SQLFusion - Monsignor Donald McDougald says those who contine to accuse prominent Cornwall citizens of sexual abuse will soon suffer the consequences

Pedophile ring stories will persist, monsignor fears

Doubts accusers will be deterred by police findings

24 August 2001, Toronto Star

BY JAMES McCARTEN

CANADIAN PRESS

Persistent, scandalous tales of a secret clan of eastern Ontario pedophiles likely won't be silenced by a police probe that debunks the alleged ring's very existence, a church official said yesterday.

But those who continue to accuse prominent Cornwall residents of sexually abusing children -- and police of covering it up -- will soon suffer the consequences, said Monsignor Donald McDougald, hinting at the possibility of lawsuits against the accusers.

"It'll probably never come to an end in the minds of some . people who are willing to believe the worst," said the vicar-general of the diocese of Alex--andria-Cornwall. "It's a source of great anger in the minds of some of us. I don't know what will ever bring it to rest."

Prominent members of the region's Roman Catholic clergy have been among those accused of being part of a pedophile ring some say has existed in the eastern Ontario city since the early 1960s.

On Wednesday, provincial police ended their four-year probe of the alleged ring, dubbed Project Truth. They concluded the allegations are baseless,

That didn't surprise Helen Dunlop. "It's a great disappointment. But it's not at all surprising."

Her husband Perry, a retired Cornwall police officer, was among the first to make allegations about the ring in 1993.

Dunlop said she and her husband remain convinced the ring is for real and that police are complicit in a cover-up that extends all the way to the Ontario government.

"They've known that this has been going on in Cornwall for years," Dunlop said from her home in British Columbia.

"They don't want to deal with it because they know it's going to mean massive payouts, civil suits, and criminal charges against people who have a lot of power, clout and connections.^"

Garry Guzzo, a Conservative MPP and a former judge, attracted national attention earlier this year when he threatened to identify suspects he believes ought to he charged.

He had planned to name names in the Legislature, where parliamentary privilege allows politicians to speak without fear of legal reprisals.

[15 charged not a ring police said]

Guzzo changed his mind after meeting with Attorney-General David Young, but not before a number of media outlets identified one man never charged. Guzzo did not return calls to his office yesterday.

The MPP for Ottawa West-Nepean will only be hurting himself if he decides to make good on his threat to name names, the monsignor said.

Project Truth ended after 672 people were interviewed and 69 complainants identified.

Fifteen people were charged, with 115 offences ranging from gross indecency to indecent assault on a male and sexual assault on a male, but they never constituted a ring, police concluded.

Seven people remain before the courts or await trial.

No more charges are planned, OPP Detective-Superintendent Jim Miller said.