Cornwall Sex Abuse Trials

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02 May 2002: Project Truth Crown Attorney, defence and judge join forces against Dunlop

07 May 2002: Cop delayed trial far too long: Defence  (Charlie's lawyer Michael Neville stoops to name calling)

08 May 2002: Judge Dan Chilcott describes charges against Father Charles MacDonald as "ordinary, run of the mill everyday sex charge."

Questioning Of Dunlop And Courtroom Objectivity

Cornwall Seaway News

Perspective by Bob Roth 
posted 10 May 2002

At press time, the trial into the most recent Project Truth courtroom drama had just featured former Const. Perry Dunlop on the witness stand. And, predictably, defence counsel for the priest - on trial on 13 counts of sex-related offenses involving seven complainants - went after Dunlop's credibility. Questions were asked of Dunlop regarding the mountain of evidence he personally assembled after police dropped the ball on the cover-up by the Catholic Church of a child abuse allegation.

Going after Dunlop has been standard fare over the duration of this whole controversy. Anything but deal with the main issue - a cover-up took place, illegal acts were committed and no one has been held properly accountable.

Instead of concentrating on the main issue, the "system" went after Dunlop - first with charges against him by his own police force, then with an appeal when he was found not guilty of those charges. Then we had a host of letters to the editor and public commentary attacking the only man who was prepared to stick his neck out on this issue to defend our children.

I fully expected the defence in this latest trial to go after Dunlop's credibility. But I must confess to great unease over comments the judge made during last week's proceedings.

The defence questioned why it took Dunlop so long to hand over documents relevant to Project Truth to investigators. Dunlop had explained to the court that he frankly didn't trust authorities to protect the files. But he got into some hot water when he also said he didn't have time to disclose everything because he was so tied up with other things, including the investigation itself. I know that Dunlop was being phoned regularly by people who claimed to have been sexually abused asking for help and advice, because some of those people phoned me to get his number.

"I was getting phone calls at night," Dunlop told the court. At this point Judge W. Dan Chilcott dove into the debate. "Turn off your phone," the judge advised.

"And I had a family to raise," Dunlop countered.

"I appreciate that," Judge Chilcott said, "but it doesn't take 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to answer the phone and raise a family."

It's a comment I would have expected from the defence lawyer, not the judge.

Why the judge felt the need to enter the debate and thusly challenge Dunlop is something only he can answer. And I hope he does. Because I know, from talking with the Dunlops during the ordeal, that they were, in fact, overwhelmed with work involving this case and people calling them. (Then there were the threats, of course.)

The public expects a judge in such a case to not only be neutral and objective, but to appear to be neutral and objective. In my personal opinion, the judge's comments do not enhance my belief in the court's objectivity.

Much of the debate surrounding the whole Project Truth affair has centred on the inability of the establishment, especially the justice system, to act swiftly and appropriately. The police dropping the case after the church made a $32,000 hush-money payoff was the first step in this sordid failure on the part of our justice system. Then there were the two legal actions taken against Dunlop (found innocent in both cases) and then we had the "discharge" (in effect, no penalty whatsoever) given by the courts to one of the lawyers involved in the hush-money payoff.

There is genuine concern that the "system" hasn't dealt with this issue the way it should be dealt with. Therefore, those involved, particularly at the level of "objectivity," should be very careful in choosing their words and their points of entry into the debate. 

Father Charles MacDonald

Cornwall's open sore left to weep
Scandal's lack of closure won't help accused, accusers or town

Ottawa Sun

19 May 2002

By Kathleen Harris

  CORNWALL -- For those packed inside the small courtroom, the decision was as predictable as it was appalling. Last Monday, a judge ruled that a Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing several boys would not have to stand trial. Not because the weight of evidence was not there to proceed, but because a bizarre set of circumstances had entangled, tripped up and delayed his case.

 Ultimately, it was the passage of too much time that allowed Father Charles MacDonald to leave the court a free man.

