Toronto Star
December 15, 2009
http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/738959--no-clear-answers-in-cornwall-inquiry-report?bn=1
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| Justice G. Normand Glaude is shown in this undated handout photo. The Sudbury judge led an inquiry into decades-old allegations of child sex abuse by officials and clergy in Cornwall, Ont., and released his report Dec. 15, 2009. |
Commissioner finds systemic failures in response to allegations of sexual abuse, but clears ministry officials of cover up, finds little credence to rumour of secret rituals
CORNWALL, Ont. – Ontario's Liberal government says it was important to hold a public inquiry into rumours about a pedophile ring in Cornwall, even though the rumours were neither put to rest nor given credence.
Attorney General Chris Bentley defends the $53 million that was spent to hold the four-year public inquiry into allegations of sexual abuse by authorities in Cornwall.
Bentley says the victims, their families and the entire community needed to be heard by someone who was there to listen just to them, and help stop such abuse from happening again.
He says people should not forget the importance of allowing victims to "have their pain truly heard."
Community Safety Minister Rick Bartolucci says like most people, he had hoped the inquiry could have determined if a pedophile ring had operated in Cornwall.
But Bartolucci says no matter how thorough the report was, there would have been questions remaining from some people.
The Cornwall inquiry's official mandate was to examine institutional responses to historical claims of sexual abuse, but the sensational allegation that fuelled it went unresolved in the more than 1,600-page report.
"Throughout this inquiry I have heard evidence that suggested that there were cases of joint abuse, passing of alleged victims, and possibly passive knowledge of abuse," Commissioner G. Normand Glaude wrote in his report.
"I want to be very clear that I am not going to make a pronouncement on whether a ring existed or not."
The Ontario Provincial Police spent four years investigating allegations of sexual abuse, an investigation Glaude criticized in the report. Police laid 115 charges against 15 people under Project Truth, though only one was convicted. The police declared no evidence of a ring was found, but it failed to quell the suspicion and fear in the community.
"There is good reason why certain members of the public were less than satisfied with the OPP's unequivocal position about the non-existence of a ring," Glaude wrote.
"I would note that much of what I have heard about linkages remain allegations that have not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt."
However, the allegations merited an in-depth review and investigation to determine if there was any significance to the linkages and to lay charges where appropriate, Glaude wrote.
Glaude did find that allegations that officials at the Ministry of the Attorney General conspired to cover-up allegations of sexual abuse are unfounded.
And perhaps the most sensational of all the stories – that a clan of powerful men sexually abused boys at a cottage during strange rituals while clad in robes – was given little credence.
The source of the tale was Ron Leroux, who both police and Glaude found not to be credible and who later recanted his allegations at the inquiry. He was a "highly suggestible individual" who adopted ideas that one crusading police officer put to him as his own, Glaude wrote.
The pedophile clan theory is largely credited to former Cornwall police officer Perry Dunlop. His unsanctioned, off-hours investigation is credited with bringing many allegations to light, but also with fuelling the clan theory. Dunlop spent seven months in jail for contempt when he refused to testify at the inquiry of his own making, saying he no longer had faith in the system.
Dunlop's crusade to root out pedophiles began with good intentions, but his leading interview questions, especially with Leroux, suggest "a process to develop a narrative supportive of a desired theory," Glaude said in the report.
Provincial police did investigate Leroux's specific clan allegation, but failed to properly pursue links between alleged perpetrators, Glaude wrote. He noted problems with defining a "ring," and said given the information police had at the time, it is "difficult to say whether the OPP should have declared that it had found some evidence of a 'pedophile ring."'
The very real abuse that many people suffered may have been the result of an organized group or it could have been an "unfortunate coincidence," which could have arisen from the fact that many alleged abusers were part of a particular institution, such as the local diocese or justice system, Glaude wrote.
He highlighted expert evidence that abusers tend to associate themselves with particular institutions that give them ready access to children.
As for the issue he was tasked with examining, Glaude found there were systemic failures in how institutions responded to allegations of sexual abuse of children.
"For some, this resulted in revictimization by the institution from whom they sought help," he wrote. "The response of institutions became a further source of harm."
Most of the problems Glaude found with institutions such as the probation office, the diocese and the police stem from his assertion that they failed to fully investigate claims of child sexual abuse. He highlighted several cases in which he said institutions, when confronted with evidence an official was abusing children, failed to attempt to find other victims or other abusers within the institution.
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