Sarah Kaplan walked into a community meeting at the Cornwall Civic Complex Wednesday morning with a healthy amount of cynicism. As the co-ordinator of the assault and sexual abuse program at the Cornwall Community Hospital, Kaplan is no stranger to the issues at the heart of work being carried out by staff of the Cornwall Public inquiry.

"I'm not too sure about this," said Kaplan. "I have had a lot of dealings with the inquiry, so I'm not really sure what this is going to be all about it."

The meeting was facilitated by inquiry staff tasked with carrying out the Phase 2 mandate of the commission which is to promote healing and reconciliation in the community. By the end of the day-long session, Kaplan was converted.

"This was a pivotal event in our community's history," she said. "It was a fundamentally important day."

Kaplan was one of dozens of experts, professionals and adult survivors of abuse who spent the day sharing ideas and best practices in an effort to put the community on a road to healing after decades of living under a dark cloud of child sexual abuse. Plans were made to examine resources, set priorities and improve communication between a number of community-based organizations which are mandated to prevent abuse, provide resources for survivors and pave the way forward. Taking part in the process were several adult survivors of abuse who said after the meeting they're hopeful the community will come out of this dark chapter in one piece.

"I feel really good about all of this," said Ray Vivarais, a survivor of child sexual abuse. "Two years ago, I wouldn't have talked to anybody about this. Today, here I am, at a public meeting, talking about this.

"That goes to show how the inquiry is working for me and for many people in this community."

Vivarais' thoughts on the process were not lost on members of the inquiry's advisory panel who have spent the past several months meeting with a variety of community groups and agencies in order to determine where to go from here.

"There were a number of survivors here today," said Michael Church, himself an abuse survivor and member of the panel. "A year ago, they would not have come to any meeting. It is a sign the inquiry and Phase 2 is working when these people become a part of the solution." Jamie Marsolais is a survivor of child sexual abuse and a member of The Victims Group which has standing at the inquiry.

"I'm hopeful, I'm optimistic, and I believe change can happen," said Marsolais. "I think having people coming together like this will result in the community moving forward."

Andre Lavoie provided the inquiry with a riveting account of not only the abuse he suffered as child but the impact of the abuse on his life when he testified late last year.

"I usually need 24 hours to digest this much information," said Lavoie. "But I some good things are being done here and there is great potential for healing."

Healing begins today: experts  

Cornwall Standard Freeholder 

Today is the first day of the rest of Cornwall's life, a group of social science experts say.

Dozens of social workers, psychologists, lawyers, community leaders and adult survivors of child sexual abuse came together Wednesday at the Cornwall Civic Complex as part of Phase 2 of the Cornwall Public inquiry.

Part of the inquiry's mandate is to promote healing and reconciliation and during an all-day community meeting, delegates shared ideas about how Cornwall and its residents can come out from underneath the dark cloud which has hung over the city for decades. "This is the beginning of the planning for the future," said Ben Hoffman, a specialist in consensus-building, negotiation and dispute resolution and a member of the inquiry's advisory panel. "Community leadership is taking the healing and reconciliation agenda forward." Throughout the day, panelists and delegates shared best practices and plans for how the community as a whole can prevent sexual abuse, respond effectively to survivors' needs and move forward into the future.

As part of the inquiry's mandate, commission staff has been charged with examining not only how public institutions responded to abuse but also the resources available for those who have lived through abuse.

"The commissioner saw the importance of expanding on the inquiry's mandate," said Hoffman, "and decided to move towards that goal right away."

The Cornwall Public inquiry is unique in its processes as it's the first provincially-mandated inquiry to include support for witnesses and offer counselling to community members.

Comm. Normand Glaude told delegates at Wednesday's session in the days following his appointment he soon realized just looking at healing and reconciliation resources was not enough, and that the community needed more.

"When we first started looking into services, we realized people needed help early on and we had to explore right away what we could do right away," said Glaude. "It seems we have more things to fix and less things to fix them. But that's the thing about small communities - we get up, we dust off and we persevere."

Gail Kaneb is the only well-known local face on the advisory panel. Kaneb said the time has come to deal with this dark element of the community's past while establishing a plan to ensure a brighter future.

"For 20 to 40 years, this issue has overshadowed our community," said Kaneb. "We don't want it to define our future."

Glaude said he knows there will be critics who will question the work of the inquiry, the advisory panel and the delegates who chose to attend Wednesday's session.

He said those who are committed to moving the community forward should not be distracted by those who belittle the process.

"(What happens) if we do nothing? If we take no chances? If we are afraid of being seen as idealistic, naive, afraid of criticism, afraid of not getting it perfect, or afraid of the past? Or afraid to acknowledge we have things to learn?" asked Glaude.

"Doing nothing pretty well guarantees that opportunities that could be there will not materialize. We are not taking that chance. We are taking the chance that we can plan for and work for healing for individuals, for institutions, for this community."