THE CORNWALL INQUIRY

While police laid 115 charges against 15 suspects (Police, Clergy, Politicians) based on allegations of sexual abuse by 34 people, only one person was ever convicted.

In 1992, a man?came forward to say?he had been sexually abused by a priest and a probation officer while he was an altar boy in Cornwall, Ont. The local Roman Catholic diocese offered the man $32,000 in return for dropping?the complaint he had filed with police.

A local police officer blew the whistle on that coverup, unleashing?a flood?of?other child sexual abuse complaints and a chain of events that would eventually lead the Ontario government to call a public inquiry.

The $53-million Cornwall Public Inquiry's final report was?released after several delays.

CBC Video Reference; 2009

The four hefty volumes — the thickest and heaviest?more than 1,600 pages long — examined in detail how public institutions like police, the?local Catholic diocese?and?Children's Aid Society dealt with widespread allegations of sexual against priests, probation officers, lawyers and other men in positions of power and trust in the community

"I find there were systematic failures in the response of institutions to allegation of sexual abuse of children and young people in this community," said Normand Glaude, commissioner for the inquiry, in a statement accompanying the?report.

"For some, this resulted in revictimization by the institution from whom they sought help. The response of institutions became a further source of harm."

The Cornwall Inquiry

was a commission of inquiry that was established by the Government of Ontario on April 14, 2005 "to inquire into and report on the events surrounding allegations of abuse of young people" in Cornwall, Ontario, by local police, Crown attorneys, probation officers, Roman Catholic clergy, and other adults in positions of trust.

Commissioner G. Normand Glaude, a former member of the Ontario Police Commission, categorically refused to make a conclusive finding of fact as to whether a pedophile ring existed or whether there was a conspiracy by people in authority to cover up child sexual abuse. The commission found systemic failures in the response of the justice system to child sexual abuse claims.

The commission took four years to conclude, including three years of public hearings, at a cost of $53 million. Around 60% of the costs went to defraying legal fees for accused pedophiles, sexual abuse victims and the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall