Man consented to sex acts with teacher

Friday, June 01, 2007 @ 08:00

A man testified at the Cornwall Public Inquiry he consented to sexual activity with a teacher he says assaulted him in the early 1970s.

The man, who cannot be identified due to a pre-existing court-ordered publication ban, spent Thursday afternoon talking about the abuse he says he suffered at the hands of Marcel Lalonde a former city school teacher.

Near the end of the day, while being questioned by his own lawyer, the man admitted he agreed to the sexual activity.

"He (Lalonde) asked you to have sex with him?" said attorney Lori Harreman.

"Yes," said the man.

"And you said yes?" asked Harreman.

"Yes," said the man. "But I had consumed alcohol."

"When he was having sex with you, was that consensual?" asked Harreman.

"Yes," said the man. "At first, yes. But after, no."

The man had also testified earlier in the day about the fact Lalonde had taken pictures of him while he was naked.

"Did you give consent for the photographs to be taken?" asked Harreman.

"I think I did, yes," said the man.

The man has testified despite the fact he gave consent, the activity constituted a sexual assault because of the circumstances surrounding the incidents.

"We mostly talked and drank wine and I didn't feel well," said the man, who said he was between the ages of 15 and 16 when the incidents occurred.

"I was so drunk. I laid down and when I woke up, I was being assaulted. I remember after I had to vomit."

Lalonde was convicted in the spring of 2001 of a number of sex-related offences. He was sentenced to two years custody to be served partially in jail and partially in the community. Lalonde was not convicted of charges related to the man who testified at the inquiry Thursday.

The man also testified he was sexually assaulted by Rev. Charles MacDonald when he was an altar boy at St. Columban's Church years earlier when he was 11 or 12 years old.

The man said he recalled a day when the priest took him into the basement of the church.

"He (MacDonald) asked if I wanted to go down in the basement, to see what it was like," the man told police in 1997. "I felt almost honoured that I was being taken (there.)"

The man said while they were in the basement, MacDonald hugged him and fondled his genitals.

"I was scared," the man told police. "I wasn't trying to break away or fight or anything, just more froze at that instant . . . knowing it . . . wasn't right."

MacDonald was charged in 1996 with a number of sex-related offences. Those charges were stayed in 2002 when a judge determined it had taken too long to bring the matter to trial.

The man told the inquiry Thursday he stopped going to church following the alleged incident with MacDonald and when he later had his own children, he did not bring them up in the Catholic faith.

The man also suggested the inquiry look not only at the response of public institutions to allegations of child sexual abuse, but also at any links between institutions and their employees.

Also on Thursday, a woman who says she was repeatedly physically, sexually and emotionally abused as a child by her mother and at least one foster parent said the experience of testifying at the inquiry has been a good one.

"This has been very helpful for me," said Cathy Sutherland, following the end of her testimony. "To be able to come here - it's a gift."

Sutherland said she tried for years to gain access to her complete Children's Aid Society file but was unsuccessful in doing so until she became involved in the inquiry and the agency was compelled to disclose the document to the commission.

While being cross-examined by Peter Chisholm, an attorney representing the CAS at the inquiry, Sutherland was taken through documents which suggest caseworkers were monitoring her situation closely and did take action when they felt she was in need of protection. Chisholm had earlier suggested it was inappropriate to apply today's standards when examining institutional response from 35 years ago.

"Mr. Chisholm, I know it's your job to defend the CAS," said Sutherland. "But whether it was 50 years ago or 100 years ago, to see a child in that condition, they should have immediately sought medical attention."

"Do you not agree that making a telephone call to a doctor is getting medical attention?" asked Chisholm, referring to documents which suggest workers had at one point contacted a physician.

"No," she said.

Sutherland admitted taking the witness stand was difficult but it was something she felt she had to do.

"This has been a really good opportunity for me," she said.

"Stressful, but good."