 That evening, the retiring Bishop of Alexandria-Cornwall, Eugene Larocque, spoke with the former priest by telephone.

 "He's relieved that at last the whole thing is over. That he can breathe a little easier," he said of their conversation.

 But Larocque admits the court ruling left the entire community -- including himself -- uncomfortably in doubt.

 He has heard pleas of innocence from the former St. Columban's parish priest. But he has also seen the raw emotions of complainants and their supporters -- broadcast that night on the television news.

 "They are absolutely convinced that Father Charles is guilty and that he is being let off. I don't have that conviction. I just don't know."

 Some say this lingering doubt will continue to block Cornwall's healing process.

 The sex abuse scandal, made more shocking because priests and other leading citizens figure so prominently in it, has left the community polarized. It has left lives of alleged victims in tatters and religious faith rattled.

 "It means we don't move on," said Paul Scott, spokesman for a lobby group called Citizens for Renewal. "It's impossible for the community to find any normalcy now."

 His coalition has already sent 12,000 signatures to Queen's Park demanding a public inquiry into widespread sexual abuse allegations. The petition's numbers represent half the city's households and about one-quarter of the local population.

 But while MPPs from across Ontario have supported the call for an inquiry, civic leaders have remained stubbornly quiet on the issue.

 "Not one local leader has spoken out on it," Scott said. "It's a real problem. They're all either wearing rose-coloured glasses or blinders. Meanwhile, the masses here on the street are carrying tremendous anger and frustration."

 Disturbing allegations of rampant child molestation in Cornwall date back several decades, but they didn't begin to surface until 1992.

 That's when a former altar boy who claimed he was abused by MacDonald in the 1970s went to the church seeking an apology.

 When it didn't come, he went to police.

 In the fall of 1993, the complainant was silenced. He accepted a $32,000 payment from the diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall and made a promise to withdraw his police complaint.

 This illegal settlement -- and a police officer named Perry Dunlop who exposed it -- ultimately led to a flurry of sexual abuse allegations. They stretched back several decades and pointed fingers at some of the city's most high-profile citizens.

 But ensuing investigations could not find enough evidence to arrest MacDonald, who didn't face charges until March 1996. It was the first of three sets of charges, eventually totalling 19, and his case became a key one in the Project Truth OPP investigation launched in 1997.

 To this day, Bishop Larocque maintains he was not aware of the now infamous clause that required the complainant to drop criminal proceedings to collect the $32,000.

 'ASTONISHED' AT CLAUSE

 "I was the most astonished person in the world when I saw that," he said. "I never agreed to that. It is both morally and legally reprehensible. In my view, to say it was cover-up money is completely false."

 Malcolm MacDonald, the Church lawyer who drew up the agreement, was eventually convicted of obstruction of justice. He was among those later charged with child sexual abuse, but died in Florida from a heart attack before facing trial.

 Larocque himself has been publicly identified as a member of the local "pedophile clan" -- an accusation he flatly denies.

 "I know I have been falsely accused. I was accused with all the gory details of something I did in 1961. In 1961, I hadn't even set foot in the diocese," he said.

 Separating fact from fiction has proven difficult in the Cornwall case; accusations have been hurled in civil suits and counter-suits, in criminal charges and in rumours on the street.

 But the undeniable fact that MacDonald was not charged until 1996 is one that Ottawa West-Nepean MPP Garry Guzzo finds confounding. The way he sees it, only sheer "incompetence" or a cover-up could explain why charges weren't laid earlier against MacDonald or other notables who were eventually named by Project Truth investigators.

 A lawyer and former provincial judge, Guzzo is concerned that OPP charges came only after being presented with evidence gathered by private citizens.

 A SHAM

 "It was never intended that anyone would be charged. It was never intended that anyone would be prosecuted or convicted," he said. "They had to do it because of pressure from the citizens' group. If that's not abundantly clear to every clear-thinking citizen right now, then I'm shell-shocked."

