CBC News
June 17, 2010
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/06/16/cornwall-public-inquiry-costs.html
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| Legal fees and disbursements made up about 60 per cent of the $50.2 million cost of the Cornwall inquiry.Legal fees and disbursements made up about 60 per cent of the $50.2 million cost of the Cornwall inquiry. Photo by Emily Chung/CBC |
Lawyers for accused pedophiles, sexual abuse victims, the local Catholic diocese and other parties at the Cornwall Public Inquiry have cost Ontario taxpayers $30 million.
The commission charged with examining how public institutions responded to widespread allegations of child sexual abuse and rumours of a pedophile ring in Cornwall, Ont., spent $50.2 million by March 15, 2010 — three months after it released its final report — the Ministry of the Attorney General reported.
That makes the commission headed by Normand Glaude the most expensive in Ontario history.
Legal fees and disbursements made up around 60 per cent of the cost, CBC News has learned.
Based on figures from the Ministry of the Attorney General, of those legal costs:
* $9.3 million was tied directly to the inquiry itself.
* $6.2 million related to the Ontario Provincial Police.
* $2.7 million related to the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services.
* $300,000 was for disbursements by the Ministry of the Attorney General.
* $12 million related to other parties with standing, such as the Catholic Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall, three local school boards, those accused of being pedophiles or their estates, victims' groups, and the Children's Aid Society of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry.
The ministry said it was unable to release the detailed breakdown for the parties that were not Ontario government parties without giving them the opportunity to object, consent or make submissions to the information and privacy commissioner.
$12M in direct costs not specified
The direct costs of the commission totalled $28.7 million. Of that, $12 million was described as being tied to miscellaneous costs such as research, translation and editing, investigators, prisoner transport and IT services, but was not broken down in detail.
Of costs that were categorized, legal costs were the largest component, followed by counselling costs, staff salaries and benefits and leases and rentals. Glaude's annual salary in 2009 was reported to be $263,009.68. The inquiry also spent more than $745,000 to design, produce, translate and print its final report.
Direct costs of the Cornwall Inquiry
The Cornwall Public Inquiry was established by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty in 2005 after several police investigations into sexual abuse allegations dating back to the 1950s that surfaced decades later. Its main goals were to:
* Examine how public institutions responded to allegations of abuse and recommend changes to prevent similar situations in the future.
* Help the community heal.
In the end, Glaude concluded that there were systematic failures in the way institutions responded, and that led to further harm to the victims. He made a long list of recommendations, urging institutions to record and investigate allegations of abuse and offer services for the victims promptly. However, he would not make a pronouncement on whether the rumoured pedophile ring existed.
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