The public is locked out …again!
I had a computer glitch and missed the arguments – or lack thereof – against a public lockout. But the “in camera screen” has been up all day.
Some thoughts on this, but first, a reminder of the mandate of the Cornwall Public Inquiry:
The Commission shall inquire into and report on the institutional response of the justice system and other public institutions, including the interaction of that response with other public and community sectors, in relation to:
(a) allegations of historical abuse of young people in the Cornwall area, including the policies and practices then in place to respond to such allegations, and
(b) the creation and development of policies and practices that were designed to improve the response to allegations of abuse in order to make recommendations directed to the further improvement of the response in similar circumstances.
Now, several questions and some thoughts on the decision to exclude the public from C-8’s testimony:
(1) Why bother pretending the inquiry is “public”? It is not.
(2) Virtually everyone in Cornwall familiar with the Cornwall scandal knows C-8’s identity. Those who don’t will have no difficulty finding out.
(3) C-8 was allegedly summonsed and is being forced forced to testify against his will.
(a) Why the summons after months of assurance that no-one – absolutely no one – would be forced to testify at the Cornwall Public Inquiry?
(b) What is it about C-8 which makes his testimony more crucial to fulfilling the mandate than that of numerous other victims/”alleged” victims who have not been testified and were not summonsed?
(c) Does the “institutional response” now rest on C-8’s testimony? If yes, why?
(d) Publicly fostering secrecy with sexual abuse victims and their testimony will do nothing to help male victims of same-sex sexual shed the sense of shame which keeps them silent, prevents justice from being rendered and allows their molesters to continue to run the streets with unfettered access to children.
(e) Publicly fostering such secrecy is a regressive step. It nurtures the erroneous societal belief that being a male victim of sexual abuse is cause for shame.
(4) We were given the impression that C-8 has been in a fragile emotional state for years and is concerned that he would be identified if he took the stand, even with only an audio feed, therefore the need to go in camera. If indeed C-8’s mental health is so precarious why is being forced to testify?
(5) Now that summonses seem to be ‘in’ can we safely assume that Jacques Leduc and Fathers Charles MacDonald, Paul Lapierre, Kenneth Martin et al have been summonsed?
(6) If Perry Dunlop is summonsed and, like C-8, forced to testify, would he, if armed with a doctor’s letter like C-8’s, be entitled to testify in camera?
Can there by a shred of doubt that this non-Project-Truth “public” inquiry which wasn’t going to see anyone charged or force anyone to do anything has switched horses mid stream yet again and at the 11th hour is going full steam ahead to ‘prove’ there was/is no ring and there was/is no cover-up? Why else the mess with Ron Leroux? Why force a victim to testify?
This is all surreal. It truly is. Surreal.
Anyway, if the object of the exercise now is to delve into allegations of a paedophile ring and cover-up let’s go all the way back to square one and re-call every witness who took the stand to date with that objective in mind. Summons those who, like C-8, didn’t want to testify. Ask the questions which need to be asked. Get the names. Follow the leads. Find the witnesses.
And let’s have some experts: real experts who know something about cover-ups, and paedophile rings, and men who abuse boys. How about Senator John De Camp on cover-ups and paedophile rings? And how about Dr. Judith Reismann on men who sexually abuse boys? There are others, but if we’re into paedophile rings and cover-ups that would be a good starting point.
A final note. Lest we forget, ….Premier Dalton McGuinty and his Liberal government go to the polls in October. What’s will the McGuinty campaign message be about the Cornwall Public Inquiry? Think about it….
Enough for now,
Sylvia
(cornwall@theinquiry.ca)
SHUTTING SYLVIA DOWN AND RECANTING WITNESSESS!!
No doubt in my mind….what about you? WHAT A SPECTACLE!!!
Get your words in now people, because I truly believe Sylvia’s website http://www.theinquiry.ca will be “forced” offline, sooner than later. THE ONLY source available to deliver the “facts”, uncensored and unmanipulated, faces certain “shut down”.
Today, a witness says; “He lied about being molested by a city priest to please Perry Dunlop.”
(see Cornwall “Standard-Freeholder”, article entitled, “Man says he lied to former cop about abuse.” Dated, “Wednesday, August 22, 2007-08:00”, “By Terri Saunders”.)
I believe many of these witnesses are “alleged victims” who were interviewed by the now, “blacklisted” Police Constable Perry Dunlop in the 1990’s.
I also believe many of the “alleged victims”, as well as other citizen’s were interviewed by C.B.C. radio in the late 1990’s for a series of programs produced and broadcasted by C.B.C., titled, “Breach of Trust”. (Get your copy now!!)
In those interviews, Perry Dunlop was never present.
In those interviews for C.B.C, which are on file with C.B.C. and most likely recorded by many citizen’s, you will hear citizen’s explaining their understandings of events surrounding “Project Truth” and related matters; “Project Truth” was the “purported” investigation which in part, prompted this “Cornwall Public Inquiry.”
In addition, in those interviews Perry Dunlop never attended, you will hear “alleged victims” describe, in detail, how they were allegedly, sexually abused.
However, in other “in camera” hearings, as today, no names were disclosed who the witnesses are/were. Similarly, no names were disclosed in the interviews for “Breach of Trust”.
I implore C.B.C. research their records, listen to the audio tapes of, “Breach of Trust” and see if any of the witnesses who have testified at this “Cornwall Public Inquiry” are the same one’s who were interviewed for the “Breach of Trust” series. I further urge C.B.C. and others to verify whether the “stories” have changed and if Perry Dunlop was present at C.B.C. when the “Breach of Trust” interviews took place. (hear the facts)
The Freeholder link giving one snippet from the C-8 testimony tells us why this victims testimony is so important. It he is fingering Perry Dunlop for pressuring him into naming the priest, and the priest is innocent, he is the perfect witness for this inquiry.
I wish it were not true but I don’t have any hope that the CBC will ride to the rescue with its recordings of “Breach of Trust” interviews. How can uniformly corrupt public institutions prove to us they are not corrupt? The more they try to do it by remaining loyal to the party line the more complete the corruption appears. Cornwall does not pass the smell test and the CBC burying their recordings in the vault just increases the stink. If the honest players like Perry Dunlop are the only ones to suffer it will be an outrage. I was dreading this when I saw how very long it took the McGuinty Govt to come up with a mandate and appoint the commissioner. The story of that back room struggle would tell us a lot about the institutional response to allegations of sexual abuse. Let’s hear testimony about that – in public. When this simple matter became a long struggle it was clear that the fix was in. I wish that all the people involved in this outrage would know that there will be justice one day and that all the things now hidden will be shouted from the housetops. That will be the real public inquiry to be dreaded by everyone who relies on secrecy today. Everyone would be better off facing the truth now rather than waiting for that day. This inquiry is not helping to save these people from their base instincts. No healing or relationship can be built on lies even with a gazillion dollars for councilling. Only the truth can bring healing to Cornwall.