Permission needed to go to cops: Legault

Cornwall Standard Freeholder

26 July 2008

Posted By Trevor Pritchard

The local Roman Catholic diocese’s current committee for handling sexual abuse allegations will only go to police with the alleged victim’s permission, its chair told the Cornwall Public Inquiry yesterday.

But Raymond Legault added the five-person committee delivers every abuse allegation, current or historical, to the Children’s Aid Society.

“Although the law is not absolutely clear on (the requirement to report historical allegations) we want to make sure we do the right thing,” said Legault.

The inquiry is looking at how institutions like the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese responded when people brought allegations of sexual abuse from decades past to their attention.

Legault, who ran a pediatric clinic from 1973 until 1990, was appointed by the diocese in 2003 as the bishop’s delegate on sexual abuse matters involving clergy.

He testified Friday his role is to receive abuse complaints, discuss them with the other committee members, and deliver the committee’s final recommendations to current Bishop Paul-Andre Durocher.

In 2004, Legault received an allegation from a woman known as C-72.

C-72 said a friend had told her at a party that he’d been molested by a city priest when he was 13.

The priest was never charged in connection with the complaint, and Comm. Normand Glaude placed a publication ban on his name. C-72 would not name the person, Legault said. He tried to get C-72 to convince the other man to come forward himself, since the diocese “had no idea as to where the event happened, where the event happened.”

Legault said he took the allegation in May 2004 to the CAS, where executive director Rick Abell was unsurprised by the news.

“Mr. Abell told me that there had had been rumours in Cornwall about this priest . . . but they had received absolutely no complaints,” said Legault.

The committee thought it “appropriate” not to approach the priest immediately, said Legault, since the allegation lacked details and came from a third party.

Durocher met with the priest six or seven months later, he said.

“If we were to redo it today, of course, we would indeed meet with the priest in question,” said Legault. “But our committee was just starting up. We learn over time, trial and error.”

While C-72 also reported the complaint to the CAS, the alleged victim never went to the church committee, Legault said.

Legault told Frank Horn, attorney for the Coalition for Action, that although the committee doesn’t automatically take allegations to police, they would remind alleged victims of their rights to do so themselves.

“The committee is trying to make the process of bringing abuse (to light) as painless as possible,” he said.

While the committee members have sworn to keep any abuse allegations they received confidential, Legault said that wouldn’t apply if the police asked for information as part of a criminal investigation.

Legault also testified the committee could make recommendations for removing a priest from his parish if the accusation was serious enough.

The inquiry is scheduled to resume Monday at 1 p.m. with a new witness.

tpritchard@standard-freeholder.com