David Silmser

interview with Carson Chisholm

14 August 1996 – some important details, explanations and clarifications 

(The following is a scanned version of the document converted to a text file.  Typos are in the original.  I redacted names of “alleged” victims who I believe have not yet gone public and would therefore fall under a publication ban at the Cornwall Public Inquiry. I also redacted an address.

Note: CAS is the Children's Aid Society.  OPP is the Ontario Provincial Police) 

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Aug.14/96 Spencerville

Q. When you filed your first Public Complaint were you complaining about the "media leak" or the document being given given to CAS?

A. Strictly the media leak. The reason being that I had no idea it had gone to the CAS at that time. In fact I went to the CAS to give a statement so my concerns weren't about the CAS. I think it was about 6 months prior to the media leak that I went to CAS and gave a statement to Pina----- and Greg Bell. I told them everything that happened to me about Ken Seguin, Father Charles MacDonald and Marcel Lalonde, my grade 7 school teacher at Bishop MacDonnell.

Q. Did you ever mention th CAS issue when filing your Complaint about the media leak?

A. No! I had no idea about my police statement going to CAS nor did my lawyer, Bryce Geoffries.

Q. Did you complain about a specific officer?

A. We figured, my lawyer Brice Geoffiies and I, it was Heidi Sabalj since she was the investigating officer.

Q. Are there any issues about the investigation that you would like to comment on?

A. I requested a male officer because she had phoned me and said she was the investigating officer and I told her I would like to have a male officer because I didn't feel comfortable talking to a woman about sexual abuse. At first there was Heidi Sabalj and her partner which was a male officer. After the first two meetings he disappeared which left me feeling uncomfortable again and I requested a male officer again but she persuaded me that she would be very discreet and professional and understanding, so I gave her the chance to help.

John Maloney phoned me at home, he was the senior alter boy at the time of these abuses.  He told me that he had heard about this situation approximately six months previously when two police officers from the OPP detachment in Lancaster, one said he was officer Chris MacDonald, a first cousin of the priest Charles MacDonald  he also said he was appalled by the questions because they made myself, the victim, seem like the bad guy. They told him that I had a criminal record and that this case would go nowhere. In fact they said that they would never see him about this again.

Another person contacted me and said that they had been abused sexually by Father Charles MacDonald. His name is Albert Lalonde from Moose Creek and OPP officers Tim Smith and Mike Fagan event to his house to question him about the abuse. Albert told me that the police called me a no good for nothing and made me out to be the bad guy in the situation again. Another victim,                 had told me that he was also abused by Father Charles MacDonald and Ken Seguin and that he was a            of Ken Seguin and that he was abused with three other fellows at the priest's house in Martintown. He said that the priest, Father Charles MacDonald, got them drunk and then sexually abused them. The 0PP officers Tim Smith and Mike Fagan questioned him (              )

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at his work place and have done nothing about it,

Another victim,                   told me at John MacDonald's house that he had come forward early in the investigation and told Heidi Sabalj at his residence in Orleans that he had been sexually abused by Father Charles Macdonald. At the end of the investigation Heidi Sabalj told me that the Crown Attorney in Cornwall would not lay charges and that I was the only victim that had come forward to that date. She was just an out and out liar!

I feel that for the first year the 0PP investigated me. The reason for this is because they even talked to my wife's ex husband but never really investigated the priest as far as I know.               also was sexually molested by Father Charles Macdonald according to Heidi Sabalj but he was unwilling to go to court.

Q. How do you feel about the delay in getting this issue with Father Charles MacDonald settled?

A. I cannot contact the Crown Attorney to find out what stage the court is at because his secretary says I have to go through my own lawyer for any information, which I cannot do because it casts me money that I don't have. As a victim, I feel I have no rights whatsoever, am being left in the dark and am being further abused by the system.

Q. Do you have any comment on the $32000 payment made by the church?

A. I took the $32,000 because Heidi Sebalj, the investigating officer, told me that they were not going to lay charges on the priest and I morally believed I had to do something about the situation to deter the priest from doing it again or maybe the church would investigate the priest themselves if it cost them $32,000. My lawyer, Sean Adams in Cornwall, looked over the agreement and told me that everything was proper and that I would even have to go down to the police station and tell them in writing to end the investigation if I was to receive any money. I did this because I knew that no charges were being laid. I found out later that Sean Adams had represented the church in the past and felt betrayed because I felt he was part of keeping me quiet about the truth.

I have also been offered $25,000 in writing from my lawyer, Bryce Geoffries through Denis Power who represents Jacques Leduc who was legal council for the Church at the time of the $32,000 settlement. The $25,000 represents $12,500 each for Malcolm McDonald and Jacques Leduc, lawyers for the Catholic Diocese. I told my lawyer absolutely not.

Q. Did you know Perry Dunlop before your complaints?

. Absolutely not. The first I heard of Perry Dunlop was when my lawyer received the police investigation report from the Cornwall Police.

Q. Any other comments that might be pertinent?

A. I don't understand why it took three police forces three years to lay seven charges against the priest.

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Q. Do you have any comments on Jacques Leduc or Malcolm MacDonald?

A. Malcolm MacDonald asked me at the time of the $32,000 settlement if he could help me get a pardon for my criminal record. He said he would have no problem getting a pardon for me. I refused his help in this matter because I felt it would hinder me if all my records including m juvenile records with Ken Seguin were erased.

Ken Seguin also abused me when I was a child on juvenile probation and I felt that someday justice would have to be served on him also; and burning my records was a way of hiding the truth.

When I originally went to the Royal Bank in Cornwall to cash the $32,000 cheque thee was a hold on it. I had to get in touch with Malcolm MacDonald who drove me back to the bank to take the hold off the cheque. He told me that his secretary had forgot to remove the hold on the cheque because I had signed a promissory note in front of Sean Adams and Malcolm Macdonald instructing the police to stop the investigation.

I certify that this statement is true and given freely of my memory of these events. I gave this statement to Carson Chisholm Aug. 14/96 at my residence at                     .51 pm.

               David Silmser.

               Witness C.A.Chisholm.