CAS believed Silmser was abused: letter

Terri Saunders 

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 - 10:00 

Local News - David Silmser remembers the feeling that washed over him the day he got a letter from the Children's Aid Society confirming what he'd known for 25 years. 

"I thought, 'Somebody finally believes me,'" Silmser said Tuesday. "Finally, somebody was working on it. I felt pretty good about it." 

During testimony at the Cornwall Public Inquiry, Silmser was shown a copy of the letter signed by three CAS officials dated March 1, 1994. 

The letter came four months after agency staffers conducted a lengthy interview with Silmser during which he told them he had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by Rev. Charles MacDonald in the late 1960s and early 1970s. 

"We have completed our investigations concerning allegations that you were sexually molested by Father Charles MacDonald," the letter, which was signed by two staff members and a supervisor, reads. "After careful consideration of all available information, we have concluded our investigation with a finding that you were sexually molested by Father Charles MacDonald when you were a child." 

MacDonald has adamantly denied the allegations put forth by Silmser and other complainants. The priest was charged by officers with the Ontario Provincial Police's Project Truth team in 1996 with more than a dozen sex-related charges stemming from alleged incidents between 1967 and 1983. In May 2002, a judge stayed the charges, saying MacDonald's right to a trial in a timely fashion had been infringed upon. 

Over the course of several months in 1992, Silmser began to gradually tell his story of alleged abuse to a number of agencies, including the Cornwall Community Police Service, the Ontario Provincial Police and the Ottawa-Hull Roman Catholic Diocese. 

In early 1993, Silmser was called to a meeting at the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese's office on Montreal Road. On hand, Silmser told the inquiry Tuesday, were Msgr. Donald MacDougald, diocesan lawyer Jacques Leduc and two other priests whose names he can't recall. 

"How did you know they were priests?" asked Peter Engelmann, lead commission counsel. 

"They had collars on," said Silmser. 

Leduc did most of the talking, Silmser said, and he recalled being asked to tell his story again in detail. 

"He (Leduc) was very sympathetic," said Silmser. "He wanted to know how I was feeling." 

Leduc, a city lawyer who often represented the diocese in legal matters, was also charged by Project Truth investigators in 1998 with sex-related offences involving a number of young boys. In October 2004, a judge stayed the charges, saying the delay in bringing the

matter to trial was "not an appropriate time period." 

Silmser said he was pleased with Leduc's demeanour during the early 1993 meeting at the diocese's office. 

"I felt Jacques Leduc was genuinely concerned about what happened," said Silmser. "But at the end of the day, I was frustrated because an apology didn't happen." 

What did eventually happen served as the starting point of a series of events which ultimately led to multiple police investigations and 15 men being charged with more than 100 sex-related crimes. In September 1993, Silmser had another meeting with church officials, but this time it was at the office of Malcolm MacDonald, a city lawyer who was acting as agent for the diocese. In the months that had passed since the first meeting, Silmser had spoken repeatedly with city police officers about his allegations and he wasn't pleased with what he was hearing. 

He was the only person who had come forward with allegations against MacDonald, Silmser was told by investigators, and it was going to be tough to prove in court. 

"(Const. Heidi) Sebalj said they were dropping the case unless some more information came out," said Silmser. "She said they had nowhere to go with it." 

By the time the September 1993 meeting rolled around, Silmser was convinced he would never see any action taken against MacDonald through a judicial process. 

That's when he decided to take diocese officials up on their offer. Silmser would get $10,000 from the diocese, $10,000 from MacDonald and $12,000 for counseling which he was told would be paid through an insurance claim. In order to receive the cash,

however, Silmser would have to sign away any right to pursue the matter criminally or civilly in the future.

A document provided to the inquiry shows the details of the settlement and is signed by Silmser and Sean Adams, a city lawyer who acted as Silmser's agent on the deal.

The document shows Silmser agreed to "release and forever discharge" MacDonald, then-Bishop Eugene LaRocque and the diocese from actions, claims and demands for damages related to any injuries, physical or emotional, which "may have been or may hereafter be sustained by me in consequence of any conduct, behaviour or act done to me directly or indirectly by (MacDonald) or by any other agent or employee of (the diocese.)" 

The church also included a paragraph pointing out the fact the payment was in no way related to any admission of guilt on MacDonald's part. Silmser said he remembers the day he signed the settlement, not because of its content or the payment itself, but because of who he saw at the diocese's office. 

"Charles MacDonald walked into Malcolm MacDonald's office," said Silmser, who was sitting in the waiting room of the office at the time. "I felt uncomfortable. He kind of scurried in, he was there five or 10 minutes, then he scurried right out." 

Silmser said he was so shaken to have seen MacDonald, he barely remembers the content of the documents he signed. 

"Nothing was explained to me that I recall," he said. "I trusted Sean." 

Included in the documents was a directive to visit the city police station and inform investigators he did not want his allegations against MacDonald to go forward. 

In fact, in a letter written by Malcolm MacDonald to Adams on the day the deal was struck, it's clear what Silmser is to do. 

"This cheque (for $32,000) has been given to you and (is) to be held in escrow until we are advised by the city police that David Silmser has attended at the police station and he advised them that he does not want to proceed with any of these charges," Malcolm MacDonald wrote. Silmser complied with the demands and on Sept. 29, he signed a statement at the city police station indicating he had received a settlement from the diocese and he wished "this matter against Charles MacDonald be closed." 

Within a matter of weeks, Perry Dunlop, who was then an officer with the city police, found the file containing Silmser's allegations against the priest and details of the settlement. Dunlop delivered the file to the CAS and eventually took the matter public through the media. Silmser is expected to continue his testimony today.