Bishop of Kamloops to Be Examined

Sylvia's Site
April 26, 2014

http://www.theinquiry.ca/wordpress/

Sorry, but no call back yet from the Pembroke court house re Father Dan Miller’s next court date. I know it’s frustrating for those who are waiting for the news. To be very honest, I get frustrated too :( I will try again on Monday, cross my fingers and hope for success.

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In case you missed my note elsewhere, Bishop David Monroe, the current Bishop of Kamloops, BC, is being summoned for examination for discovery in May of this year. The discovery is in relation to a lawsuit filed December 2012 alleging sex abuse by Father Damian Cooper.

Monroe was Rector at Holy Rosary Cathedral in the mid 80s when the newly ordained Father Damien Cooper was serving as an assistant. According to media reports it was during his time at the cathedral that Cooper started counseling 16-year-old Kathleen Taylor – he eventually began taking her to motels.

Kathleen disclosed the abuse to the Vancouver Archdiocese in 1994. According to a diocesan spokesman, Cooper was “removed from ministry,” but …Cooper then surfaced and served in the Diocese of Rockville, Centre, Long Island, New York.

A trial date has been set for 29 September 2014. It is estimated the trial will take 20 days.

Please keep Kathleen in your prayers as this winds along to trial.

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An interesting decision by the Supreme Court of Canada yesterday. I posted both an article and the decision itself:

24 April 2014: (Ontario (Community Safety and Correctional Services) v. Ontario (Information and Privacy Commissioner) Supreme Court of Canada ruling on disclosure of numbers of sex offenders in given areas in the Province of Ontario (Documents/Secular/Sex Offender Registry)

24 April 2014: “Ontarians should know of sex offenders living nearby: Supreme Court” & related article

We have a long way top go in Ontario. This is a small step, and it’s good: the Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services must release the numbers of sex offenders living within the boundaries of the first three digits of any given postal code in any given postal code.

That’s just the numbers. It’s not the names. Nor is it the addresses.

Can you believe that the government has been fighting tooth and nail for four years against the release of just the numbers?

“The ministry argued that public access to information about the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders carries multiple risks, including social unease in the community, harm to people misidentified as sex offenders and harm to offenders and their families.”

What about the risks to children when these predators are out and about and not a soul knows who or where they are?

What about the children?

Anyway, there you are. A very small yet major victory.

Someday common sense will prevail at all levels when people suddenly realize that children are being willfully placed at risk with all this hearts-and-flowers for sexual predators. Some day common sense will prevail and there will be a recognition that we adults have an obligation to protect our children from sexual predators. Some day the right of every child to his/her innocence will trump the right to privacy of known sexual predators.

How can it be that in this day and age, with all that government officials presumably know about the horrors of child sex abuse, so many spend an inordinate amount of time fretting about the feelings and comforts of the poor molesters?

It floors me. It truly does.

What about the children?

Anyway, if you live in Ontario you will perhaps be happy to know that the numbers of sex offenders living in the area covered by the first three digits of your postal code can be released. No, you can not find out who they are or exactly where they live. You can not get the information, ie, a picture, which would allow you to warn your children to keep a lookout for this man. You can’t for Heaven’s sake find out if a convicted child molester lives next door to you; or down the street. But, eventually you can find out how many predators live in your area.

How much of tax payer’s hard earned tax dollars went to fighting this battle? I’m not saying it’s not a minor victory, only that it boggles the mind because, to me, common says says it’s a battle which should not have to have been fought. Children and the safety of children should and must come first.

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I already had my say at the foot of this horror story:

24 April 2014: “Predator in the classroom: Paedophile teacher drugged and abused 60 pupils at British private school after 40 years spent abusing children around the globe” & related article

Enough for now,

Sylvia