SQLFusion - Justice Normand Glaude recaps Cornwall Public inquiry progress

COMMISSIONER FOR CORNWALL PUBLIC INQUIRY OUTLINES PLANS FOR 2007

THE CORNWALL PUBLIC INQUIRY
The Honourable G. Normand Glaude, Commissioner
L’ENQUĘTE PUBLIQUE SUR CORNWALL
L’honorable G. Normand Glaude, commissaire
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 30, 2007
COMMISSIONER FOR CORNWALL PUBLIC INQUIRY OUTLINES PLANS FOR 2007
(Cornwall, ON) While much work has already been done at the Cornwall Public Inquiry, 2007 has a full agenda that will see the near completion of the evidentiary hearings and much progress in the area of healing and reconciliation. Justice G. Normand Glaude, Commissioner of the Cornwall Public Inquiry, provided an overview of plans for the year ahead and also addressed key achievements in a statement he delivered on Monday, January 29.
Calling the work done in 2006 ‘productive’, the Commissioner presented a list of accomplishments that included:
• Establishment of the parties and funding for counsel;
• Hearing evidence from eight well-known experts;
• 36 days of context setting testimony from senior officials representing institutional parties;
• Hearing testimony from 17 witnesses over 25 days of evidentiary hearings; and
• Issuing 18 rulings, directions and orders.
According to the Commissioner, 2007 will focus on the continuation of Phase 1 evidentiary testimony with an expected conclusion at the end of the year or early in 2008. Individual victims’ testimony is expected to finish in the spring of 2007, possibly followed by testimony from those who faced charges of sexual abuse of children or who were investigated but not charged.
However, to date, those individuals – although invited - have not indicated they will participate in the hearings.
Following that evidence, the Inquiry will hear “community evidence” from individual and corporate members of the community canvassed to determine the existence – or extent – of any attempted cover-up. According to the Commissioner, several parties have indicated “their institutional response was not determined in a vacuum but, in fact, was within an atmosphere of distrust and uncertainty and of allegations swirling within the Community of Cornwall”.
Concluding the evidentiary hearings will be institutional responses by officials from each of the public institutions involved in the Inquiry. Following this, in early 2008, parties will prepare and provide their written submissions, along with oral summations.
Concurrently, work focusing on Phase 2 of the Inquiry’s mandate – supporting healing and reconciliation– will continue throughout 2007. With its focus this year extending beyond parties to the larger Cornwall community, it is expected that Phase 2 work will carry on in 2008, after Phase 1 has concluded.
Components of Phase 2 in 2007 will include:
• Counselling and witness support – an evaluation as to whether or not to extend existing services is expected in early March;
• Ongoing work of the Advisory Panel which will continue to engage the community to determine what people need, want and don’t want, and what to do for and with others in Cornwall to ensure, for example, that there is a sound plan for a future of care and respect for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse;
• Activities that focus on practical research and educational opportunities – proposals have been submitted and will be reviewed for funding recommendations by the end of March;
• Broad consultation (counsel, party representatives and the public) on fulfilling the part of the Inquiry mandate that provides opportunities that are not formal evidentiary hearings for those affected by abuse or allegations of abuse to express their experiences and the impact on their lives
– a final decision regarding how this will be accomplished is expected before the summer recess ; and
• Broad concluding opportunities for parties and the public to make submissions on what processes, services or programs they consider would foster community healing and reconciliation in Cornwall – to occur several months after receiving the Phase 1 final submissions.
Updated information with regard to activities, schedules and related undertakings will be regularly posted on the Inquiry website at: www.cornwallinquiry.ca
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