Justice Glaude did not rule yesterday (18th April) on the motions filed by the diocese and Father MacDonald. There is no indication of a ruling this week.
So, yesterday things hobbled along with Danny Aikman, Deputy Chief Cornwall Police Service, on the stand. As anticipated those few hours were occupied with structure, policy, practices and procedures. That apparently will be the gist of it for the next two days, first from Aikman, and then from the current Chief. (Friday is always a day off :))
There a few bits and pieces of information I want to pass along, but first I must tell you that what struck me like a sledge hammer today is how totally irrelevant all of this is to what happened in Cornwall. It reminded me somehow of sitting in on the Leduc sex abuse trial when the all the guns turned on Perry Dunlop. Suddenly what Leduc did or not do to young lads in bedrooms or barns was irrelevant: Dunlop became the villain, the alleged victims and their testimony became inconsequential – and Leduc became the maligned victim.
Tell me this makes sense?
Well that’s how much sense I make out of hours of testimony about Cornwall Police Service policy, practice and procedures when the nub of the discontent, scandal and allegations of cover-up in Cornwall rests with who fraternized with whom.
Will we ever get to that? I doubt it. As you know – unless Justice Glaude rules against it – the mandate gives the diocese a bye. But there’s other byes tucked into that mandate, one being a bye for finding out who at the heart of the scandal fraternized with whom, or partied where, or did or not got to Fort Lauderdale with whom, or did or did not check into the Saltaire Hotel? All of this would go a long way to help Premier McGuinty, Attorney General Bryant and this inquiry “lift the fog” from Cornwall and truly understand the response, or lack therof, to allegations of sexual abuse against prominent men in the community.
But, I do believe that’s beyond the scope of the mandate.
Perry Dunlop, on the other hand, is, I think, right within the scope. There’s no bye for him. In fact testimony was elicited yesterday which obviously lays ground to discuss Dunlop’s response to the allegations against Father MacDonald and Ken Seguin. And that of course opens the door to “contextualize” Dunlop and his response by hauling in the transcripts from the courtroom lynchings.
Yes, today I had a moment of déjà vu. I pray that I am mistaken.
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Five quick points to share regarding Tuesday afternoon’s testimony:
1. Sexual assault statistics from 1985 to 2004 compare the number of reports/100,000 received in Cornwall, Ontario and Canada.
Cornwall Canada Ontario
1985: 93 70.61 74.36
1986 99 78.66 75.99
With one exception, which I’ll get to in a moment, the numbers apparently continue in this fashion up to 2004.
Deputy Chief Aikman was asked if he could explain why the higher numbers for Cornwall?
Aikman’s answer? He believes that a high level of reporting reflects a high degree of confidence in the police force! In other words, it’s not that there’s a higher incidence of sexual assualts in Cornwall, it’s simply that those who are assaulted are more inclined to report to police because they have such great confidence in the police.
Can you believe it? I think a few victims could comment on that.
2. Asked if he thought perhaps the statistics might indicate there is actually a higher incidence of sexual assaults in Cornwall a decidedly uncomfortable Aikman reluctantly admitted it was a possibility, but he really didn’t think rates are any higher in Cornwall than other nearby communities such as Brockville.
3. The statistics apparently show a dramatic decline in reports in 1997. Aikman explained that this was due to an error in reporting the numbers to Stats Canada. He has no idea if the real numbers are higher or lower.
4. The Police Services Board is the governing authority for the Cornwall Police Service (CPS). The Board sets the priorities and objectives for the CPS, and apparently when certain types of criminal activity become highly prevalent makes recommendations that the CPS make dealing with those a priority.
Aikman was asked if the Board had ever made sexual offences a high priority. It seems not.
5. Mr. Cipriano, one of Father MacDonald’s lawyers, will present a motion on Monday at 2pm to have certain material on the Cornwall Inquiry website redacted or removed.
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A final important piece of information. Dick Nadeau will probably not be with us tomorrow. Pray for him.
Sylvia
I offer prayers for Dick, Carmen and their family members.
