Catholic Church panel didn't share tales of abuse with outside agencies

Ian David

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Wed Jul-16-08 06:57 PM
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Catholic Church panel didn't share tales of abuse with outside agencies

Edited on Wed Jul-16-08 07:00 PM by IanDB1

Black Collar Crime

Church panel didn't share tales of abuse
Outside agencies weren't told about historical allegations

Neco Cockburn, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Tuesday, July 15, 2008

CORNWALL - A church committee set up in the mid-80s to look into allegations of historical sexual abuse by a priest did not recommend that outside agencies be notified about the complaints, a public inquiry heard yesterday.

Jacques Leduc, a Cornwall lawyer who acted for the Alexandria-Cornwall Catholic diocese "from time-to-time" between 1978 and 1994, was on an ad hoc three-member committee that, in May 1986, made six recommendations in a case involving Rev. Gilles Deslauriers.

The recommendations included suspending the priest and barring him from public ministry, the inquiry into the institutional response to allegations of systemic historical sexual abuse heard yesterday.

<snip>

Mr. Leduc himself eventually appeared on police radar as a result of allegations that a group of pedophiles had been operating around Cornwall for years, with high-ranking members of the community trying to cover it up.

More:
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/city/story.html?id=beac0ab1-964b-4902-ae0a-8615f3aacb4d

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beam me up scottie

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Wed Jul-16-08 07:26 PM
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1. WTF?

But there was no suggestion that other agencies, such as the police, should be told about information received by the committee. Commission counsel Karen Jones asked Mr. Leduc whether that stemmed from the allegations being historical in nature, with the alleged victims being adults when the complaints were received.

"I am fairly certain that is the reason why," Mr. Leduc, 57, said.

***

Mr. Leduc acted as a lawyer for the diocese to negotiate a $32,000 settlement with David Silmser in 1993 to have him withdraw a criminal complaint. Yesterday, the inquiry heard that in 1986, Mr. Leduc interviewed priests, community members, alleged victims and their families in connection with allegations against Father Deslauriers.

Mr. Leduc had feared that the committee's recommendations would not be followed, but he did not follow up with his client when the report was completed, he said.

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