'Stiffer sentences' needed

Cornwall Standard Freeholder
Terri Saunders

Friday, October 20, 2006 - 10:00

Local News - Scott Burgess may have trouble finding the words to express his feelings sometimes, but the survivor of child sexual abuse has no problem getting his message across.

Having experienced some of the most common side effects of the abuse, including receiving a limited education, Burgess often gave single-word answers to questions asked while on the witness stand at the Cornwall Public Inquiry on Thursday.

But when commission staff asked Burgess what recommendations he would make as to how public institutions can better handle cases such as his in the future, he was clear and to the point.

Unfolding a single piece of white paper, Burgess leaned forward towards the microphone in front of him and began to read slowly, but forcefully.

"Stiffer sentences, not probation," he said, referring to the range of punishments doled out to abusers by the justice system. "When he got probation I was afraid he would come after me."

The man Burgess was afraid of was Jean-Luc Leblanc, a former Newington bus driver convicted in 2001 of sexually assaulting a number of young boys and sentenced to eight and a half years in prison, followed by 10 years of strict supervision.

Leblanc had pleaded guilty to two counts of gross indecency in 1986 and received probation, but no jail time.

Burgess said he received little information as Leblanc's earlier matter made its way through the court system and was not in court when his abuser was handed the probationary sentence.

"I was not told anything," said Burgess.

Trusting the word of a child should also be paramount in abuse investigations, Burgess suggested.

"Kids should be believed when they have something to say," he said, "until proven otherwise."

During cross-examination, Burgess, now 35 years old, admitted he may have had more dealings with the Children's Aid Society than he can recall this many years after the abuse. In his previous testimony, Burgess said he was dissatisfied with the response of public institutions such as the CAS, but an attorney for the agency pointed to historical records which show a greater amount of contact than Burgess can recall.

A CAS worker met with him at a school he was attending after he had made a disclosure of the abuse to a teacher and there are records which show meetings were also held at his childhood home.

Burgess was not the only witness Thursday to express dissatisfaction with the way institutions handled abuse allegations.

Jason Tyo, another of Leblanc's victims, said he felt let down by the CAS after he made a disclosure of abuse during a phone call.

Tyo said he can't remember the date of the call, but he knows it was a Friday evening.

"I told them I was being physically abused at home and sexually abused outside my home," said Tyo. "The response I got was not good."

Tyo said he can't recall any follow-up to the phone call.

"Nothing else happened," he said, "until I talked to my teacher."

Tyo and Burgess both disclosed to their teacher, Dawn Raymond, they were being abused by Leblanc. Raymond's involvement ultimately led to the CAS becoming active in the case and charges being laid by the Cornwall Community Police Service.

Years later, Leblanc would go on to abuse again, eventually being charged by the Ontario Provincial Police's Project Truth team.

The inquiry will resume Oct. 30 when it's expected Tyo will complete his evidence and the commission will hear evidence from Raymond.
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