Church "Should Have Known Better": MacDonald

Local News - AM 1220 

December 19, 2008 — Cornwall's top lawyer says "the church should have known better" when it came to an out of court settlement involving an alleged child sex abuse victim. Murray MacDonald told the Cornwall Public Inquiry he thought the alleged victim had more of a role in negotiations. But MacDonald says, morally, the church should have known better regardless. MacDonald is referring to a $32,000 settlement between an alleged victim and the local diocese. There was an illegal clause in the agreement that meant the alleged victim could not continue with his criminal complaint against an area priest. MacDonald says he and former Cornwall Police Chief Claude Shaver do not believe the church took the high road. (Hear audio clip below) A lawyer for the diocese objected to the evidence saying MacDonald was providing opinion and not facts. Commissioner Normand Glaude still allowed the questioning. Hearings continue. 

[Transcript of audio clip: "There’s certain things that we have to do and be seen to be doing  that retains the high ground.  I don’t think that, nor did Chief Shaver, feel that that was done in this instance, and we were more upset by that component  than we were about any criminal misconduct of the church."]