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	Critics Fear Collapse Ottawa Sun [Canada] March 28, 2006 http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/OttawaAndRegion/ 2006/03/28/1508505-sun.html Cornwall — An inquiry into the persistent allegations of child sexual abuse that have dogged this city for decades could collapse if it decides to exclude the local Catholic diocese from its purview, lawyers for alleged victims warned yesterday. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall wants be excluded on the grounds that it's not a public institution and therefore not part of the inquiry's mandate to examine how agencies like police and child-welfare authorities responded to the allegations. Rob Talach, a lawyer for a group of alleged victims of abuse, said the diocese is a fundamental part of the whole story and needs to be represented at the inquiry. "The Church was deeply involved in this from the beginning," Talach said. As many as 23 alleged perpetrators came from the diocese, he added. Later this week, the inquiry is expected to debate another controversial motion: an effort by a lawyer representing two of the men who faced allegations to exclude the very testimony of the alleged victims themselves. Steven Parisien, who alleges he was abused as a child in the 1960s, said the inquiry's ability to help victims heal would be all but wiped out if Commissioner Normand Glaude were to agree to exclude the diocese. "From the beginning we've been told by (Attorney General Michael) Bryant himself and (Premier Dalton) McGuinty that . . .everything would be unravelled," Parisien said. The ultimate goal of the inquiry, which was struck by the province, was to make recommendations to improve public response to child abuse allegations and encourage healing in this city.
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