Claims of being assaulted while in car 

Cornwall Standard Freeholder 

12 September 2007 

Terri Saunders  

Marc Carriere uttered three words while on the stand at the Cornwall Public Inquiry Tuesday many of his predecessors said they wished they'd heard. 

"I sincerely apologize," said Carriere. "I was unknowingly made part of the problem." 

Carriere issued the apology to the subjects of what believes to be hundreds of youth criminal files he says he was ordered to shred as part of his work at the Cornwall courthouse in the mid-1980s. 

"How many victims had their lives altered as a consequence of my actions," asked Carriere, "potentially erasing facts which would have been important to prove their cases?" 

Over the course of victim and alleged victim testimony at the inquiry, many witnesses have said they yearned for an apology from their abusers. Very few of them testified about having received one. 

Carriere said it was also while he was working at the courthouse through a Manpower-sanctioned program aimed at helping young people find employment he first met Keith Jodoin. 

At the time, Jodoin was serving as a justice of the peace and would go on to become executive director of the United Way of Cornwall and District. 

It was while he was working as a justice of the peace Jodoin sexually assaulted him, Carriere claims. Jodoin was charged by investigators with the OPP's Project Truth unit in August 2000, but those charges were dropped by the Crown in November 2000 after it was determined there was no reasonable prospect of prosecution. 

Jodoin never officially spoke about the charges at the time, only to say he had received legal advice to offer no comment. He took a leave of absence with pay in September 2000, and returned as executive director near the end of that year. 

Jodoin continued in his role until September 2003 when he officially retired at the age of 73 and after more than four decades of service to the agency. 

Carriere said he was 21 years old when he was working at the courthouse and interacting with Jodoin. He said he would often run personal errands for the justice of the peace, including buying him alcohol. 

"He didn't want to be seen lined up at the LCBO," said Carriere. "He said he was too public and too important." 

One day in the fall of 1985, Carriere said he was asked by Jodoin to accompany him to a cottage the justice owned west of Cornwall. Carriere said he remembers going there three or four times to rake leaves. 

One Saturday morning, the two men were driving to the cottage when Carriere says Jodoin sexually assaulted him in the car. 

"He reached over and put his hand on my trousers in my groin area," said Carriere. "I took his hand and I pushed it away from me rather roughly." 

Carriere said Jodoin immediately offered an explanation for his behaviour. 

"He said he wanted to see how thick my trousers were because it was cold at the cottage and I would be working outside all day," said Carriere. 

Carriere said he didn't believe Jodoin's explanation and spent the rest of the day outside the cottage, going inside just twice before Jodoin drove him back to Cornwall. 

Carriere eventually met with Project Truth investigators whom he said took his allegations "very seriously." Ultimately, the decision was made not to proceed with the charges, a move Carriere said was explained to him by Claudette Wilhelm, an assistant Crown attorney from Brockville who was handling the case for the Ministry of the Attorney General. 

"She told me there was no reasonable prospect of prosecution," said Carriere.

"I had been the only person coming forward with allegations against him and there wasn't enough evidence." Carriere, who is now 43 years old, also told the inquiry he was dissatisfied with the way his information was documented by law enforcement agencies.

He said he hopes there will be improved training opportunities for officers in the future with a focus on how to accurately record a complainant's verbal evidence. 

Carriere said he remembers having to correct the written transcripts of interviews on at least three occasions. 

"I had to correct them on a number of things they had written down," said Carriere. "It made me look like I wasn't telling the truth and it could be used in the future to discredit me so I had to correct them." 

Carriere said while he's pleased with the overall work being done at the inquiry, he does believe focus could be shifted from how to improve Cornwall's economic health to how to improve the physical and mental health of its citizens. 

"The (Phase II advisory) panel is the voice of the survivors and the victims," said Carriere. "They need to address poverty in this community and abuse issues, as well as neglect, ignorance and intolerance." 

Carriere said he would also like to see representatives from more public institutions attending public meetings held by the panel. 

The inquiry continues today at 9:30 a.m.