JUSTICE REPORTER
A $50-million judicial inquiry into a purported pedophile sex ring in Cornwall, Ont., is scheduled to unveil its findings today, after making headlines more for its runaway length than for its sensational testimony.
Probing how police and government agencies responded to allegations of ritual abuse spanning decades, the inquiry heard from 175 witnesses over almost five years.
"This inquiry had a particularly tortuous journey and the commissioner could have received much better guidance from his legal staff," said University of Ottawa professor Ed Ratushny, author of a recently published book, The Conduct Of Public Inquiries. "But a lot of that will be overlooked if the report rings true, is fair and brings closure to the entire matter."
Inquiry commissioner Normand Glaude is expected to pronounce his final verdict on the existence of a conspiracy to abuse children. He will also recommend improved ways for authorities to investigate sex abuse allegations and respond to complainants.
At their height, rumours of abuse that swept through the Eastern Ontario community included high-profile officials, professionals and clergy taking part in bizarre sexual rituals in secluded venues.
The Ontario Provincial Police investigated the allegations between 1997 and 2001. Their probe - Project Truth - resulted in 114 charges against 15 people, but produced no evidence of an actual pedophile ring. Only one of the accused was ever convicted. Charges against some were stayed. Others charged were acquitted, or committed suicide.
In late 2005, the Ontario government responded to a clamour in Cornwall by setting up the inquiry. It asked Judge Glaude to hold hearings at the same time as it organized workshops and support groups for victims.
However, the seeds of controversy were sown before the inquiry had hired its first staff. Its mandate was seen as being so vague and ill-defined that it was bound to sprawl unmanageably.
Inexperienced in the complex world of public inquiries, Judge Glaude added to the problem by not heeding advice to keep the list of parties with legal standing to a bare minimum. Thirteen parties - some represented by up to four lawyers - were granted standing.
Numerous unforeseen events arose involving publication bans, reluctant witnesses and the wording of the inquiry's mandate. The inquiry had to battle each one in the courts.
Its most notable disappointment was its failure to hear from the very witness who lawyers most yearned to question - former Cornwall police officer Perry Dunlop, whose obsession with uncovering abuse victims had turned a swirl of rumours into a full-fledged civic panic.
Some parties at the inquiry accused Mr. Dunlop of manipulating vulnerable people into concocting lurid stories of ritual sexual abuse.
He was ultimately jailed six months for contempt of court after he quit the force, moved to B.C. and refused to testify at the inquiry, asserting he had lost confidence in the justice system.
Perhaps the most dramatic testimony came when a complainant - who had told police of abusers who wore robes, burned candles and sexually abused young boys - recanted.