CANADA
The Tyee
By BOB MACKIN
Published September 23, 2013
Former Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics CEO John Furlong has denied in Sept. 23 court filings that he physically or sexually abused two students at a northern British Columbia Catholic school for aboriginal children in 1969 and 1970.
Furlong’s statements of defence counter July 24 lawsuits by Beverly Mary Abraham and Grace Jessie West. Furlong says that he does not recall whether he even taught or coached them while he volunteered at Immaculata Elementary School in Burns Lake, B.C.
“The defendant denies that he sexually molested or physically abused or engaged in any inappropriate conduct,” said the statements, which were filed in B.C. Supreme Court by Furlong’s lawyer John Hunter.
Abraham and West both claim Furlong abused them 44 years ago and accuse him of defaming them at a Sept. 27, 2012 news conference, where Furlong denied abuse allegations contained in a Georgia Straight feature story that was headlined “John Furlong biography omits secret past in Burns Lake.” Furlong filed a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper and reporter Laura Robinson last November.
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