 Guzzo's exasperation grew this week after charges were stayed against Father MacDonald due to unreasonable delay. He claims he was repeatedly assured by the provincial attorney general's office that delays were primarily due to the defence and that the MacDonald case was not in jeopardy.

 "The clock was ticking. The judge didn't really have an option but to stay the charges, given the length of time that had passed. The real question is, why?"

 Committed to his fight for a public inquiry, Guzzo blames former premier Mike Harris for blocking it in the past. He hopes his private member's bill will now find an ally in Premier Ernie Eves.

 "Cornwall's a long way from Toronto. Those victims are faceless up here and it doesn't seem to resonate with some people, to be blunt. It's unfortunate," he said.

 Sylvia MacEachern, who has been closely following all the Project Truth cases, was disturbed but not surprised by this week's outcome. As editor of a Catholic publication, her cynicism escalated to outrage over what she sees as the rights of an accused prevailing over the rights of victims of childhood sexual abuse.

 "I think if the judge had any interest in the community he would have put them first," she said. "This closes the circle and takes the community back to Day 1. It's as though nothing happened. You've got 10 years that simply didn't exist."

 MacEachern believes the cumulative effect of the MacDonald case -- and all the other Project Truth cases where accused men have died, committed suicide, been acquitted or had charges stayed -- will be to silence other victims in the future.

 "Why would anyone endure 10 years of hell? That's the message that was sent. And who would want to be a Perry Dunlop and speak out for what's right?"

 Many people see Dunlop, a former constable with the Cornwall police, as a national hero.

 EGOMANIAC

 During MacDonald's pre-trial, Dunlop was depicted as a self-serving egomaniac who jeopardized criminal cases by recklessly violating orders from his superiors. His behaviour, along with a change in Crown prosecutors, a conflict in trial schedules and ongoing investigations, were all cited as contributors to the six-year delay in charges reaching trial.

 Dunlop, who was charged with misconduct under the Police Services Act but later cleared, maintains he could trust no one, and that his only goals were to uncover the truth and protect children by putting criminals behind bars.

 In 1997, Dunlop presented volumes of material containing explosive allegations, and the OPP probe launched that same year led to 115 charges.

 While no evidence of a pedophile "ring" or "clan" has ever emerged, many of those charged under Project Truth were clergy or had some connection to the Catholic church.

 MacEachern says the scandal and the justice system's failure to deal with it has shaken spirituality, broken trust and torn apart the religious community. Many people now refuse to set foot in a church, she said.

 Larocque's successor Paul-Andre Durocher, who will be installed as Alexandria-Cornwall's new bishop on June 17, says he will arrive with little knowledge about Cornwall's raging controversy.

 "I have basic ignorance. I heard some news stories recently, but I'm going in there to discover the people and the community," he said in a telephone interview from Sudbury. "I don't know a lot about the area or the history. It's all new to me."

 While he will not bring any preconceived ideas to Cornwall, he will sit down and speak with anyone who is concerned about past allegations. If necessary, Durocher said he will develop a strategy for healing and moving ahead.

 For the alleged victims who didn't have the opportunity to tell their stories in a public courtroom, moving on may be difficult.

 And the man they have accused of sexual abuse -- who pleaded not guilty to all charges -- will have no chance to clear his name.

 READY TO DEFEND

 After charges were stayed, MacDonald's defence lawyer Michael Neville said he'd been confident about the case and was prepared to defend his client on every charge.

 Nestled along the St. Lawrence River, conveniently near Hwy. 401, Cornwall has been working to sell itself as a great community in which to live and do business. But the city's name has been persistently linked to stories of pedophilia -- a tarnished image that Cornwall Coun. Denis Carr is eager to shed.

 "It has given Cornwall a bad reputation that is undeserved," he said. "There is no evidence of a pedophile ring, despite all the headlines. This is a great community, with great people."

