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	More Criminal Charges May Surface As Probe into Sex Abuses Advances By Tobi Cohen tobi.cohen@ott.sunpub.com Ottawa Sun [Canada] February 14, 2006 http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/OttawaAndRegion/2006/02/14/1441340-sun.html CORNWALL -- A public inquiry aimed at finally closing the book on an ugly, age-old chapter of Cornwall history could lead to brand new allegations of wrongdoing that will drag this saga well into the future. For years, the victims of an alleged 40-year pedophile ring involving clergymen and high-profile local officials have petitioned the provincial government to get to the bottom of the scandal, the coverup and the botched OPP investigation dubbed Project Truth that ensued. Yesterday, that effort was rewarded as the much anticipated inquiry kicked off with expert testimony from Dr. David Wolfe, a leading psychologist and professor who specializes in child sexual abuse. But while the inquiry, according to Justice Normand Glaude, is ultimately aimed at helping the victims and the community at large find "healing and closure," lead commission counsel Peter Engelmann admitted the process could lead to new criminal charges. 15 MEN CHARGED "When people come forward and talk about sexual abuse, it gives others the courage to come forward," he told reporters, noting new charges would have to come from new allegations as nobody could be charged with the same crime twice. Charges were laid against 15 men after the OPP investigation that began in 1992 when an underage male came forward with allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of a priest. Only former school bus driver Jean-Luc LeBlanc was ever convicted. Others had their charges tossed, while several men died before their cases even came to trial. Still, Engelmann maintained the role of the inquest is not to lay blame against the alleged perpetrators of the abuse, but rather to find out how and why the institutions that responded to the allegations -- the police, the courts, and the Children's Aid Society -- failed. "The first task is to find out how public institutions in Cornwall responded in the past to any allegations of child sexual abuse that were brought to their attention. We will also look at the way institutional responses, and the capacity of institutions to respond, have evolved over time, and how the responses could be improved in the future," Glaude said in his opening statement. COMMUNITY FAILED "The second primary task is to look at ways to help the affected individuals, institutions and the Cornwall community to move down the path toward healing and closure." Sitting in the audience with his head in his hand, a red-faced Steve Parisien dabbed his eyes with a tissue as Wolfe described how pedophiles prey on vulnerable youth and use gifts and special favours to earn their trust and secure their silence. Among a half-dozen victims who attended the first day of testimony, the 47-year-old health-care worker vowed to attend as much of the proceedings as he could. "People in our community hierarchy had knowledge of what was going on and they failed us, the victims, terribly," he told reporters. Added Engelmann: "I think it's important that the community and the people of Ontario understand what happened." Expert witness testimony will continue for the next two weeks when the floor will open to all parties with standing and include testimony from victims and those against whom allegations were made. Hearings are scheduled to continue until the end of November. tobi.cohen@ott.sunpub.com
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