The schedule for next week at the Cornwall Public Inquiry is finally up:
September 10, 2007
Motion to Excuse Ron Leroux
Application for Standing and Funding – Ron Leroux
Application for Standing and Funding – Carson Chisholm
September 11, 2007: Marc Carriere
September 12, 2007: Dr. Donaleen Hawes, Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario
Hearings resume at 14:00 hours ( 2 pm) on Monday 10 September 2007.
Strangely there are only three days of hearings scheduled for the week. Nothing for Thursday 13 September.
Why? I have no idea.
It’s rather interesting sometimes to stumble upon old forgotten newspaper clippings. I just posted two from 24 February 1993;
24 February 1993: MacDonald re-elected PC president
24 February 1993: Police chief hasn’t changed his mind: He says public should be warned when sex offenders leave jail
Note the dates: 24 February 2007 1993. That’s just weeks after David Silmser first went to the Cornwall Police Service with allegations of sexual abuse against local priest Father Charles MacDonald and local probation officer Ken Seguin (December 1992). And it’s months before former Constable Perry Dunlop’s life changed forever when he happened upon the David Silmser victim statement and, in an attempt to protect children and obey the law, turned it over to the Children’s Aid Society.
Amazing, isn’t it? We now know that by 24 February 1993 Malcolm MacDonald had been retained to represent Charlie’s ‘best’ interests against the allegations. And there he was, Malcolm MacDonald, re-elected president of the local PC riding association. The very man who tried – in vain! – to hide and cover up the sexual abuse allegations against his good friend Father Charles MacDonald, and the same man who died before standing trial on charges of sexual abuse of young boys. Re-elected with the local riding association. I would hope Malcolm’s political confrères of the day were ignorant of what he was up to!
And look, there’s Claude Shaver, then Chief of the Cornwall Police Service, sort of recommending that the community should be alerted when a sex offender is out and about! And right at that time the fresh Silmser allegations against two men who were allegedly friends of the Chief were sitting with the police force – and nothing would come of them until Perry Dunlop happened on them several months later!
Amazing, isn’t it, to go back in time?
What’s truly fascinating, and obvious sheer happenstance, is that the articles are on the same page, one atop the other!
Unfortunately I don’t have the newspaper marked. It looks to me like it’s the Standard Freeholder, only because I can’t fathom why the Ottawa Sun would have run an article on Malcolm MacDonald. Jacki Leroux did work for the Freeholder before she moved on to the Ottawa Sun so I think perhaps this was before she moved on to Ottawa. I shall try to confirm the source.
And, speaking of riding associations, Jim Brownell is preparing for the 10 October 2007 elections. This from the 08 September 2007 edition of the Freeholder:
Campaign kickoff today
Cornwall Standard Freeholder
Saturday, September 08, 2007 – 08:00
Local News – MPP Jim Brownell will be kicking off his election campaign today at the home of the riding’s previous Queen’s Park representative.
Former MPP John Cleary represented the Cornwall area at Queen’s Park for 16 years before bowing out of provincial politics in 2003.Brownell is aiming for a second straight term in office. The campaign launch will take place this morning at 10 a.m. on the front lawn of Cleary’s Lunenburg home.
Note the two articles on the sting which rounded up a Cornwall man. Not a boo about this, at least that I can see, in the Cornwall media! But, it made the front page of the City section in the Ottawa Citizen….
Enough for now,
Sylvia
((cornwall@theinquiry.ca)