MPP defends public inquiry; Kormos: proceedings should continue 

Cornwall Standard Freeholder


Friday, August 17, 2007 - 08:00  

Terri Saunders

Local News - A key proponent of the Cornwall Public Inquiry defended its creation Thursday, despite the fact yet another key witness may not complete cross-examination.

Peter Kormos, an NDP MPP from the Niagara Region, told the Standard-Freeholder he remains a strong advocate of the work being conducted in Cornwall and doesn't regret asking the premier to call the inquiry.

"The purpose of calling this inquiry was not only to determine why alleged perpetrators of crimes, alleged pedophiles, had not been apprehended but also to determine what had in fact taken place in Cornwall," said Kormos, who stood in the legislature at Queen's Park in November 2005 and demanded Premier Dalton McGuinty establish the commission. "There was a cloud over this community and a cloud over police officers and other officials in the community, and that cloud is still there today."

Kormos' words come at a critical time for the inquiry, because it could be dealt another blow next week if it turns out Ron Leroux, another key witness, can't complete cross-examination.

Comm. Normand Glaude has said he'll decide Aug. 23 whether Leroux will be excused from hearings for medical reasons.

If that happens, Leroux will be the second witness to leave the stand before all parties at the inquiry have a chance to ask questions about some key testimony.

In February, David Silmser left the witness stand early in cross-examination when a doctor determined continuing on would be detrimental to his health.

Kormos said the community was suffering under the weight of years of "speculation, rumours and innuendo" and requires an open healing process.

"This is an opportunity to clear the air," he said, "and I've said that from the get-go."

The fact some witnesses have struggled with cross-examination doesn't surprise Kormos.

He said it was common in the past for female victims of sexual crimes to refuse to come forward and participate in prosecutions because cross-examination would prove too difficult to withstand.

"In an effort to get to the truth, attorneys sometimes are vigorous in their cross-examinations as a way of testing the veracity of evidence," said Kormos. "Is it a perfect system? No, but it's the best possible system."

Some critics have also suggested the inquiry is taking too long to complete and will end up costing taxpayers too much money. Kormos disagrees with those opinions.

"Everyone knew this was going to be a lengthy process," he said. "But these crimes were so abhorrent and because of that it's okay that the inquiry is slow and tedious.

"It means the commissioner and his staff are leaving no stone unturned."

When Leroux took the witness stand at the inquiry in late June, commission counsel attempted to elicit from him evidence he'd personally witnessed a group of prominent area men engaged in the collective abuse of young boys in the 1950s and 1960s. Leroux was also expected to talk about events he'd seen with his own eyes, including a bizarre sexual ritual.

Very early in his testimony, Leroux began to suggest some of the things he's said in the past were made up and he removed many names from a list of men alleged to have conspired together to not only abuse children but to cover up their activities.

For years, Leroux's story had been considered one of the main pillars on which sat the theory a clan of pedophiles was at work in Cornwall, and when he began recanting some of the things he'd said in the past, some people were quick to believe he'd been lying all along.

"(These) are . . . things that have gripped the collective conscience of this community," said David Sherriff-Scott, an attorney representing the diocese at the inquiry.

"These things have now been shown to be false and this is extraordinary . . . for the community."

If Leroux does not complete cross-examination, it's possible his evidence could be thrown out and that may serve to prop up the opinion the inquiry is not accomplishing what the community had been promised - answer the question as to whether or not a pedophile ring ever operated in this community.

"There is no yes or no answer to that question," said Pierre Dumais, one of several lawyers working for the commission, Thursday.

"No one said it's a club with a membership.

"To suggest one person's evidence does or does not entirely support a theory that there was a group of individuals who knew each other and were working together is not reasonable.

"I don't think any one witness we're calling is the end-all here.

"Everything is inter-related and it's all part of a bigger picture." That picture began to be painted when the inquiry started hearing from victims and alleged victims of child sexual abuse last fall.

In November, the commission heard from Claude Marleau, a Montreal-based lawyer who has claimed in the past he was routinely sexually abused by a number of area priests in the 1960s.

A series of criminal trials held in Cornwall a few years ago resulted in a series of acquittals against the accused men, but a judge in Montreal found Rev. Paul Lapierre guilty of sexually abusing Marleau.

Lapierre was sentenced to a year in jail, the first and only priest from the local diocese to ever be put behind bars for such a crime. Marleau has said several times in the past he was passed from one priest to another, describing himself as a gift shared between them and during Lapierre's trial in Montreal in 2001, Marleau said he was "passed around like a beer" and said as much while testifying at the inquiry.

During cross-examination by Dallas Lee, an attorney representing The Victims Group at the inquiry, Marleau suggested the group of men were working together.

"Do you believe a clan of pedophiles was working in Cornwall?" asked Lee.

"If you don't qualify the gang who abused me as a 'ring,'" said Marleau, "I don't know what (else it would be.)"

Leroux isn't the only person who's said in the past many prominent area men socialized together, often in the company of suspected child molesters.

Gerald Renshaw told the inquiry while he didn't personally observe these men engaged in any unlawful activity, he suggested they not only knew each other but spent time together socially at homes owned by two men who had allegedly sexually abused young boys.

Renshaw said he personally observed priests, businessmen and police officers at the home of Ken Seguin in Summerstown and at Malcolm MacDonald's cottage on Stanley Island in the 1980s and 1990s.

Seguin was a probation officer at the time who has been identified by a number of witnesses at the inquiry as a perpetrator of sexual abuse against young boys.

MacDonald was charged with a number of sex-related offences in March 1999 by officers with Project Truth, an OPP investigation into child sexual abuse in the Cornwall area.

MacDonald, who served for a time as the region's Crown attorney, died in Florida in December 1999 before his matter could go to trial and Seguin committed suicide in 1994 before he was charged with any crime.

Leroux, Renshaw, Marleau and Silmser are just four of dozens of witnesses who have come forward to tell their stories of the alleged abuse they suffered as children.

tsaunders@standard-freeholder.com