Cornwall AM 1220 Emails to the Editor

in response to Lorne Wiebe’s 22 Nov. ’07 commentary “Slow Train Coming”

 The Inquiry's Problem

I believe that the Cornwall Inquiry has spun out of control with endless discussion, questioning and bureaucratic verbiage, most of which will end up in large binders in a filing cabinet once the funding runs out. The whole Inquiry has become a huge "make work" project, and I feel that if rigorous standards had been applied to the mandate of the inquiry two years ago, it would not have developed all of the tentacles collecting endless amounts of information, with no end in sight. 

The Inquiry represents the lengths to which the system will go to protect the hideous sexual practices of some of the elite in our institutions, who as perpetrators of sexual crimes gain strength by being able to compromise the reputations of others, having at their disposal a justice system which provides the necessary lip service and stonewalling.I predict that once the Inquiry comes to a close, most of what has transpired will be put on the back burner, and the pedophiles will emerge again in the next few years perhaps with a little more caution. It is a very troubling scenario, but the fact of the matter is that the justice system does not do a very good job of protecting children, and I see no indications that this situation will change anytime soon. 

Children and adolescents have no voice in the current justice system and until that changes, the abuse will continue. 

Kevin Parkinson

Cornwall 

 Apathy? Yes! 

I heard a comment the other day on AM 1220 that there were few or no e-mails regarding the Inquiry, probably due to apathy. Well, you are right. Now that the Project Truth Inquiry has heard testimony regarding a former Premier of this province, a former bishop with the OPP and an MPP (Guzzo) trying to put it all together, no wonder the back benchers right here in Cornwall have felt they have been stonewalled too; shunned and put off for years. Apathy? You're damn right. All of us in Cornwall become apathetic, but then that is what plays right into the hands of the perks and jerks doesn't it. I once passed info I heard regarding some tapes that I am sure would have shown specifics the inquiry would have found delicious but nothing I have heard since would indicate anything was followed up. Apathy, yes. Apathy will win out thanks to the lack of appropriate justice we have been subjected to in this town over the past decades. Certainly I have felt appalled (as most of us have) on behalf of the victims. Others in this town would have preferred to bury their heads in denial and still go to church. 

Dave Windsor 

Cornwall 

More Inquiry Polls - Comments Needed 

In regards to your poll results and editorial entitled "Slow Train Coming": Again I will comment on your recent editorial and again I find myself agreeing with you on all points. As many people in Cornwall know who I am and where I stand on this issue, I chose NOT to vote. But I am of the opinion more polls such as the one conducted by www.am1220.ca and more "editorials" which provide "obvious" opinions such as yours is what is desperately needed and MUST be considered as being significant by the Inquiry personnel. 

James P. Bateman

Kitchener, Ontario