David Petepiece

 David Petepiece was not sexually molested per se, however an Anglican minister made several brazen attempts to molest him when he was a ten-year-old boy bed-ridden in the Cornwall General Hospital.  The attempts alone had a significant impact on his young life.  He cried constantly while he was in the hospital, stopped going to church after he was discharged, and told not a single soul for nearly twenty years.  

 Petepiece’s eventual attempts to have a possible sexual predator dealt with are yet another sad reflection of the lack of concern for the safety of children, and certainly in this instance for the safety of little boys. 

14 February 2007:  Lead commission counsel Peter Engelmann letter to all parties re complaints re cross-examination

08 February  2007: Transcript of testimony at Cornwall Public Inquiry

20 February 2007:  Abuse victims complain about grilling at Cornwall inquiry: Accused need equal treatment, lawyer says

20 February 2007: Handle witnesses carefully: parties

17 February 2007: Diocese will seek more money; Sifting through documents is taking its toll on some parties

08 February 2007: Another Hearing Day, Another Sad Story At Inquiry

09 February 2007: Petepiece claims Anglican minister tried to touch him

David Petepiece Testimony at the Cornwall Public Inquiry

David Petepiece, and Engineer who worked with Transport Canada and has worked with the Stormont, Dundas, Glengarry School Board, now Upper Canada District School Board for approximately 30 years testified at the Cornwall Public Inquiry on Thursday 08 February 2007. 

This is a recap of his testimony.

In 1956 when he was 10-years-old Petipiece was hospitalized with an infected knee for about ten days.

He was in a two-bed ward at the Cornwall General Hosptal. The other patient in the room was a 15-year-old boy, Thomas (Tom) Basil.

During his hospital stay Petepiece was completely bed ridden.  And, during his stay an assistant cleric from Anglican Trinity Church in Cornwall began to visit him on a frequent basis, pulling the curtain around his bed, pulling up a chair at his bedside and speaking in hushed tones.

The cleric told the young lad that had been given a job for the church and needed Petepiece’s help – it wound’t involve much, the boy was told, all he had to do was let the cleric put his hand under the sheets so he could determine the change in size of a penis from flaccid to erect.

Petepiece refused to comply.  The minister persisted, day after day. He never got his hands under the boy’s sheets. The boy had been told by his parents never to let anyone touch his private parts.

Apparently Petepiece cried constantly while he was in the hospital.  His parents couldn’t understand why and for years and years he didn’t tell them. 

After he got out of hospital he stopped going to church.  He would tell his parents he was going and then head off somewhere else.

He remained silent until 1974.  In that year he and his wife were making arrangements for the baptism of their fist child.  When the couple met with the Anglican minister, a man by the name of Irwin, Petepiece was soundly lectured for not attending church.  That became a trigger.

Petipiece, who, as mentioned previously, had never said a single word about the incidents to anyone – wife included -  told Irwin what had happened when he was a child.

Irwin was apparently dismissive, treated the allegations as no big deal, and quickly returned to “badgering” Petipiece about the baptism and church attendance. 

Nothing was done.

Time passed.  Petepiece was concerned a sexual predator was on the loose.  He decided he would try to find out who the cleric was.  Attempts to find out with the aid of his wife who was still active in the church had come to naught.

Perhaps around 1979 Petipiece contacted a man in Ottawa who was an archivist for the Anglican church.  He explained the situation and was given the name of man who was said to be in Cornwall in 1956 – possibly the individual who tried to get his under the sheets.

The name was written on a piece of paper and tucked away in the top drawer of Petepiece’s desk for years. He looked at it frequently. 

Sometime in or around the mid 80s he told his mother.  She was shocked.  But, she in turn shared two stories of what had allegedly happened to two boys connected to the same church and around the same time that her son was in hospital being visited by this unknown cleric: (1) a young lad had been at a camp or some such thing.  Upon his return his parents were disturbed about the stains they found inside his sleeping bag.  He was asked what had happened. The child said the minister got into the sleeping bag with him to keep him warm. The boy’s father told Petipiece’s father; and (2) One or more boys from a more prominent family were allegedly abused by a minister at the same church. The father apparently dealt with the allegations in some fashion and the minister left town.

And that was it again.  …..Until the summer of 1998.

Project Truth had commenced its probe in Cornwall. 

Obviously the hospital incident and concern that a sexual predator was on the loose was still weighing heavy on Petipiece’s mind.  He decided to contact the Project Truth officers to report what had happened to him and what he knew. 

