Chisholm apologizes for language on sign

Cornwall Standard Freeholder

08 December 2007

Posted By Elisabeth Johns

A St. Andrew's West man has apologized for a controversial protest sign he made while he was participating in a rally against the Cornwall Public Inquiry.

Carson Chisholm wrote to the Standard-Freeholder to say the sign was not meant to hurt anyone.

The sign Chisholm was holding in front of local MPP Jim Brownell's office - and later outside of the Cornwall Public Inquiry hearings room at 709 Cotton Mills Street - read: "Prosecute the Pedo-Sodomites not the Whistleblower 'Hello.'"

Chisholm has stated he wrote that on the sign to draw attention to the fact former city cop Perry Dunlop was found guilty of contempt of court for refusing to testify at the inquiry.

A number of individuals have said this has been seen as a blow to whistleblowers.

In 1993, Dunlop handed a statement detailing allegations of childhood sexual abuse by a city priest and a former probation officer to the Children's Aid Society.

Recently Lori Taylor, chair of the Cornwall chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), told the Standard-Freeholder the comments were meant to "provoke" and "hurt."

"With all due respect to Ms. Taylor, she is only partly right," Chisholm wrote. "It was meant to provoke and educate, but certainly not to hurt and I sincerely apologize if she or anyone else was hurt by this message."

Sexual abuse survivor John Swales, who works in London, Ont., with a number of female victims of the now-deceased Rev. Charles Sylvestre, said the comments also hurt victims.

Sylvestre was convicted of sexually abusing 47 girls between the years of 1952 and 1986 in the Chatham, Ont., area.

"As a victim, what concerns me is hysteria and mistruths," Swales said during a phone interview.

He suggested these types of comments could affect those who are considering coming forward, especially male victims who are abused by men.

Those male victims are often in a state of confusion following their abuse and question their identity and their sexuality, experts have told the Cornwall Public Inquiry.

"Male victims question their sexual orientation and whether or not they're heterosexual, and what that means," child abuse expert Peter Jaffe told the inquiry in February 2006.

"And there is still a stigma attached to homosexuality in our society."

This type of stigma instills fear in victims who believe they played a role in their abuse by allowing it to happen, Swales said.

He also stressed that abuse can be anything from a touch to gang-rape and does not just include sodomy, more commonly known as anal penetration.

"The abuse is not welcomed," Swales explained. "But it can be confusing because it caused some form of arousal."

Jamie Marsolais, a sexual abuse survivor in Cornwall, said he hopes that any victim who is thinking about disclosing information to police will do so despite any negative comments.

The stigma of being gay is "why a lot of men don't come forward," he said. At the end of the day, he said, "everyone would like to see abuse stop."