BishopAccountability.org
	Bungling of Pedophiliac Allegations Pushed Victims to Crusading Officer, Probe Told By Allison Jones Globe and Mail February 24, 2009 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090224.CORNWALL24/TPStory/TPNational/Ontario/ CORNWALL, ONT -- The mishandling of sexual-abuse allegations by "inept" officials in eastern Ontario sent victims flocking to a crusading police constable determined to unearth a pedophile ring and a conspiracy to cover it up, a public inquiry heard yesterday. Although not the focus of the Cornwall inquiry, the role of former city police officer Perry Dunlop was front and centre as the commission began hearing final submissions after three years of testimony and $40-million spent so far. While some argued Mr. Dunlop "lost his way" while conducting his off-hours investigation in the early 1990s, others told the inquiry he "did the right thing" and is deserving of an apology. At least two of the parties that presented yesterday seemed to agree on one point -- Mr. Dunlop would have never gained the status he did if not for the failure of public institutions. "The local hero and his supporters then become the alternate constabulary, if you will. They become the alternate people to whom one goes to report abuse," lawyer Helen Daley, representing Citizens for Community Renewal, told the inquiry. Mr. Dunlop's efforts to root out a clandestine ring led to wild allegations during a "pedophile smear campaign" that unjustly harmed the reputations of many local authorities, the inquiry heard. "Constable Dunlop lost his way," Daley said. "He lost his way, but no one individual, no matter how misguided or how committed to a misguided cause, should have caused this result." The Victims Group, which argued Commissioner Normand Glaude should entertain the idea that "something more sinister" may have been behind the inadequate response of institutions, submitted that Mr. Dunlop "filled a hole created by inept, ineffective, incompetent and corrupt public institutions in Cornwall. "The fact that victims of abuse flocked to disclose their abuse to Mr. Dunlop, having never reported to the police or any other agency, should be taken as a scathing indictment of those institutions," the group said. While rumours abounded for years of high-profile officials, professionals and clergy taking part in bizarre sexual rituals and abusing young people, several separate police investigations found no evidence of such a ring. One man who told Mr. Dunlop he witnessed a clan of pedophiles who wore robes, burned candles and sexually abused young boys during weekend meetings in the 1950s and early '60s recanted his story at the inquiry. The inquiry's mandate was not to examine the alleged pedophile ring but rather the institutional response to long-standing allegations of sexual abuse. A provincial police probe, dubbed Project Truth, saw police lay 114 charges against 15 men in the 1990s, but no evidence of an organized, backroom clan was ever found. Some people in the city steadfastly cling to the belief in the clan and a conspiracy to keep it secret. That belief was able to gain a foothold due in part to rampant homophobia and bungling by local agencies, Citizens for Community Renewal wrote in its submissions. "For this equation of homosexuality with 'pedophilia' to occur in the 21st century and for people to reason that gay men were guilty by association is a reflection of the depth of the community's homophobia," the group said. When confronted with sexual-abuse allegations, institutions such as the local diocese and probation office handled such complaints internally instead of taking them to the police, the group said. Institutions such as the Children's Aid Society, Cornwall Police Service, Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall, and the Ontario Provincial Police are to bear much of the blame, the Victims Group added.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.