Divisions only grow deeper

Editorial

Cornwall Standard Freeholder

23 February 2008

The saga around Perry Dunlop's refusal to testify at the Cornwall Public Inquiry took another step toward its conclusion, one that was expected and one that has furthered entrenched those on either side of the issue. The former Cornwall police officer is in jail and will stay there for the next two weeks, and likely more, unless he does an about-face and testifies at the inquiry.

But that won't happen. Dunlop said so once again during his Divisional Court appearance in Toronto and could not have used plainer language.

"I will never walk into that Cornwall Public Inquiry," he stated. "(I would rather) go to jail."

And so, here we are. The inquiry will not hear from the man at the centre of the investigation that led to its very creation and the justice system gets a black eye for sending the "whistleblower" to jail.

It's an unseemly situation that likely was not expected back when the inquiry was called.

So where do we go from here?

Dunlop will receive a sentence, possibly up to six months. He'll do his time and the inquiry will move on without him, meandering to its uncertain conclusion months from now.

Dunlop's refusal stems from a complete lack of trust in the justice system and he will not waver. Yet the courts cannot let him go unpunished for ignoring their orders to testify.

When Dunlop did appear at the inquiry he said that instead of testifying, he wanted his 110-page statement to be read into the record. But that is not good enough. It is a basic tenet of the justice system that accusers face cross-examination and that the accused be able to defend themselves.

Over the past year, there have been numerous questions raised about the investigative methods used by Dunlop, while some of the claims have been refuted by the very people who made them. Several even testified that Dunlop pushed them to make the claims. Still he will not seize the chance to refute these accusations.

The inquiry needs his testimony. They need him to answer the questions that have to be asked. But due to the betrayals and attacks, perceived or real, we will not see a proper conclusion to this story.