Police involvement

in the Cornwall Scandal 

Media Coverage from

the early days of the scandal 

[Victims fears loss of settlement]

January 7, 1994  23.38

EST CORNWALL, Ont.

(CP)  Cornwall police may have violated a man's privacy rights by releasing a statement he made to them about being sexually abused when he was a child. 

The man says he might sue the police force for violating municipal freedom of information laws. 

Details of the statement were publicized this week through an Ottawa television station and newspaper. 

 "Now nobody will come forward in Cornwall for sexual abuse," the 35-year-old man said. "It's morally wrong. Everything's wrong."

The man's statement, given to Cornwall police in December 1992, alleges that he was molested in Cornwall by a Roman Catholic priest and probation officer.  No criminal charges were ever laid against the priest or the probation officer because the complainant withdrew his accusations last year. 

Police Sgt. Brendan Wells, a Cornwall police spokesman, said: "I'm satisfied no member of the Cornwall police service gave any statement to any news media." 

Cornwall police are investigating the matter.   

Police can only disclose such statements after a charge is laid, and only to an accused person's lawyer. And that lawyer can't release it to a third party. 

But the man who complained to police fears losing more than his privacy. He could also lose the out-of-court cash settlement he made with the Roman Catholic Church Archdiocese in Cornwall last fall. The church paid the man about $30,000, the man says, with the promise he not discuss the accusations publicly. 

Rev. Donald McDougald, who acted as the liaison between the complainant and the accused priest, said the Catholic church may offer cash settlements to spare a priest's reputation. "Whether there is any blame on the (accused) or not, after a court case, a person's reputation is shot." 

Cornwall lawyer Malcolm Macdonald, who drew up the settlement on behalf of the church, admitted recent media exposure of the case could scuttle the settlement. 

Wells said Cornwall police are not considering reopening the investigation into the priest and the probation officer. 

 End of document.

[Ottawa Police to probe Cornwall police sex abuse investigation]  

12 January 1994 08.48 EST 

OTTAWA (CP)

City police have been asked to investigate a Cornwall police case that concluded without charges after a Roman Catholic archdiocese gave a sex-abuse complainant about $30,000. 

A man, now 35, complained to police in Cornwall, Ont., in December 1992 that he had been sexually assaulted by a Catholic priest about 20 years ago when he was an altar boy.

But in September 1993, the man told the Cornwall force to drop the investigation because he had reached a civil settlement with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cornwall-Alexandria.

Peter Griffith, chief Crown attorney for Eastern Ontario, said that if a complainant makes a civil settlement, it does not preclude police from pursuing criminal charges. 

"It isn't against the law (to reach an out-of-court settlement)," Griffith said. 

But a local Crown attorney instructed the force last September to end their work on the case, Leo Courville, head of the Cornwall Police Services Board, said Tuesday. 

"The investigators were advised that in the absence of the complainant's active involvement in the case, the investigation should terminate," Courville said. 

Guy Levac, a spokesman for the Ottawa diocese, said the Catholic church would "never, ever prevent someone from talking publicly about a complaint or stop them from going to police." 

The Cornwall-Alexandria diocese has reassigned the accused priest.  

Further details of the case were released Tuesday at a news conference announcing Cornwall police have asked Ottawa counterparts to review their conduct during the investigation.

The Ottawa force will also probe what appears to be a 10-month delay by the Cornwall force in informing the Children's Aid Society in September 1993 of the man's sex-abuse allegations.   

"Ten months is a long time," said Ottawa Deputy police Chief Don Lyon. "It is something that investigators will look at." 

A Cornwall police officer -- who was not assigned to the case -- gave the child-welfare agency the police documents. For forwarding the documents without authorization, the unnamed officer faced an internal disciplinary investigation.

Under provincial law, police are required to immediately report suspected child abuse to the Children's Aid Society. But because the man reported his allegations as an adult the legal obligations of police are not as clear. 

End of document.  

Media Coverage of Police

during the Cornwall Public Inquiry

 13 December 2007:  Police Board Approves October Inquiry Bill

16 November 2007: Taxpayers stiffed again

 15 November 2007: Province should pick up future bills

10 November 2007: Taxpayers should have been told about inquiry funding scheme

09 November 2007: “council sounds off; Many city councillors are upset over a controversial Cornwall Public Inquiry” and 07 November 2007 “Another Inquiry Bill For Cornwall Police Service”

08 November 2007: Councillors want city to avoid paying bills

08 November 2007: City hit with inquiry bill; Taxpayers on the hook for 40%

 05 April 2007: Police force gets $221,000 bill from lawyers

19 January 2007: Another big inquiry bill 

17 January 2007: “More sex offenders than cops?” & “Inquiry costs climb”

[OPP called in for second opinion] 

February 2, 1994 16.48 EST  

[this investigation transpired after a similar investigation was conducted by Ottawa Police]  

CORNWALL, Ont. (CP)

Provincial police plan to re-open an investigation into a complaint of sexual abuse by a priest that was originally halted after the complainant received $32,000 from the Roman Catholic diocese. 

