CANADA
National Post
Joseph Brean | January 9, 2017
On Monday, the University of British Columbia reinstated John Furlong, 66, a top sports executive in Vancouver, as the keynote speaker at the Millennium Scholarship Breakfast next month after initially cancelling his appearance. National Post‘s Joseph Brean unpicks the tangled history.
Q: Why was Furlong such a controversial speaker?
A: It began in 2009 with a tip to Laura Robinson, a journalist with expertise in sports, both as a decorated athlete and coach. She heard that Furlong, CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Winter Olympics, had been concealing his past as a physical education teacher at Immaculata Catholic School, a day school in Burns Lake, in 1969 and 1970, which goes unaddressed in his biography, Patriot Hearts – Inside the Olympics that Changed a Country. As she understood, Furlong had beaten children, perhaps even raped them. She started investigating.
Q: What did she find?
A: Robinson arranged to have a flier displayed at the Burns Lake Band Office announcing her investigation into historical abuse by Furlong, and her request to hear stories in confidence. Three dozen people gathered, and waited together for an hour before she arrived, which was later flagged as a methodological concern. In the end, seven said they were physically abused by him, another that she was sexually abused.
Q: Did police investigate?
A: Yes, but not all the claims, and not to the satisfaction of many critics, including the Assembly of First Nations. Few actual police complaints were filed. In the case of Beverly Abraham, who contacted police with a complaint after being urged by Robinson, an investigating officer spoke with Abraham and her family members, and found “many troubling inconsistencies,” including changing names and dates. In the end, police found “nothing to substantiate the complaint” and therefore sent nothing to prosecutors.
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