29 January 2009

Posted By DAVID NESSETH

A retired superintendent of education for the Prescott and Russell Separate School Board said he and his staff never contacted police after sexual abuse allegations surfaced against a teacher at La Citadelle Catholic Secondary School in 1976.

 Jean-Paul Scott, who served as the school board's superintendent from 1972 to 1980, passed on the voluntary resignation of teacher Robert Sabourin to the school board, but said he didn't include to the board the allegation or circumstances surrounding Sabourin's sudden departure.

"Is this now a trial for me, or what?" Scott asked Inquiry commissioner Normand Glaude while he was questioned by a lawyer at the Cornwall Public Inquiry Wednesday.

Glaude responded that Scott would have to face some tough questions in the witness box. Several lawyers questioned Scott about why he didn't take the sexual abuse allegation to police or the Children Aid's Society (CAS).

The educator of 37 years said he didn't feel he had the proper evidence. He said verbal statements wouldn't have held up in court.

 "We were on shaky grounds," Scott said. "We had no evidence as such. It was mostly hearsay."

Juda Strawczynski, lawyer on behalf of the Citizens for Community Renewal, asked why Scott felt he was in a position to make decisions about evidence or lack thereof. He asked why that determination wasn't left to the police.

"But neither you nor Ms. Seguin are trained investigators, right?" Strawczynski asked. Scott agreed.

High school Principal Jeannine Seguin had learned of the abuse allegation through Sabourin's wife, who claimed she had been presented with questionable photographs found by her son. Sabourin's wife allegedly ripped up the photos. Scott testified that nobody followed up with Sabourin's wife or son to identify potential victims.

Scott said the school board, who hired Sabourin in 1967, didn't seek legal advice about how it should proceed with the allegation. Scott also launched no internal investigation into the allegation. He also said he was unsure whether the board's director of education had been informed about the allegations that Sabourin, who taught photography, French and drama, had been abusing students in special rooms he'd requested, at least one of which was intended for use as a darkroom for photograph development.

 Sabourin claimed to be the personal photographer for the Bishop of the day. 

"Mr. Sabourin asked me for a few working spaces," Scott said. "We heard later that some things went on there that shouldn't have gone on."

A secretary had told Sabourin that it wasn't necessary for locks to be put on the doors of these rooms.

"He said he wanted to protect the film," Scott said of Sabourin, who had given the superintendent a personal tour of his areas.

Frank Horn, a lawyer on behalf of the Coalition for Action, asked Scott if he was just passing a problem teacher onto another school board or another employer, considering he hadn't taken any measures for anyone to learn of the allegations.

"If he's doing it in school, could he be doing it somewhere else?" Horn asked.

"It's possible," Scott responded.

Scott said he never received any reference calls for Sabourin after he left the school board in 1976.

In a statement presented to Scott, Seguin said she contacted the general secretary of the Canadian Teacher's Federation Committee about the allegation, but it never "dawned" on her to go to the police. Scott testified that he may have gone to the police if Seguin had suggested they do so. At this point, Glaude noted that Scott was Seguin's superior.

A Cornwall Community Police Service investigation into Sabourin was eventually launched in 1996. He would later plead guilty to molesting a number of boys, and was sentenced in April of 1999 to two years less a day. Victim lawyer Dallas Lee asked Scott if he ever made any attempt to contact the individual who was involved in the sexual abuse allegation, perhaps to see if counselling was required, Lee suggested.

"I didn't ask to meet the victims and the victims didn't ask to meet me," Scott said.

Scott was presented with a written statement by one of Sabourin's victims.

Part of it stated: "It ended as I began to mature and understand that what he was doing was very wrong. I started to hate him and see that he was doing this to a lot of other students."

Two of Sabourin's victims have testified at the inquiry about the effects the abuse had on them as they were growing up.

Strawczynski asked Scott if he would have acted differently if he had a second chance to deal with the matter now. Perhaps, he suggested, he'd now call CAS or the police.

"It takes more than my gut feelings to make things produce more definite measures," Scott said, who retired in 1994.

Also at the inquiry Wednesday, Upper Canada District School Board Director of Education David Thomas testified about recommended practices for identifying and preventing sexual misconduct in Ontario schools.

MR.SCOTT THAT IS A TERRIBLE ANSWER.PERHAPS YOU WOULD CALL THE POLICE OR CAS IF YOU HAD A SECOND CHANCE NOW.KNOW SIR THE ANSWER HAS TO BE, I WOULD CALL THE POLICE RIGHT AWAY AND LET THEM DEAL WITH IT.AND I WOULD SUSPENED ANY TEACHER UNTILL THE INVESTAGATION BY POLICE IS COMPLETED.ANYTHING TO COVER YOUR BEHIND.DISGUSTING   

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #1 By LUCKYRED,

YOUR RIGHT THIS IS A TRIAL FOR NOT ONLY YOU BUT EVERYONE INVOLVED.

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #2 By LUCKYRED,

BUT THE PEDIPHILES

aT LEASE YOU DIDN,T SAY WELL IT WAS CONSEUAL

That man was actually a superintendent in charge looks like the insane were running the nuthouse. And not one of them had a clue. No wonder they got away with stuff.

Sounds a lot like the catholic church does with their pedophile priests just ship them off to some other school then it is not your problem.

lucky red, there is no reason for the accused to take the stand in defense. It is not a trial for that. This is an inquiry to determine what happened and how the system failed.

Sure I would blame a convicted person of a crime. I already said that f these guys are guilty I would through the first stone.

 In your wish to just blame the pedophiles you solve nothing, this inquiry will only address the system. There is so much depth in to what may have happened that to only look at the accused we still do the victims an injustice again.