The investigation will also examine whether there was a "conspiracy between police and the church to effect a settlement," Carl Johnston, acting Cornwall police chief, told a news conference Wednesday. 

The Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall agreed to pay a man last fall after he complained to police in 1992 that he was molested by a priest as an altar boy. 

The agreement contained a clause preventing the man from pursuing criminal and civil action against the church and the priest, but diocese officials later said they didn't know the settlement prevented the man from pressing charges.  

Police in Ottawa recommended re-opening the case after conducting a review which found no evidence of a coverup attempt by Cornwall police, Johnston said. 

The report did find a "noticeable lack of senior management direction and support throughout the course of the investigation," which Johnston attributed to a heavy workload at the time. 

The investigation is "to get a second opinion on the first investigation and ... to see if any new witnesses can be found," Johnston said.

  The police dropped the earlier investigation because of the difficulty of proceeding without a complainant. 

The investigation will begin this week. 

End of document.  

Cops say no grounds to charge priest with sex assault  

December 23, 1994  20.21 EST 

CORNWALL, Ont. (CP)

Provincial police have concluded there are no grounds to lay charges against a priest accused of sexually assaulting a boy more than 20 years ago. 

A man, now in his 30s, told city police in 1992 he was assaulted by a Roman Catholic priest from age 12 to 14. The investigation was dropped in 1993 when the man refused to co-operate. 

The case became public in January when it was learned a deal negotiated by the Alexandria-Cornwall diocese paid the man more than $30,000 and required him to drop the charges. 

The church later acknowledged it was illegal to demand charges be dropped in return for a payment. Neither the priest nor the church ever agreed the allegations were true. 

Provincial police launched their investigation this spring. On Friday, they said there would be no charges. 

The investigators also said they found no grounds for charges of an improper relationship between the diocese and the city police in the deal that led to charges being dropped. 

Alexandria-Cornwall Bishop Eugene LaRocque said he "will be relieved if we can put this behind us once and for all ... and I'll be very glad for the priest."  

The priest was removed from parish service in 1993. He is studying advanced theology in Toronto. 

LaRocque didn't say if the diocese would seek recovery of the money. 

Lawyer charged with obstruction in sex-abuse case  

February 7, 1995  10.43 EST 

CORNWALL, Ont. (CP)

A lawyer who represented a priest at the centre of a sexual abuse investigation more than a year ago has been charged with attempting to obstruct justice.     

Angus MacDonald, 64, a former Crown attorney in the Cornwall area, was charged after a year-long provincial police investigation.    

Cornwall police began the investigation in 1992 after a man claimed he had been assaulted as a teen by a Roman Catholic priest in the 1970s.     

The investigation was dropped in September 1993 when the alleged victim, now in his 30s, stopped co-operating with police.    

Provincial police reopened the case last January upon learning the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic diocese had negotiated a deal to pay $32,000 to the alleged victim.     

They cleared the Cornwall police of wrongdoing last December after determining there were insufficient grounds to lay charges against the priest.     

But "there was evidence of an attempt to obstruct justice in relation to the settlement made with the alleged victim," provincial police said in a release.     

MacDonald is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 24.     

If convicted, the Law Society of Upper Canada could move to reprimand or disbar MacDonald, said society spokeswoman Gemma Zecchini. 

End of document. 

Man sues church after accepting settlement 

April 11, 1995  22.00 EST  CORNWALL, Ont. (CP)A man who was paid $32,000 by the Catholic church after alleging sexual abuse as an altar boy is suing the church. 

The man is suing the Catholic diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall and a former parish priest from the Cornwall area.  Cornwall police began an investigation in 1992 after the man claimed he had been assaulted by the priest in the 1970s. 

But police dropped the investigation in September 1993 when the alleged victim, now in his 30s, stopped co-operating with police.  Provincial police reopened the case last January upon learning the diocese had negotiated a deal to give the man a cash settlement. 

The provincial force later cleared Cornwall police of wrongdoing after determining there were insufficient grounds to lay charges against the priest.  

But provincial police also said "there was evidence of an attempt to obstruct justice in relation to the settlement made with the alleged victim."  The man's lawyer says the settlement was illegal. 

End of document.