 When all criminal proceedings have finished in the courts, that will be the time to consider a potential public inquiry; until then, he says he won't push.

 "It has focused people for the wrong reasons," Carr said. "We're talking about things that allegedly happened 30 years ago. I live here today."

 THE OUTCOMES

 The outcomes of the four-year Project Truth investigation. OPP charged 15 people for sex crimes dating back more than 35 years:

Charges stayed: Rev. Charles MacDonald; Jacques Leduc, diocese lawyer (appeal hearing scheduled for this fall)

Facing Trial: Bernard Sauve (businessman)

Acquitted: Harvey Latour; George "Sandy" Lawrence, church organist and store owner; Rev. Paul Lapierre (under appeal); Rev. Kenneth Martin

Guilty: Jean-Luc Leblanc, school bus driver

Charges withdrawn: Rev. Romeo Major, Keith Jodoin, former Cornwall justice of the peace and former director of the United Way

Charges dismissed due to health: Leonel Carriere, religious brother

Deceased: Brian Dufour, former probation and parole counsellor, Roch Landry, retired butcher, Malcolm MacDonald, former lawyer and Crown attorney, Arthur Peachy, former doctor and coroner     

Father Paul Lapierre

Judge delays verdict in priest case

Friday, November 02, 2001
Canoe News

By BRIAN DALY-- Canadian Press

MONTREAL (CP) -- A judge agreed to delay his verdict Friday in the sexual-assault trial of a Roman Catholic priest accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy in the 1960s.

Quebec court Judge Gilles Garneau put aside his expected ruling to hear further defence arguments Dec. 11 in the case against Rev. Paul Lapierre, 73, of Montreal.

Lapierre faces one count of indecent assault and one of gross indecency.

The complainant, now a lawyer in his 40s, testified that he was forced into fellatio with Lapierre and another priest, Rene Dube of Cornwall, Ont., on a visit to Montreal in 1965.

But defence lawyer Julio Peris argued that the acquittal on Wednesday of Dube, a co-defendant in the trial, casts doubt on the alleged victim's story.

He added that two days was not enough time for him to consider the effect of Dube's acquittal on the case against Lapierre.

Garneau granted Peris five weeks to draft his arguments, prompting the grim-faced plaintiff to storm out of the courtroom.

"I've never seen anything like this in my 18 years as a lawyer," said the middle-aged man, adding that he's gone through "a life in waiting" during the four-year police investigation and subsequent trial.

The alleged victim has been at the centre of two recent Ontario Provincial Police investigations into the alleged abuse of children in Cornwall.

The operation, called Project Truth, concerned allegations that public leaders in the eastern Ontario city, including clergy and school employees, abused children as far back as the 1960s.

Police brought 115 criminal charges against 15 individuals but most of the charges were dropped.

Ontario Provincial Police concluded in August that there was no evidence a pedophile ring ever existed in Cornwall.

Project Truth was the fourth investigation into alleged ritualistic sex abuse in the Cornwall area. Three previous investigations -- two by Cornwall police in 1993 and a followup by the OPP in 1994 -- failed to result in any charges. 

[theinquiry.ca note:  Father Lapierre faced sex abuse charges in both the province of Quebec and Cornwall, Ontario following allegations by the same victim.  In Quebec Lapierre was eventually found guilty.  In Cornwall he was acquitted] 

Father Paul Lapierre

Insufficient proof: A Catholic priest is acquitted of sex charges after accusing other priests of pedophilia

The Report, October 8, 2001

by Terry O'Neill

Ontario's anti-pedophile police task force, Project Truth, wrapped up in late August with word that, while its work had led to the laying of 115 criminal charges against 15 individuals, investigators had found no evidence that an organized ring of men, including Catholic priests, had molested boys from the 1950s to the '90s. However, just two weeks later, one of the accused men took the witness stand in his own defence and told a stunned courtroom that, while he himself was innocent of the three counts of indecent assault and two counts of gross indecency laid against him, a ring of sorts did exist in the Cornwall area and that Catholic authorities knew about it.

