Court Of Appeal Slaps Inquiry Commissioner

January 19, 2008 — A provincial appellate court has reportedly slapped the Commissioner of the Cornwall Public Inquiry saying the inquiry’s mandate shouldn’t be expanded. The Globe and Mail reports the Ontario Court of Appeal voted 3-0 in favor of a legal challenge, expressing amazement the inquiry would look beyond Project Truth and institutional response to historical abuse in the Cornwall area. The challenge to Justice Normand Glaude came from two police forces, a Roman Catholic diocese, a police association and the provincial government. Glaude had earlier proposed to hear evidence from a woman who claims she was assaulted at knife point in 1993 by two teenaged boys and wasn’t treated very well by police. One justice is quoted in the paper as saying the commissioner’s view of his mandate runs the risk of standing the so-called main focus of the inquiry on its head creating a mega-inquiry that could last for years. Friday’s ruling overturns a Divisional Court ruling which Judge Normand Glaude won.