Dunlop's name prominent at inquiry

Terri Saunders

Cornwall Stanard Freeholder

Thursday, October 19, 2006 - 10:00

Local News - Perry Dunlop's name will likely come up during the testimony of each and every victim at the Cornwall Public Inquiry.

The former city cop has been credited with - or blamed with, depending on which side of him you stand - shedding light on decades of child sexual abuse in this part of the province.

Indeed, Dunlop is almost directly responsible for the formation of Project Truth, a four-year Ontario Provincial Police investigation into abuse allegations which resulted in 15 men being criminally charged in relation to more than 100 sexual offences.

But the investigation, conducted between 1997 and 2001, only delved into allegations from complainants whose alleged perpetrators had never been before the courts, or at least had fresh claims of abuse leveled against them.

For years prior to Project Truth's existence, police had been investigating hundreds of sex crimes in this region and laid just as many criminal charges.

The local Crown attorney's office prosecuted many cases which resulted in jail or prison sentences for a number of area residents. When the public inquiry was announced in the fall of 2004, its mandate was to investigate the institutional response to historical allegations of abuse against children and to make recommendations as to how the institutions could better handle similar situations in the future.

Project Truth was not the only event to be placed under the microscope; the commission was to look much deeper and much farther back than a single police investigation.

Among the victims listed as potential witnesses at the inquiry are other complainants in other cases, many of which pre-date Project Truth, sometimes by more than a decade.

Yet so far, five victims have taken the witness stand and while only one of them had any involvement with Project Truth in any way, Dunlop's name has been put to four of them. Interestingly, the only victim not asked about Dunlop, and whether or not he had any contact with the former police officer, has been the Project Truth victim.

Scott Burgess told the inquiry he was repeatedly abused by Jean-Luc Leblanc, the former Newington bus driver who was convicted in 2001 and declared a long-term offender a year later.

Burgess is expected to complete his testimony today, so the possibility remains he will be asked about any potential contact with Dunlop.

When Andre Lavoie was asked that question during his testimony on Wednesday, he seemed perplexed. The documentary filmmaker was a victim of Robert Sabourin, a St. Lawrence High School teacher who pleaded guilty to multiple sex crimes in April 1999.

"Do you know Perry Dunlop?" asked Simon Ruel, commission counsel.

"Only through the media," said Lavoie.

"Have you ever met him?" asked Ruel.

"No," said Lavoie. "I'm not sure why I'm being asked this question." "C'est la vie," said Comm. Normand Glaude.

Ruel continued to ascertain what contact Lavoie could possibly have had with Dunlop or anyone close to him.

"Have you ever spoken with his wife, Helen?" asked Ruel.

"I have had no contact whatsoever with the Dunlop family," said Lavoie.

Dunlop was a member of the Cornwall Community Police Service when he learned his force had information related to a $32,000 payment made to a victim of sexual abuse by the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese.

Against the orders of superiors, Dunlop delivered the file to the Children's Aid Society, a move which would ultimately result in the formation of Project Truth.

The public inquiry continues today.

thenquiry.ca note: Please note that the file which Dunlop delivered to the Children's Aid Society was the D.S. victim statement wherein D.S. alleged he had been sexually molested by both Father Charles MacDonald and probation officer Ken Seguin.  To my knowledge Dunlop neither had access to nor delivered a file containing information about the $32,000 illegal payment which obliged D.S. to cease his pursuit of criminal charges.

As for disobeying the order of a superior, I have no knowledge that Dunlop was ever told NOT to go to CAS. I do not believe he sought permission.  He did what he had to do - turned the victim statement over to CAS because the Cornwall Police Service was not investigating the sex abuse allegations against a popular local priest and probation officer and children were therefore at risk. 

After Dunlop was charged under the Police Services Act, the Board of Inquiry concurred.