BishopAccountability.org
	Lawyer Defends Leduc's Oversight By David Nesseth Standard-Freeholder July 19, 2008 http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1121160 Why, asked lawyer Marie Henein, would her client open a document restricted to special eyes, when he wasn't one of the privileged two allowed to do so? The Cornwall Public Inquiry has heard how former diocese lawyer Jacques Leduc did not read the final version of a $32,000 settlement between the diocese and a man allegedly abused by a city priest. "It's written in giant letters on the envelope, 'private and confidential, to be opened by Bursar or Bishop only,' right?" Henein asked Friday. Leduc said he never prevented either the bursar or the Bishop from examining the document, but didn't open it himself, which he now regrets. Leduc claims that without his knowledge, the settlement's final draft was crafted with a new condition that said the alleged victim had to agree not to pursue criminal charges if payment was to be received. Leduc spoke at a press conference in January 1994 to address then- Bishop Eugene LaRocque's concerns surrounding media reports about the settlement. It wasn't until after, he said, that he learned about the clause. "As you can imagine, I feel very foolish this morning and embarrassed, for having made representations to the press and the general public without having reviewed the document in question," wrote Leduc, in a public statement. Henein also told the inquiry Friday that the local diocese failed to act on opportunities to contact the Children's Aid Society (CAS) when it learned of sexual abuse allegations against its priests. Leduc said he didn't believe he had an obligation to report the allegations to police or CAS at the time. Seven references to CAS in a diocesan guidelines document on sexual abuse, Henein explained, show that the diocese was aware of its protocol despite Leduc's own lack of action in reporting the alleged abuse. "Did the Bishop, Father (Denis) Vaillancourt, or Msgr. (Donald) MacDougald, in your capacity as legal advisor, ever say to you 'we just don't understand what the protocol means?'" Henein asked. "No," Leduc said. In her cross-examination of Leduc, who spent his fifth straight day testifying, Henein tried to paint the picture of a very formal relationship between him and LaRocque. "Not the kind where you could stroll into his office?" she asked. Leduc said he needed to go through the Bishop's secretary. Henein suggested the Bishop was an independent arm who, at least locally, was at the top of the decision- making ladder. Although Leduc was the legal mind on an ad hoc committee struck by the Bishop in the mid-eighties to address allegations of sexual abuse by Father Gilles Deslauriers, the Bishop made all final decisions. "We make the implementations, but I fear they may not be implemented," Leduc told current Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic diocese lawyer David Sherriff-Scott. "We have no authority." Deslauriers pleaded guilty in 1986 to four counts of gross indecency and received two years' probation. Sherriff-Scott worked to demonstrate to the inquiry that there were no "constraints or limitations" on the committee. He also noted that the families who made the sexual abuse complaints indicated that they didn't want the matter to extend to police or CAS. "They wanted the diocese to deal with it internally. Full stop," said Sheriff-Scott. The inquiry, which is exploring how institutions handled historical sexual abuse allegations, will resume July 21 with a new witness.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.