Cornwall child sex abuse inquiry: That's a wrap 

More than 3,400 exhibits, 60,000 pages of transcripts  

Ottawa Sun 

30 January 2009 

By TREVOR PRITCHARD, Sun Media

CORNWALL - It will surely go down in Canadian history as one of the most comprehensive public commissions ever held.

Thursday, the final witness left the stand at the Cornwall Public Inquiry, a $40-million endeavour that heard nearly 170 people over the past three years testify about their experience with historical sexual abuse allegations in eastern Ontario.

Some were victims, many coming forward publicly for the first time. Others were members of institutions the victims dealt with: Cornwall Police Service, the Ontario Provincial Police, the Children's Aid Society, the Ministry of the Attorney General and others.

More than 3,400 exhibits were entered into evidence over 345 hearing dates. The testimony - which could be startling and compelling one moment, tedious the next - generated more than 60,000 pages of transcripts.

The inquiry had a scope that made other Ontario fact-finding commissions pale in comparison. The recently completed Goudge Inquiry into the forensics work of Dr. Charles Smith, for example, heard from a mere 47 witnesses over 52 days. The O'Connor Inquiry into E. coli-related deaths in Walkerton lasted 95 days and heard from 114 witnesses.

"We're talking about a situation where we were looking at sexual abuse, both historical reporting and current reporting, that took place from the 50s right up until the early 2000s," said Engelmann. "There are a lot of complicated issues, and a lot of evidence to go through."

Last October, the province handed down an amended order-in-council that mandated strict deadlines for the inquiry - including that testimony would have to wrap up by today.

The commissioner has been given until the end of July to submit his final report to the province. By that time, 41 months will have passed since the first witness, child sexual abuse expert David Wolfe, took the stand in February 2006.

The victims had pointed questions about the way their allegations were handled. Many felt they weren't taken seriously. Some wondered why their alleged abusers were never charged, or if the were, why they weren't convicted.

Two of the most anticipated witnesses were David Silmser and Ron Leroux. In 1992, Silmser had gone to the Cornwall Police Service alleging he'd been sexually abused by a local priest, Rev. Charles MacDonald, in the 1960s and 1970s.

By 1993, Silmser had signed a $32,000 settlement with the Alexandria Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese. In return, he had to agree to stop pursuing criminal charges. Silmser's statement to the CPS eventually ended up in the media after former Cornwall cop Perry Dunlop turned it over to the Children's Aid Society.

It could be argued that, without Silmser, Dunlop, and Leroux, there would never have been an inquiry in the first place.

Leroux's allegations that a ring of pedophiles had ritually abused boys -allegations that were taken down and believed by Dunlop - eventually formed the basis for the OPP's four-year Project Truth investigation.

Project Truth never found any evidence of a ring, but did charge 15 men with 115 sex-related crimes. Only one of those men, Newington bus driver Jean-Luc Leblanc, was convicted in Ontario. A number died before their cases came to trial, while one priest, Rev. Paul Lapierre, was convicted in Quebec after being exonerated in Ontario.

Leroux recanted significant parts of his story when he testified in June 2007.

After the victims' testimony, the inquiry heard from about a dozen "community context" witnesses - people who didn't fall under the mandate of any particular institution, but whose evidence was still considered extremely relevant to the inquiry's mandate.

Perhaps the most relevant of all was Dunlop, who had garnered a reputation locally - as one lawyer put it - as the "go-to guy" for sexual abuse victims in Cornwall.

Dunlop, however, refused to testify at the inquiry. He was convicted on two contempt charges in 2008, and spent seven months behind bars.

 Cornwall child sex abuse inquiry: That's a wrap

More than 3,400 exhibits, 60,000 pages of transcripts 

Toronto Sun 

Last Updated: 30th January 2009, 9:07am  

By TREVOR PRITCHARD, Sun Media 

CORNWALL - It will surely go down in Canadian history as one of the most comprehensive public commissions ever held.

Thursday, the final witness left the stand at the Cornwall Public Inquiry, a $40-million endeavour that heard nearly 170 people over the past three years testify about their experience with historical sexual abuse allegations in eastern Ontario.

Some were victims, many coming forward publicly for the first time. Others were members of institutions the victims dealt with: Cornwall Police Service, the Ontario Provincial Police, the Children's Aid Society, the Ministry of the Attorney General and others.

More than 3,400 exhibits were entered into evidence over 345 hearing dates. The testimony - which could be startling and compelling one moment, tedious the next - generated more than 60,000 pages of transcripts.

The inquiry had a scope that made other Ontario fact-finding commissions pale in comparison. The recently completed Goudge Inquiry into the forensics work of Dr. Charles Smith, for example, heard from a mere 47 witnesses over 52 days. The O'Connor Inquiry into E. coli-related deaths in Walkerton lasted 95 days and heard from 114 witnesses.

While it's too early to talk about the inquiry's legacy, lead commission counsel Peter Engelmann said one thing is for sure: commissioner Normand Glaude now has a "huge task" in front of him.

"We're talking about a situation where we were looking at sexual abuse, both historical reporting and current reporting, that took place from the 50s right up until the early 2000s," said Engelmann. "There are a lot of complicated issues, and a lot of evidence to go through."

Last October, the province handed down an amended order-in-council that mandated strict deadlines for the inquiry - including that testimony would have to wrap up by today.

The commissioner has been given until the end of July to submit his final report to the province. By that time, 41 months will have passed since the first witness, child sexual abuse expert David Wolfe, took the stand in February 2006.

The victims had pointed questions about the way their allegations were handled. Many felt they weren't taken seriously. Some wondered why their alleged abusers were never charged, or if the were, why they weren't convicted.

Two of the most anticipated witnesses were David Silmser and Ron Leroux. In 1992, Silmser had gone to the Cornwall Police Service alleging he'd been sexually abused by a local priest, Rev. Charles MacDonald, in the 1960s and 1970s.

By 1993, Silmser had signed a $32,000 settlement with the Alexandria Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese. In return, he had to agree to stop pursuing criminal charges. Silmser's statement to the CPS eventually ended up in the media after former Cornwall cop Perry Dunlop turned it over to the Children's Aid Society.

It could be argued that, without Silmser, Dunlop, and Leroux, there would never have been an inquiry in the first place.

Leroux's allegations that a ring of pedophiles had ritually abused boys -allegations that were taken down and believed by Dunlop - eventually formed the basis for the OPP's four-year Project Truth investigation.

Project Truth never found any evidence of a ring, but did charge 15 men with 115 sex-related crimes. Only one of those men, Newington bus driver Jean-Luc Leblanc, was convicted in Ontario. A number died before their cases came to trial, while one priest, Rev. Paul Lapierre, was convicted in Quebec after being exonerated in Ontario.

Leroux recanted significant parts of his story when he testified in June 2007.

After the victims' testimony, the inquiry heard from about a dozen "community context" witnesses - people who didn't fall under the mandate of any particular institution, but whose evidence was still considered extremely relevant to the inquiry's mandate.

Perhaps the most relevant of all was Dunlop, who had garnered a reputation locally - as one lawyer put it - as the "go-to guy" for sexual abuse victims in Cornwall.

Dunlop, however, refused to testify at the inquiry. He was convicted on two contempt charges in 2008, and spent seven months behind bars.

Despite having wrapped up testimony, the parties will be returning to the hearings room at the end of February to deliver final oral submissions.