It was all over in the early afteroon at the Weave Shed.
I don’t know what happened except that I tuned in about ten minues past the scheduled 1.15 pm start time and Justice Glaude was reading his decisions regarding bans and “Confidential” classifications.
No Jody Burgess.
I gather something happened, but, aside from the fact that Jody wasn’t on the stand don’t know what. As it stands the plan is to commence hearings tomorrow morning at 9am with Jody’s sister Cindy. If Jody is available he will take the stand.
Unless perhaps I missed something in the first few moments I gather the ban on publishing Andre Lavoie’s non-confidential Victim Impact Statement still stands. There will be discussions on Thursday regarding documents currently marked as Confidential. Meanwhile portions of Andre’s VIS were part of his testimony and can be read here.
Now, something very important. I do believe there has been a dramatic and ominous shift. Today Justice Glaude said that this inquiry “is expected to dispel the rumour and innuendo” about allegations of cover-up!!
I am most anxious to read the transcript to get his entire commentary verbatim, but that much I caught. The inquiry is “expected” to dispel the “rumour and innuendo” about allegations of a cover-up.
Aside from the fact that Justice Glaude decided ago long and behind closed doors that there is no ring or cover-up this is the first we have heard that the inquiry has anything to do with cover-up – let alone that it is now “expected” to dispel rumours of one!!!
And, unless there is more to it there is no indication that the inquiry is investigating allegations of a cover-up. A different matter entirely. Inquiring into allegations of a cover-up is horse of different colour than expecting to dispel “rumour and innuendo” of allegations of a cover-up. Expecting to dispel works from the Glaude premise and foregone conclusion that there was/is no cover-up and by extension that there was/is no ring whose well-situated members helped to execute a cover-up.
I said earlier today that I smelled a rat. I do indeed. We have shifted from an inquiry which insisted it has NO connection to Project Truth to one which suddenly launched the Bring Back Perry movement, posed The Perry Question to every victim, added The Anyone Connected to Perry Question, announced that Charlie has abdicated his courtroom foray to keep his “alleged” victims off the stand, and is now publicly set to dispel allegations of a cover-up..
No questions have been asked of one single witness to prove or disprove allegations of a cover-up. Not one. I can think of a multitude which could and should have been asked if dispelling allegations of cover-up is suddenly the order of the exercise and a recent addition to Glaude’s research project on the insitutional response to historic allegations of sexual abuse.
I’ll say no more for now.
Enough for now,
Sylvia
(cornwall@theinquiry.ca)