Parisien honoured as victims' advocate

Cornwall Standard Freeholder 

Friday, July 20, 2007 - 08:00 

 Elisabeth Johns; Terri Saunders


Local News - In his darkest hours, humble recognition of the work Steve Parisien has done over the past 10 years has brought a glimmer of light back into his life.

Parisien was honoured Wednesday by an Ottawa-based counselling program for his work with survivors of sexual abuse over the past decade.

Aside from his continual activism in bringing awareness and trying to educate survivors of sexual abuse as to what services are available to them, Parisien is also a member of The Victims Group.

He also tirelessly crusaded for a public inquiry into the institutional response of allegations of sexual abuse, going to Queen's Park in Toronto a number of times.

In November 2004, he was there when Premier Dalton McGuinty announced there would be an inquiry.

"It makes me feel that all of the work and efforts I and other individuals put into helping other victims move on is not in vain," Parisien said in an interview with the Standard-Freeholder Thursday afternoon.

"There is hope."

In February this year, Parisien was charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly counselling a fellow victim at the Cornwall Public Inquiry to lie on the stand.

Parisien has firmly denied the allegations.

"Within the last eight months of my life," he began before pausing to collect his thoughts, "it has been extremely trying."

But the recognition he received Wednesday "has really set me back on my feet," said Parisien, who has been employed as a personal support worker for the last seven years. "I'm not losing sight of my main objective from day one.

"We have to focus on the positives," he said.

"My main objective always was to bring awareness and educate our community about reaching out to these victims and letting them know we're not alone."

The recognition came courtesy of The Men's Project, a counselling centre which first opened in Ottawa a decade ago.

In the years since, the service has expanded from a tiny operation to a well-known men's help organization running both a location in the capital as well as a satellite office in Cornwall.

Executive director Rick Goodwin said the Cornwall Public Inquiry, as well as work by people such as Parisien, has raised the profile of the issue of male child sexual abuse in the community. He said he's anxious to read Comm. Normand Glaude's final report, expected to be delivered sometime near the end of next year.

"I think this inquiry will bring a welcome shift in this province in time," said Goodwin. "For so long there has been very little focus from a government point of view on the need for services, and I believe the judge's report will contain recommendations for the expansion of existing services and for the implementation of new services."

In 1999, in the middle of a four-year Ontario Provincial Police investigation into allegations of historical child sexual abuse in the region dubbed Project Truth, Goodwin and other staffers at the Ottawa office decided to embark on a pilot project to offer counselling services in Cornwall.

As part of the centre's anniversary celebrations Wednesday, a number of awards were handed out to area men who have been linked to the issue over the years.

Mike Church, an adult survivor of child sexual abuse, was recognized for his efforts as part of the inquiry's advisory panel, while both former Ottawa-area MPP Garry Guzzo and current Ottawa MPP Jim Watson each received recognition for their efforts in the fight to have the inquiry established.

Guzzo was honoured for his "tireless work" in demanding the provincial government take a look at what was going on in Cornwall while Watson and Premier Dalton McGuinty were recognized for their government's decision to call the inquiry in November 2004.

"It was the Liberal government that finally stood up and said, 'Yes, there will be an inquiry,'" said Goodwin.

"Previous governments refused to do that, so we felt it was important to recognize that decision," he added.

Goodwin said putting Guzzo's name on a list of people to single out was not a difficult task.

"It was a no-brainer," he said. "Without Garry, there would be no inquiry. Simple as that."

Guzzo spent several years calling on the provincial government to hold an independent inquiry into the actions of police forces and the justice system regarding criminal investigations and prosecutions.