Identities are crucial

Cornwall Standard Freeholder

Editor

Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - 10:00

Editorials - A publication ban being sought by a city man charged with obstruction of justice related to allegations he told a witness at the Cornwall Public Inquiry to lie on the stand should not be allowed by the judge hearing the case.

A lawyer acting for Steve Parisien, an adult survivor of child sexual abuse and a member of The Victims Group at the inquiry, told a judge Monday morning a publication ban will be sought on either Parisien's identity or the evidence presented in support of the charge.

On Dec. 12, 2006, Albert Roy testified at the inquiry about abuse he suffered a young teenager. During the course of his testimony, he told the commission Parisien had called him a week earlier and suggested Roy need not be forthcoming about his contact with former city cop Perry Dunlop and that he could have "memory lapses" in relation to any conversations he might have had with the man.

Dunlop has been credited by some with blowing the whistle on decades of historical child sexual abuse in the community, while others point the finger of blame directly at him for negatively impacting police investigations and criminal prosecutions of those charged with abuse.

For years, people such as Parisien consistently raised their voices in calling for a public inquiry into how abuse allegations were handled by police and prosecutors and why so few individuals were actually convicted of crimes.

It has often been suggested by sexual abuse victims and their supporters there were powerful and prominent people at work behind the scenes of these investigations and prosecutions whose job it was to protect the reputations - and identities - of those at whom the allegations were levelled.

When the inquiry began a year ago, it was not without a stern warning the commission must not protect the identities of individuals against whom allegations were made, regardless of whether or not they were ever convicted of a crime.

In fact, Dallas Lee, the lawyer who represents The Victims Group, has said determining identities is a crucial part of the process in order for the inquiry to meet its mandate of conducting a thorough examination of how criminal allegations were handled by authorities. Allowing this publication ban will not be a service to the community. The system as a whole must also allow the media to fully participate in this process, as they are entitled by law to do.

It's only through complete and utter openness, and the participation of an objective media, there can be any assurance among the public that justice is being served.