Sylvia, in your blog you discuss “deja vu” and how the issues always seem to get defocussed. Incredibly, the “venue” has been designed to facilitate these witnesses and the Lawyers, to behave “at will.” So easily, the selected witnesses and the lawyers, have been granted, the unchallenged freedom, to submit, these self-serving representations. There is no doubt in my mind, the objectives of the Inquiry in general and many of the witnesses in particular, include, all efforts to “defocus” from anything which could lead them or the Inquiry, into, what could be “direct”, culpable, testimony. What I find most disturbing, is the fact the “mainstream news media” has voluntarily or unvoluntarily, chosen to close their eyes. This is when I wish I had a small group of people to go into the hearing room and verbally, challenge the witnesses, their testimony and Judge Glaude, with the “facts,”…the facts, by the way, that many, many people know. Another example displayed by the self-serving, unchallenged, pretentious and arrogant “Pearheads” at “The Shed”, is when The Cornwall Police testimony, implies, that statistics for reporting of sexual assaults is higher in Cornwall, because, more people trust the Police in Cornwall than in other communities…..get real!!! This further displays the freedom, of which, the “actors” in this dispicable charade possess, and, in turn, further displays how naive, stupid and ignorant these “Pearheads” really believe we are. All left unchallenged. What a blatant insult, to human beings of any “walk of life.”
Prima Facie
“No Longer Silent”
Since the whole “Project Truth” thing started, I have sat back quietly, not wanting to hear, not wanting to read, not wanting to see…..the truth.
I was born and raised in the Cornwall Area. I went to school, I hung out and became friends with some of the alleged victims. As time (years) went by, I worked for, I travelled with, I prayed with and became friends with, several of the accused.
As “names” became public, I sat back and I thought about the alleged victims….some of them, drunks, criminals, trouble-makers….”nobodies”. These were people that I would turn away from and look the other way, when meeting them on the street. When I thought about the accused, they were people I always wanted to be recognized by, be associated with and I wanted to be part of their social group.
As years passed and as my husband spoke out for “truth”, I realized, I hid behind him instead of standing beside him. Maybe, for some of the same reasons many citizens of Cornwall have been silent, I was also silent. I would cheer him on at times and other times I wouldn’t. I became angry, embarrassed, ashamed and I had feelings of being violated, because many of the names being disclosed, were professional people, who had given me jobs and who had given me legal advice. These were professionals and influential citizens with whom I had worked for, prayed with, was confirmed by or simply, became friends with.
How could I want to know the truth? This whole thing was changing me from the inside. How could I have not seen this happening? How could I have been so blind, so naive? Did I know something was going on, but buried it somewhere deep inside, to be forgotten? These are questions I constantly asked myself and ask myself to this day.
I have thought long and hard. I probably did like many Cornwall citizens did, when I heard a name I knew… I denied it. I wanted to protect these people, my friends. I was raised to honour, obey, trust and respect these people and I put them on a pedestal, much higher than myself.
For their survival, eventually the alleged victims had to come forward. They, as all youth, were once innocent young people, taught to trust, to obey and to respect the very people who robbed them of their youth. I believe these victims tried, many different ways, to forget the past, they have tried to live in the present and they have hoped for a future.
Because of the stereotype associated with many victims, it was easy for me and perhaps many people, to “shun” or ignore the alleged victims, for they were now accusing, the, highly, respected and influential people of Cornwall and Area….the very people I looked up to and felt part of. After all, how could “we” believe what “they” were saying?
As I have done, I hope all Cornwall citizens will do, that is, look back over twenty or thirty years, read the testimonials, the affidavits, liten to the stories and think about victims, as they were, young children, running, playing and laughing…the life that was stolen from them.
Help write the final chapter to this travesty. It is time for the people of Cornwall to take a risk. Anyone, who know’s anything, saw anything or heard anything, come forward and be that voice from the past.
Brenda (Pilon) Bateman
Well done. That was a hard blog to write – right from the depths of your heart.
I think a lot of people will relate to your soul search – I pray they draw strength from your courage.
Your comments remind me of three of the many many things I discovered during my visits to Cornwall over the past few years:
1) Never judge a book by its cover
2) Virtually everyone in Cornwall knows something which is a vital piece of the puzzle, BUT, . . . some are afraid -literally afraid – to speak up, others are ashamed to speak out and still others have no idea how significant that little story or piece of information might be to bringing justice to the victims, their families and the entire community.
And Prima Facie, all I can say is it would a breath of fresh air to see you down at the Weave Shed 🙂
Sylvia
3) Silence and shame are the ally of sexual predators and the enemy of truth.
I think most of us can relate to what you say.