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	CAS' Abell Said He Couldn't Recommend Dunlop for Award Standard-Freeholder October 28, 2008 http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1268143 Former Cornwall police officer Perry Dunlop acted out of a "genuine commitment to the safety of children" when he revealed his force was not charging a local priest accused of sexual abuse, the former director of the Children's Aid Society once believed. Nevertheless, Richard Abell could not recommend Dunlop and his wife, Helen, for a high-profile award for merit in 2001 because their subsequent behaviour "badly tarnished" whatever good was accomplished by turning over David Silmser's statement to the CAS, the Cornwall Public Inquiry learned yesterday. Abell ran the local CAS branch from 1990 until retiring last year. Monday was his third day on the stand at the inquiry, which is probing how a number of Cornwall-area institutions handled allegations of historical sexual abuse. In September 1993, Dunlop placed in Abell's hands a copy of the statement Silmser had given to the Cornwall Police Service. The previous December, Silmser told the CPS he had been sexually abused by Rev. Charles MacDonald in the 1960s and 1970s, when he was an altar boy at St. Columban's Church. The CPS decided not to lay charges against MacDonald. While he was later charged by the Ontario Provincial Police with abusing numerous young boys, those charges were all stayed in 2002, after a judge ruled his right to an expedient trial had been violated. When Abell was on the stand last week, he testified that he and his wife had once been good friends with the Dunlops, a friendship that grew out of mutual volunteer work at their church. But that relationship gradually soured as Dunlop became increasingly unable to separate their personal and professional lives, Abell said. By 1996, Dunlop -- who has often been heralded for uncovering widespread abuse in the Cornwall area -- had launched a lawsuit against a number of people he believed had conspired to cover up the existence of an alleged pedophile clan. Abell testified yesterday that by then, their relationship was "much diminished" from its original state. "It was difficult to maintain a professional line with Perry and Helen," he told lead commission counsel Peter Engelmann. "The whole issue of the alleged conspiracy really began to take over their lives. And I found that, more and more, there really wasn't anything else to talk about." Five years later, Abell was asked to recommend the Dunlops for the Meritorious Service Decoration, an award given out by the Governor General's office. The recommendation came during Project Truth, the OPP's lengthy probe into the pedophile clan rumours. In a letter entered as an exhibit yesterday, Abell said he could not support the Dunlops for the award, calling their private investigations "profoundly damaging to the very cause (they) have so strongly espoused." "It is becoming apparent that some key evidence which will be used by the prosecution has been badly tainted by the actions of the Dunlops and their followers, to the point that genuine victims may well never see justice done in their cases," wrote Abell. "Worse, the integrity and veracity of some, and possibly all, alleged victims is now in question." Engelmann suggested the letter contained some "pretty strong words." "Is that still your view today, sir?" he asked. "Yes," Abell said. Yet Abell added that the Dunlops were decent human beings, and said he mourned the breakdown of their friendship. "The loss of that friendship I regret to this day," he said. "We were very close. And they are very good people." Coincidentally, Abell's testimony comes only two days after Dunlop received an award for his efforts, sponsored by the Canadians for Accountability, a national whistle-blower advocacy group. The inquiry resumes today at 9:30 a. m.
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