Parisien facing police charge

Trevor Pritchard

Wednesday, February 07, 2007 - 10:00

Local News - A member of The Victims Group has been charged by Kingston police a month and a half after he allegedly advised a Cornwall Public Inquiry witness to lie during testimony.

Steve Parisien was arrested and charged on Jan. 18 with one count of obstruction of justice, said Bob Napier, deputy chief for Kingston City Police.

Under section 139.2 of the Criminal Code of Canada, the obstruction charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

The charge stems from testimony given by Albert Roy at the inquiry on Dec. 12.

On that date, Roy said Parisien had called about one week earlier, offering him advice on how to handle questions about his relationship with former city cop Perry Dunlop.

One of Parisien's suggestions, said Roy, was that he have "memory lapses" about his conversations with Dunlop - which Roy has said were about launching a civil lawsuit relating to sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of two probation officers in the 1970s.

Roy also testified that Parisien had called the proceedings nothing more than a "Perry Dunlop witch hunt" in their phone conversation.

After Roy's testimony, Parisien told the Standard-Freeholder he did call Roy, but only to see how he was holding up after his emotionally-taxing testimony.

He described Roy's interpretation of the phone call as "a big misunderstanding."

Parisien's lawyer, Heather Perkins-McVey, said on Tuesday her client did not wish to comment on the charges. Parisien will be appearing in Cornwall court on Feb. 19.

Since being charged, Parisien has been released on a promise to appear, said Napier, under conditions that he does not communicate with either the parties who made the obstruction complaint, or any witnesses at the inquiry.

"There's no danger of escape or of him not showing up in court," said Napier.

He explained Kingston officers handled the investigation, not city police, because of the Cornwall force's involvement with the inquiry.

"I know in Ontario (different forces) do investigations for each other all the time," said Napier.

"It's not every day, but it's not unusual."