PUBLIC INQUIRY INTO CORNWALL SYSTEM FAILURES

[Alison J Stevens]

REVIEW: 'Systemic failures': public inquiry report
Posted By KEVIN LAJOIE [e-mail]
Updated 1 day ago


The Cornwall Public Inquiry has determined there were "systemic failures" in the institutional response to allegations of sexual abuse in the Cornwall area, however Comm. Normand Glaude stopped short of quashing the long-rumoured claims of a pedophile ring in his final report.

Glaude failed to make a final pronouncement on whether a pedophile ring existed in his final report, saying the issue was not fully explored and it was not within his mandate to make such a finding.

"The Ontario Provincial Police concluded (the) Project Truth (investigation) by saying there was no pedophile ring in Cornwall. Since they did not investigate this, they could not have reasonably come to this conclusion," said Glaude in a statement upon the release of his final report. "This does not mean that I find there was a ring of pedophiles. It is not my role to make such a finding. But I do find that no investigation provided conclusive evidence on this point."

Glaude did, however, quash rumours of a cover-up between Cornwall police and the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall over the $32,000 confidential settlement that was paid out by the diocese to David Silmser in 1992 over sex abuse allegations. The settlement included an "illegal clause" requiring Silmser to withdraw his criminal complaint against the priest, Rev. Charles MacDonald.

The allegations were eventually forwarded on to the Children's Aid Society by former Cornwall police Const. Perry Dunlop. "All this led to community rumours and allegations of a conspiracy to cover up," Glaude said in his remarks.

The commissioner said he found no evidence of a conspiracy between city police and the diocese with respect to the Silmser settlement, however he stated the police service's investigation of the Silmser complaint -- and the illegal clause in the settlement -- was "deeply flawed."

As for his view on Dunlop's role in the whole affair, Glaude neither faulted nor praised the former city police officer, who spent seven months in jail on contempt charges for refusing to testify at the inquiry.

"In the course of this inquiry, I have been asked to find that Perry Dunlop is a hero. And that he is a villain. I do neither. His is a mixed legacy," the commissioner said.

Glaude also finds flaws in the OPP's Project Truth investigation, saying it lacked adequate funding and organizational support and failed to pursue all available evidence.

In his massive four-volume, 2,400-page final report, Glaude finds fault with the local probation office, police agencies, the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall and other institutions for their handling of historical sex abuse allegations, saying they were ill-equipped to deal with such situations.

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