Days later, Superior Court Justice Jean-Paul Lalonde acquitted the man, retired priest Father Paul Lapierre, on the grounds of reasonable doubt. The verdict shocked the alleged victim (who, by court order, cannot be identified). It also left a burning question in the minds of the many politicians, peace officers and citizens who have long sought justice in the case: if the court saw fit to believe Fr. Lapierre's testimony about his innocence, then should not his disclosure about the conspiracy be considered truthful as well? Ontario MPP Gary Guzzo, a retired judge, thinks so and is renewing his call for an official inquiry into the handling of the case.

The story began in 1992 when a man told police that he had been sexually assaulted by a Cornwall priest during the 1970s. The church then gave the complainant $32,000 to drop his allegations. The next month, then constable Perry Dunlop came across the complaint and gave it to child-welfare workers. The $32,000 deal became public, and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) launched a new investigation. In 1994, however, officers said there were no grounds to lay criminal charges.

The investigation was reopened in 1995. Also that year, lawyer Malcolm MacDonald, who had assisted the church in making the $32,000 deal, pleaded guilty to obstructing justice. In 1996, police charged the accused priest, Fr. Charles MacDonald, with seven counts of indecent assault on three former altar boys.

That was not the end of it. In 1997, Mr. Dunlop gave the OPP two volumes of victims' statements he had collected on his own. The documents alleged the existence of a pedophile "clan" in the Cornwall area. Shortly thereafter, the force announced the formation of Project Truth.

Prosecutors have been able to secure one conviction based on the task force's work: Jean-Luc Leblanc of Newington, Ont., pleaded guilty to 18 charges of sexual assault. Four of the men charged under Project Truth have died of natural causes and two have committed suicide. Among those charged, lawyer MacDonald died in 1999; Dr. Art Peachey died the same year; Roch Landry and Brian Bernard Dufour died in 2000; charges were dropped against former justice of the peace Keith Jodin last year; Lionel Carriere was found unfit to stand trial last year; Harvey Latour was found not guilty; and a judge entered a stay of proceedings against Jacques Leduc after the Crown failed to inform defence attorneys of a meeting between Mr. Dunlop and one of the witnesses. A trial involving Fr. Kenneth Martin, 71, began September 17; five other cases, including Fr. MacDonald's, have yet to be heard.

Fr. Lapierre's often-contradictory testimony did not touch on the conduct of any of those charged, but was, nevertheless, scandalous. As reported in the Ottawa Citizen, Fr. Lapierre said he knew his accuser had been abused because other priests told him of indecent acts against several boys. As well, Fr. Donald Scott told Fr. Lapierre that another priest, Fr. Hollis Lapierre (no relation), "kept pictures of naked boys with himself," said Fr. Paul. He testified further that after Fr. Hollis died in 1975, Fr. Scott "had been asked to destroy those pictures" and other evidence. Fr. Scott died of AIDS in 1989. Fr. Lapierre also testified Dr. Peachey was involved in the molestation of boys.

When asked why he had not reported the offences to police, Fr. Lapierre, who is the brother of Senator Laurier LaPierre, said he had discussed them with his bishop, but the matter went no further. "It's privileged...you're dealing with moral things, ethical things." He denied he kept the abuse secret because he himself was involved.

Among those worried by the outcome of the Leduc and Lapierre cases is Dick Nadeau, a Cornwall resident who was recently found in contempt of court and fined $1,000 for maintaining a Web site containing many unproved sex allegations against a large number of Cornwall-area men. "I get so angry," he says. "I don't know what it takes to get a conviction. I'm in a state of shock."

