Sorting fact from fiction in the Cornwall sex abuse scandal
Tuesday, November 6th, 2007
CBC News
November 6, 2007
On Feb. 13, 2006, a public inquiry opened in Cornwall, Ont., into a case that has dogged the region for decades. It involved allegations that a ring of pedophiles had operated in the eastern Ontario community since the late 1950s.
There had been sordid tales that the ring passed its victims among its members, which allegedly included members of the region’s Roman Catholic clergy, police and probation officers, and other professionals in the community.
Police investigations, including the high-profile Ontario Provincial Police probe Project Truth, yielded more than 100 charges against more than two dozen men. Only a handful of them were convicted, and police found no evidence of an organized ring of pedophiles.
On April 14, 2005, six months after the last Project Truth court case wrapped up, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced that he was establishing the Cornwall public inquiry.
Justice G. Normand Glaude, regional senior judge for the Northeast Region of Ontario, was asked to chair the public commission.
Glaude’s mandate is divided into two separate concurrent phases:
* To hold public hearings into events surrounding allegations of abuse of young people in Cornwall, to examine the response of the justice system and other public institutions to the allegations, and to make recommendations.
* To work with residents of Cornwall to facilitate healing and reconciliation within the community.
Fifteen groups were granted standing at the public hearings and more than 70,000 documents were filed as exhibits.
As of mid-October 2007, 80 witnesses had testified, including:
* Experts on topics ranging from child sexual abuse to local demography.
* Victims and alleged victims.
* Community members who were not victims but who had information about the allegations, who helped victims or who drew attention to the allegations.
The final group of witnesses scheduled to testify include representatives of institutions that responded to the allegations, such as police, the Catholic Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall, schools and the Children’s Aid Society.
Their testimony is expected to be completed by Aug. 1, 2008. After that, written and oral submissions will be accepted from the parties involved and Glaude will prepare a report on Phase 1 as Phase 2 continues.
Glaude’s mandate is not to find criminal liability. His mission is to find out what happened and — if there was anything sinister — to make sure it never happens again.
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