CBC.ca

The judge appointed to lead the public inquiry into allegations of sexual abuse and cover-up in Cornwall has deep roots in the area, charge victims who have fought to get the examination.

Last month, Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant appointed Justice Normand Glaude to head up the long-awaited look into allegations that a ring of high-ranking officials, professionals and clergy sexually abused boys in the Cornwall area for decades.

The inquiry will examine how the justice system and other public institutions responded to the abuse allegations.

One of the reasons Bryant chose Glaude was because he's not from the Cornwall area. He was born in Sudbury, where he is currently the regional senior justice.

"No, I mean it was very important that the person involved not have any connection," Bryant said last month when he appointed Glaude. "He is from Sudbury and has been in Sudbury for some time now."

Bryant painted Glaude as an outsider, someone who would bring a "fresh perspective" to a troubled town.

But the attorney general didn't mention that Glaude's father was born in St. Raphaels, a few kilometres from Cornwall, nor that his grandparents were married in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall.

The discovery has upset people close to the inquiry, including victims like Ron Leroux:

"I feel like they're going to make another cover-up, or they're going to dance around it. They've been dancing around it for me since 1956," said Leroux.

"To discover that his family was, in fact, from the area only serves to instill suspicion and fear in the community, and I think that's counter-productive," said John Swales, who works for a London, Ont., law firm advising many of the Cornwall victims.

Glaude dismisses the connection.

He says he has no close relatives living in the Cornwall area now, and that Bryant didn't know about his family history because it wasn't pertinent.

"I think if people have any concerns, when we start the hearings, when we get the office set up, then put it on the record and we'll deal with it on the record," said Glaude.

Area MPP Jim Brownell says he has no doubts about Glaude's independence.

The attorney general will no longer comment on any aspect of the inquiry.