Officer won't testify; Cornwall hearings looking into pedophile cases 

 Peterborough Examiner (Ontario)

10 January 2007 

A former police officer credited with bringing to light explosive allegations of widespread child sexual abuse in eastern Ontario says he's convinced the dark stories that have divided the community are true - but he says he won't testify before a public inquiry because he says the justice system hasn't listened to him for 15 years.  

Perry Dunlop, a decorated former officer from Cornwall, has been scheduled to testify but he told The Canadian Press in an exclusive interview he won't be there because he's lost faith in the justice system.  

He said he's prepared to face the consequences if he's arrested. Dunlop, 46, was convicted of contempt of court last September for his earlier refusal to testify at the inquiry.  

"I don't have much of a choice, really, so I'll face whatever," he said in an interview in a local coffee shop.  "I have a lot of reasons, but I'm not going to testify," he said.  

"I'm saying our judicial system is broken and they haven't listened to me for 15 years, and I have no faith. Absolutely no faith, none."

The Ontario government inquiry was launched in February 2006 and is scheduled to conduct hearings until August 2008.  

The inquiry is looking into how authorities responded to dozens of accusations that men in eastern Ontario had sexually abused children over decades.  

Prominent members of the Cornwall region's Roman Catholic clergy were among those accused of being part of a pedophile ring that some alleged had existed in Cornwall since the early 1960s.  

In August 2001, Ontario Provincial Police ended a four-year probe of the alleged ring, dubbed Project Truth, concluding the allegations were baseless.  

Project Truth ended after 672 people were interviewed and 69 complainants were identified. Some of the allegations stemmed back to the 1960s.  

As a result of the probe, 15 people were charged with a total of 115 offences ranging from gross indecency to indecent assault on a male and sexual assault on a male.  Many individuals were later found guilty of paying underage boys for sex; two were found guilty of possessing child pornography.  

But when all was said and done, courts and the police could find no evidence the large group of accused men worked together as a group. Dunlop raised the child sexual abuse allegations in 1993 after discovering what he believed was a cover-up of an abuse case involving a young boy and a church official.  

He said he was told not to pursue the matter, but he couldn't let it go and it eventually cost him his job.  

"Absolutely there was a pedophile ring in Cornwall," he said in the interview this week.

  "You can't suppress the truth. There are victims. The victims will tell the story and the community will tell the story."  

Dunlop is often credited with blowing the whistle on the allegations, but has also been accused of conducting rogue, unsanctioned investigations where evidence was sometimes deliberately withheld.  

A man told the inquiry last year Dunlop easily led him to fabricate allegations he had been sexually abused by a priest and a school teacher.  

But Dunlop, who now does home renovations, said he's convinced he did the right thing in 1993 and is even more firm in his belief that refusing to testify Monday at a proceeding he no longer believes in will eventually bring out the truth.  

"My family believes me. People who know me, who've been around me all my life, believe me," he said.

Ex-cop refuses to testify  

Brantford Expositor (Ontario)

10 January 2008 

A former police officer credited with bringing to light explosive allegations of widespread child sexual abuse in eastern Ontario says he's convinced the dark stories that have divided the community are true - but he says he won't testify before a public inquiry because he says the justice system hasn't listened to him for 15 years.  

Perry Dunlop, a decorated former officer from Cornwall, has been scheduled to testify but he told The Canadian Press in an exclusive interview he won't be there because he's lost faith in the justice system.  

He said he's prepared to face the consequences if he's arrested.  Dunlop, 46, was convicted of contempt of court last September for his earlier refusal to testify at the inquiry.  

"I don't have much of a choice, really, so I'll face whatever," he said in an interview in a local coffee shop.  "I have a lot of reasons, but I'm not going to testify," he said.  

"I'm saying our judicial system is broken and they haven't listened to me for 15 years, and I have no faith.  Absolutely no faith, none." The Ontario government inquiry was launched in February 2006 and is scheduled to conduct hearings until August 2008.  

The inquiry is looking into how authorities responded to dozens of accusations that men in eastern Ontario had sexually abused children over decades.  Meanwhile, the inquiry's lead commission counsel said he hopes Dunlop will reconsider, the Cornwall Standard-Freeholder reported.  

"He hasn't indicated to us (the commission) what he's apparently indicated to the press," said Peter Engelmann, the inquiry's lead counsel.  

The commission has tried several times to no avail to contact Dunlop and his wife.

  Engelmann also said that if Dunlop does not testify or doesn't show up, he could face "severe penalties.  "He knows the consequences if he doesn't attend."