Terri Saunders


Local News - Some of the safeguards Andre Bissonnette wishes were in place to protect foster children in the 1960s are being used today, the Cornwall Public Inquiry was told Thursday.

Bissonnette testified about repeated sexual and physical abuse he says he suffered at a series of foster homes when he was a child. The care being given in those homes was overseen by the Children's Aid Society, the provincial agency which administers the foster care program.

On Thursday, Bissonnette made several recommendations as to how children could be better protected while they are wards of the province.

"Foster homes should be reviewed more carefully and references should be checked," said Bissonnette, now a 58-year-old man, and a father of three.

"Social workers should conduct surprise visits and the children should be interviewed separately (from the foster parents.)"

Near the end of an often emotional day of testimony, Bissonnette was told things have changed over the years.

"My client appreciates your recommendations," said Peter Chisholm, an attorney representing the CAS, "and you should know that some of those recommendations are already in place."

Bissonnette told the inquiry he was sexually abused by another foster child while they were both living in a city foster home and in time was moved on to a St. Joseph's Training School, a reform school in Alfred, Ont., where he said he was repeatedly physically and sexually abused by some of the Christian brothers who ran the facility.

He left Alfred at the age of 16 and spent decades coming to terms with the effects of the abuse.

"I turned to alcohol to deal with the shame and the pain," said Bissonnette. "I could never be intimate with anybody. I couldn't keep a job because I couldn't deal with authority."

He said his relationship with his own children suffered because of the abuse and he often considered taking his own life.

"I attempted suicide several times," he said. "I couldn't be a father to my children because I had nothing inside me to give them." Bissonnette has been sober for several years and is finally coming out from underneath a dark cloud which has hovered over him for most of his life.

"I have benefited from this inquiry and I wish there had been an inquiry into what happened in Alfred," said Bissonnette. "I am happy some of the same institutions are being held to account here at this inquiry and I am glad to hear foster kids don't have to go through what I did."

The inquiry will resume May 28.