Court watcher Sylvia MacEachern, editor of the Catholic publication The Orator, blames the verdicts on "a combination of cover-up and massive incompetence at all levels." She notes that Mr. Justice Lalonde told Fr. Lapierre's alleged victim that he believed the abuse had taken place, but with whom and by whom could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

Whistler-blower Dunlop, who now lives in B.C., remains convinced something evil was at work in Cornwall. However, he says, "these victims are coming forward and bearing their souls to the best of their ability, and they are being re-victimized by the court system...My feeling is that they are not going to get a conviction in these [remaining] cases."

If that is true, the victims may have to look to the civil courts. There, the standard of proof is lower: only "a balance of probabilities" must be proved. Several alleged victims have already filed suit, and the first case may begin as early as next year.

Tim Bates, a Toronto lawyer, points out that the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that, in cases of sexual assault involving breach of fiduciary duty, there is no statute of limitations. Says the lawyer, "It's totally open."

Copyright 2001 The Report

Marcel Lalonde

Cornwall teacher sentenced for sex abuse
CBC.CA  News - full story

Last Updated Fri, 04 May 2001 20:57:00 EDT
CBC News

CORNWALL, ONT. - A school teacher in Cornwall, Ont., has been sentenced to two years less a day for sexually assaulting four of his former students.

Marcel Lalonde's sentence will be made up of 15 months in jail and nine months of house arrest. The 51-year-old was given two-for-one credit because he has already served 5½ months in custody. That means he will only remain in prison for four more months.

Six of seven complainants who testified during last fall's trial were members of his home-room class during the period of abuse.

The case is important because of a connection to an ongoing police investigation into widespread sexual abuse.

Judge Monique Metivier described the case as "an egregious breach of trust." The judge said sexual assault, especially against vulnerable teenage boys, is a violent crime.

And with that, an unrepentant Lalonde was sent back to jail.

The Lalonde case is important for a couple of reasons. It is a confirmation that sexual abuse did in fact occur in the community over a period of years, and it reveals a connection to a police investigation, code-named Project Truth.

A number of Lalonde's victims are complainants in a case involving a key figure in Project Truth. So far, more than 20 men have been charged, some of them prominent citizens in Cornwall.

Copyright ©2006 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved 

Father Charles MacDonald

Ottawa Sun

10 April 2000

CORNWALL, Ont. (CP) - Investigators looking into decades of abuse by prominent officials and clergy laid another 19 sex offences against four men Monday.

The charges were laid by provincial police heading Project Truth, an ongoing 32-month investigation that has already netted 114 charges.

Rev. Charles MacDonald, 67, of Glen Robertson near Cornwall, faces two counts of indecent assault on a male and two counts of gross indecency.

In May 1999, MacDonald was ordered to stand trial on eight sex charges involving young boys. That was in addition to six sex charges laid in January 1998 involving five complainants, and seven sex charges laid two years earlier involving three former altar boys for allegations dating back to the late '60s and early '70s.

Jean Luc LeBlanc, 55, of Newington, northwest of Cornwall, faces 10 sex offences, including one count of buggery, two counts of anal intercourse, two counts of sexual assault on a male and one count of procuring a person for illicit sexual intercourse.

LeBlanc, a convicted pedophile who drove a school bus for the Upper Canada District Board in 1998, was hit with 13 sex charges last July and was charged with 28 sex-related charges earlier in 1999.

Brian Bernard Dufour, 59, of Hamilton, was charged Monday with two counts of indecent assault on a male and two counts of gross indecency.

Det. Insp. Klancy Grasman said the charges stem from the late '60s when Dufour worked as a child-care worker in Cornwall.

Rev. Romeo Major, 62, of Cornwall, was charged with one count of indecent assault on a female.

Dufour, Major and MacDonald were scheduled to appear in Cornwall court April 17. Jean Luc LeBlanc will appear in court in Cornwall June 23.

Grasman said he expects Project Truth to conclude by the end of May.

(Copyright of Canadian Press)