Take an open minded approach and think about the family status. Don't get hot just reason. In the family case there is no blame to be laid but possible solutions to what actually happened. As for teenagers I ask you again. What if a 14 yr old stole a car and was inebriated. In that wild nite he killed a member of your family what would you do? Would you hold them responsible because they made the choice? Or would you blame the LCBO for the booze and the parents for loosing the car? The same holds true for the La Citadelle scenario. Yes the teacher did wrong but the kid should have had a good idea at that age what was going on. 

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #24 By dodger

It really saddens me to see that this person at school had NOT told the police or CAS about what was going on. It was the duty of the school to tell! But you know what, I am not surprized, Cornwall hid many secrets and till this day, it still does! It will never get better until people start to speak out about what happened to them...there has been a few of victims who were brave and had opened up and told their stories...and sometimes I wonder if the system (police or CAS) would even hear them! I believe a person over 19 would be of age to take responsiablity for their own actions...IF they were abused in the past and it's still happening, then I believe they are NOT at fault! It's manipulation and control that the perpetrator uses to control their victims. If the victim continues in his life from childhood till his late teens and possibly beyond until adulthood, they are unaware what is happening to them because of this control, manipulation. They may feel that something is wrong but are unaware how wrong it may be, due to the fact that their feelings, emotions, reactions, everything in their mind, is confused because of this manipulation...these perpetrators/childmolesters know how to get to someone...their vulnerability, shyness, easily lead, good heart, trusting, all of these traits in a victims are used by the perpetrator/molester! "Itinerant" if a 14 year old stole a car and killed a member of my family...it would NOT CERTAINLY NOT, be the 14 year olds fault-but of the fault of the parents and justice system for not following the actions and life of this 14 year old. If the parents would keep up to date on their children and the courts would do their jobs as well as CAS, if a child were to steal a car for the first time maybe they should look into why this child would do that...maybe look into (abuse in the family, abuse from a relative, teacher, priests) and so on...then maybe this child would get help and never cause a problem again. BUT again, this would not be the fault of the child!!!

 I have been on here for a while now posting my opinions and watching what others have posted in here. From what I see, you have been abused in your past and have not recieved any help for what you went through and because you didn't get help you were confused and unfortunately...you possibily started to abuse others. Now you are trying to find a reason to blame children for not taking responibility for their own actions...thus giving you a reason to forgive yourself. I maybe wrong...but I don't think so. You are struggling in your own world...trying to make sense of things,find out what is right and wrong...get some help, then you could understand why a child would NOT be responsible, forsomeone trying to control or manipulate and violate them! This could be a time for healing and understanding why things happened the way they did! Just a thought. 

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #27 By dodger

Well Itinerant, I damn sure know that my brother and I were sexually, physically and mentally abused from the time we were born till the time I was 12 and till my brother was 16. The worst of it went on every day, many times a day from the time I was 6 till I was 12 and my brother from the time he was 4 till the time he was 16. He ran away 3 times and told the cops about it 3 times, the police picked him up and he told them all about the abuse and the 1st two times they took him back to that "House of Horrors" and the 3rd time he was attempting to torch the joint next door to get back at his abusers and he then told the courts that he had told the cops and they took him back into that same house and that he would never go back there again. So "RANT" who's fault is it when he went to the police and the CAS did zip and the cops kept taking him back and he was abused over and over again. By the way, the CAS had found out that when I was 12 that the abuse that I had told them about over and over again was true and they pulled me out of that hole, stated that they would never put another child in that hole and then left my brother there to be abused for the next six long years. Yeh Itinerant, you're right, it was my fault and my brother's fault that we were abused all those years, in spite of the CAS knowing as they themselves have admitted and even write about the cops picking my brother up and taking him back to that foster home. The least they could've done was take him back to the CAS or a group home or anywhere, even jail would've been better but no, the cops in their wisdom brought him back for more torture and abuse. So yeh Itinerant, I guess it was my fault at 6 years old and my brother's fault at 4 years old to allow the abusers to abuse us. Yup, 4 and 6 years old and it was our fault, eh? Itinerant, I only wish that you could have been there and received the abuse that we did and then you sure as hell wouldn't be running your big mouth off like you are and wrongly so as well. Go talk to the concerned citizens, they might believe your B.S. but they'd be the ONLY ones.

I hope people realize your posts are simply opinions not “INFORMED OPINIONS”.
“Informed” means, educated, knowledgeable, experienced.”

It is very easy to offer “opinions”, but much more difficult to post “informed opinions”. But, why can’t you simply accept the opinions of others as their opinions, instead of trying to convince them that yours is correct; i.e.) confronting them, asking for examples or proof. I mean get real. What are you really trying to do? Responsibility is not something that comes simply, when an age is reached.  Responsibility comes with education, knowledge, experience or professional assignment via workplace policies, protocol, expectations. RESPONSIBILITY is not an “automatic”.For example; if you are raised and “developed” in an “informed”, trustworthy, functional, highly educated and experienced, “safe, open-system”, chances are more likely you will act and react to “issues”, differently, than someone who is raised and/or interacts in an “uninformed”, dysfunctional, less educated or less sophisticated, “closed-system”, where they are afraid to “speak-out”. (system” can be family, community, church, etc.). “Open and closed” mean exactly what they seem to mean. In “closed-systems” “bullies” prevail or attempt to control. My problem with and activism sprouts from, issues where, for various reasons, “the informed” deliberately or through error, misrepresent facts and their “responsibilities”, to “put down” or control the uninformed. 

Reply | Report | Page Top Post #32 By dodger,