1993 were destroyed in 2002 or 2003. He also said he routinely destroys all files more than 10 years old. Mr. Leduc himself faced sex-related charges in June 1998 stemming from the Project Truth investigation. Those charges were stayed twice: in 2001, after a judge ruled the Crown had withheld information, and in 2004, when a judge ruled the case had taken too long to get to trial. Mr. Leduc returns to the stand Friday.
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