Story of abuse by priest not true, man tells Cornwall inquiry

Felt ‘pressured' by cop  

Ottawa Sun 

23 August 2007 

By TERRI SAUNDERS, Sun Media

CORNWALL, Ont. — A man admitted Wednesday that he made up a story about suffering sexual abuse at the hands of a city priest.

The man told an inquiry probing the institutional response to allegations of systemic sexual abuse in the Cornwall area that he made up the story in 1977 to please a rogue police officer dedicated to putting the priest behind bars.

“I felt pressured,” the man testified. “He kept pushing me and pushing me and I felt I had to give him something.”

In 1996, the man, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban, told then-city cop Perry Dunlop he was sexually abused by Rev. Charles MacDonald.

At the time, the man said, he felt alone in his life and was desperate for a friend. v“Perry Dunlop was the only friend I had,” said the man, who frequently broke down in tears during his testimony. “He was the only person around and I felt like I was part of (his) family. I thought (if I didn’t detail the alleged abuse) I would let him down.”

The man, now 42 years old, was one of several complainants who testified at a 2000 trial following which former city elementary school teacher Marcel Lalonde was convicted of a number of sex-related offences.

Lalonde ultimately spent time behind bars for his crimes.

The man said he originally went to Dunlop in the hopes something would be done in relation to his allegations against Lalonde and another man, Ron Leroux, with whom the man lived for 10 years.

In late June, Leroux also testified at the inquiry about abuse he says he suffered at the hands of a number of area priests. Leroux has denied the allegations made against him by this man.

“I kept talking about Marcel Lalonde and Ron Leroux, but his (Dunlop’s) interest wasn’t in that,” said the man. “He kept bugging me (about MacDonald), `Do you remember anything? Come on. You’ve got to remember something.”’

“I felt I had to fabricate something.”

One of the things the man would tell police in 1997 he “remembered” was a time when MacDonald attempted to sexually abuse him using a candle.

In June, Leroux admitted stories he’d told in the past about having witnessed a group of prominent area men participating in a bizarre sexual ritual with young boys involving candles and robes were not true.

On Wednesday, the witness told the inquiry he was abused by Lalonde on a number of occasions, but not during school trips to Toronto as he has claimed in the past.

During Lalonde’s trial, the man admitted he fabricated details about being abused on school trips at Dunlop’s prompting.

On Wednesday, the man stuck to that story.

“I felt I had to give him (Dunlop) something,” said the man, who admitted he was worried if he didn’t have enough evidence regarding the abuse by Lalonde the teacher might not be convicted. “I didn’t want to see this guy get off.”

The man said he was told by Dunlop and Carson Chisholm, Dunlop’s brother-in-law, there would be more money at stake in a civil suit if the abuse happened on a school-sanctioned trip because then he could sue the school board.

“Carson Chisholm ... said, `We’ve got to get the sons of bitches,”’ the man said Wednesday. “Those were his words.”

The man said he felt as if Dunlop and Chisholm were on his side and that’s part of the reason why he was willing to fabricate elements of his story.

Although he now says he has no recollection of ever having been abused by MacDonald, he does recall seeing the priest among a group of other men who had also been accused of sexually assaulting young boys, including Ken Seguin, a now-deceased probation officer, and Malcolm MacDonald, a former Crown attorney who died in Florida several years ago.