In July of 1998 he met twice with Project Truth officer Steve Seguin. A statement was given. Inlcuded was the name of the boy who shared his room in 1956.  He would have seen the cleric coming and going. 

He was told the criminal offence committed by the cleric would be “invitation to sexual touching.”  And, he was told he was not to tell anyone he had been to see Seguin and not to do any digging.  Seguin apparently explained that documents were disappearing.

Months passed.  Nothing.

In early 2000 Petipiece decided to file with the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services (OCCPS).  He had several contacts with a man whom he can identify only as the former executive assistant to former Conservative MPP Garry Guzzo, the former judge who advocated strenuously for an inquiry in Cornwall. The man said he was familiar with Cornwall because of his work with Guzzo.  

There were promises made that something would be done. Nothing.

He discovered the OPP had a professional standards bureau.  He decided to contact them to file a complaint against Seguin and the OPP, but first he would give Seguin a heads up and a chance to deal with matter. 

Seguin was anxious to meet.  Steve Seguin and Joe Dupuis (another Project Truth officer) went to Petipiece’s office to discuss matters.

Petepiece felt that Dupuis, whom he initially understood to be Pat Hall, was there to intimidate him and shelter Seguin – nothing verbal, but through body language and eye contact.

He was told the officers had checked with Tom Basil (the other boy in the room). According to the officers Tom he said he didn’t know Petepiece and had never been a patient at the Cornwall General Hospital – when he went to the hospital it was to the Catholic hospital, and he had been in the hospital only once for a hernia.   

The investigation was finished, he was told.  The involvement of Project Truth officers had come to an end.  If he wanted to pursue the matter further he should contact the Cornwall Police Service.

At some point in this Project Truth scenario he was told that “invitation to sexual touching” was not in the Criminal Code in 1956.  It seems the conclusion was that since “invitation to sexual touching” was not in the code no crime had been committed.  Petipiece’s believes that there would be some other section in the old criminal code which addressed what the minister was about. I would concur.  The code in those days tended to have sections dealing with corrupting the morals of a child and so on.  I will check. 

But above and beyond what charges could or could not be laid, one of Pettepiece’s over-riding concerns was that a sexual predator was on the loose.

That concern was not apparently shared.

At some stage in his interaction with Project Truth officers he was told  - by Seguin I believe – that his allegations were not part of Project Truth mandate which was to investigate sex abuse allegations against Roman Catholic clergy. Why this was not explained until well after the fact is unclear.

Petepiece decided not to pursue his concerns with the Cornwall police.  His understanding was that the OPP had been called in to deal with Cornwall twice because the Cornwall Police Service was under a cloud of suspicion. He believed therefore that it would not be productive to go that route, plus he thought possibly he was running out of energy. 

Sometime later he received a letter from Crown attorney Shelley Hallett advising him that there were now counselling services available for male survivors of sexual abuse! He did not pursue the offer.

Last year Petipiece decided to report the saga to the Cornwall Public Inquiry. 

When he thought he would be called to testify last September he gave the Archdeacon at Trinity Anglican, a Rev. Moulton, a heads up.  He found Moulton receptive and compassionate: he expressed regret for what had happened and said it would have to be reported to a committee. 

Shortly afterwards, Petipiece received an email from Moulton – he was given the name of a man who was believed to be the minister in question and was told that he died in the 60s. 

That’s the shell of Petipiece’s story. 

During his testimony documents were entered into evidence which showed that Tom Basil did not recall ever being a patient in the Cornwall General Hopsital and that he did not recall a David Petipiece.  Different than a flat denial! 

There seems to be no indication that the Project Truth officers attempted further confirmation through hospital records or interviews with Basil’s family.  And, one document and Petipiece’s recollection of seeing Tom Basil once at work seems to confirm that the man Pettipiece identified as the boy in his room is indeed one and the same as the man contacted and interviewed by Project Truth officers.

Furthermore, according to Petepiece back in the 50s there was only one paediatric ward in Cornwall – at the Cornwall General Hospital.  If that’s the case a little investigative work would have unveiled that fact very quickly.  

Petepiece has not a doubt in his mind the boy in the room with him was Tom Basil.  And he understands fully that Basil would not remember him.  He remembered Tom, because, as he testified, he was a ten-year-old boy who looked up to older boys.  He was ten. Tom was 15.  And Tom had “a goldmine of comic books.”  He remembered him.  On the other hand, he fully understands that Tom “probably doesn’t even know I exist.”