THE CORNWALL PUBLIC INQUIRY

The Honourable G. Normand Glaude, Commissioner  

L’ENQUÊTE PUBLIQUE SUR CORNWALL

L’honorable G. Normand Glaude, commissaire

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 28, 2007 

Counselling support to continue at Cornwall Public Inquiry;

five Phase 2 projects endorsed for funding 

(Cornwall, ON) Following an in-depth review of the Cornwall Public Inquiry’s counselling support program, Justice G. Normand Glaude, Commissioner, today announced that Counselling Support will be extended until 90 days after the release of his final report. 

Counselling support first became available in March 2006 in an effort to facilitate the provision of counselling to those affected by the Cornwall Public Inquiry. To date, 175 people, predominantly from the areas of Cornwall and Eastern Ontario, have applied for Counselling Support. In order to evaluate the program’s effectiveness, opinions and information were gathered from parties, internal staff and the Inquiry’s Advisory Panel along with a survey of counseling support clients and providers, conducted by an independent researcher. 

In terms of independent feedback, a striking number of clients and counselling support providers indicated their strong support for the program: 91-percent of clients rated it valuable or extremely valuable and 99-percent would recommend it to anyone who needs it. In addition, 92-percent of clients said their counsellor was very good or excellent. There was virtually unanimous support for extension among counselors and clients. Counsellors indicated that there was a need for longer term counselling. 

Following the review, the following decisions will apply to the counselling support program: 

• New clients will be accepted until March 31, 2008; this will be reviewed in January 2008;

• Automatic extension of counselling support to existing clients;

• Unless there is a crisis, there is a limit of six hours of counselling per week, per client;

• While fees will generally remain the same, there will be slight adjustments for couples counselling and the size requirement for group counselling, to better align with other, existing counselling arrangements;

• The Inquiry will hold voluntary quarterly counselling provider meetings;

• Counselling qualification requirements that are consistent with Employee Assistance Programs will be formally instituted; and

• Each counselor’s caseload will be capped at 20 clients from the Inquiry, with some discretion available; any change will be by attrition. 

A more in-depth document explaining the changes as well as a summary of the results of the client/provider survey is available on the Inquiry website at: www.cornwallinquiry.ca

Commissioner Glaude also announced the proposals for Phase 2 party research that he endorses for funding.

Phase 2, which focuses on healing and reconciliation, includes opportunities for parties to propose their own ‘action-oriented’ projects. Following an invitation to parties to submit proposals, the Commissioner, with advice from the Inquiry’s Advisory Panel, decided to endorse funding to three parties for five Phase 2 projects: 

• A training manual for community-based services for male sexual abuse survivors - provided by the Men’s Project;

• A guidebook and interactive process for developing a guidebook that supports self-help initiatives but manages the potential risks for individuals who are helping others and those receiving help - provided by the Men’s Project;

• Research into ideas such as advocates or advocacy centres or an ombudsman for childhood sexual assault victims, including those who have experienced historical abuse – provided by the Men’s Project;

• A feasibility study in creating a central research capacity in Cornwall for information in relation to supporting survivors of childhood sexual abuse. This would involve active engagement with a wide range of community organizations, to debate what would work in the Cornwall community – provided by the Children’s Aid Society of Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry; and

• An educational website for survivors of childhood sexual abuse – provided by the group Survivors of Sexual Abuse and local Cornwall psychologist Dr. Wayne Nadler. 

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For more information:

G-4 Communications

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