Cornwall Standard Freeholder

 10 February 2010  

It's nice to know that the Ontario Government spent $49 million in legal fees only to pick and choose which of Commissioner Glaude's recommendations to follow (They usually pick the cheapest!).  

The retreats for sexual abuse victims as reported in Saturday's edition is not a bad idea. But by itself it is essentially useless.  

The article does not report all of the facts. While Commissioner Glaude did recommend these initiatives, he also called for nding for counselling for sexual abuse survivors for a period of up to five years.  

The article states that this counselling lasted for four years. This is not entirely true. While the services were available for four years, many new clients signed up over that period of time. Some survivors began their therapy as recently as August 2009.  

The Next Steps Towards Healing programs have their place, But too many survivors are still not ready for them.  

The lawyers who worked at the Inquiry are counting their piles of cash now, while the victims of historical sexual abuse are being shortchanged.  

Gabriel Riviere-Reid Cornwall