Dunlop’s heart was ‘ripped’ out
Cornwall Public Inquiry
Cornwall Standard Freeholder
29 August 2008
Posted By TREVOR PRITCHARD
Cries of “Free Perry Dunlop” and “Defrock LaRocque” rang through the early morning air at a raucous protest outside the Weave Shed yesterday.
About 60 people sang songs, chanted slogans, and waved signs in support of Dunlop, the former Cornwall cop who has been in jail since March for refusing to testify at the Cornwall Public Inquiry.
“They took that man, they ripped his heart out, they trampled him, and then they threw him in jail,” shouted Dunlop’s wife, Helen.
“We’re not so far removed from China as people would like to think,” she said.
The long-running inquiry is probing how institutions like the church handled allegations of historical sexual abuse.
Many people consider Dunlop one of the inquiry’s central figures. In 1993, he turned over a $32,000 settlement between an abuse victim and the Alexandria- Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese -which LaRocque approved — to the Children’s Aid Society.
The former cop has refused to be questioned at the inquiry. When he appeared on the stand in late 2007, he offered instead to read a 110-page statement into the record.
Although his current sentence for contempt is almost up, Dunlop is expected to be sentenced on a second contempt charge in early September.
Security was high at Thursday’s hour-long protest. Non-uniformed police officers milled about, while a Cornwall Community Police Service forensics van was parked across the street, filming the action.
So were emotions: when a television cameraman pointed his camera away from the rally, one protester about three feet away began shouting, demanding to know why he’d stopped taping.
ELDERLY MOTHER ATTENDED RALLY
Dunlop’s mother, Heather Laundrie, spoke at the end of the rally.
The 68-year-old Prince Albert, Sask. resident later told the Standard-Freeholder her phone bills had jumped to $700 a month since her son was incarcerated.
Shy by nature, Laundrie said she still welcomed the attention Helen Dunlop was bringing to both her son’s plight and the plight of sexual abuse victims across Canada.
“I think it needs to be (in the spotlight),” she said. “We need to bring these victims justice.”
Also at the rally was Ron Leroux, who testified at the inquiry about his abuse in 2007.
Wearing a ball cap and a brown corduroy jacket, with his rottweiler “Omen” lying at his feet, Leroux, 61, said Dunlop’s situation made it incredibly difficult to watch the inquiry.
“It just upsets me so much, I want to throw my television down the stairs,” he said.
DUNLOP’S TESTIMONY IMPORTANT
Lead commission counsel Peter Engelmann said while he understood the protesters’ “concern and anger,” it was extremely important for the inquiry to hear from Dunlop.
“He’s always, of course, been able to come here and testify and get out of jail,” said Engelmann.
Many of the protesters eventually filed into the Weave Shed’s hearing room, where LaRocque, 81, was spending his final day on the stand.
There, Victims’ Group attorney Rob Talach mmering LaRocque over how he responded to sexual abuse allegations during his three decades at the head of the local diocese.
His final questions Thursday had to do with Rene Dube, a recently deceased Cornwall priest who was charged with abusing a teen in 1999 and acquitted two years later.
Talach accused LaRocque of having “sat on information” that showed Dube was innocent -information, he said, that would have proven two other diocesan priests were guilty.
“Bishop, would you not agree with me that, on its whole, the institutional response of this diocese while you were bishop, to allegations of sexual abuse against young people, was poor?” asked Talach.
“It could have been better,” said LaRocque, after which the gallery broke into applause.
Article ID# 1177326
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Comments
I think it’s time to stop the Perry Dunlop show. It needs to stop being about him. The attention should be on the victims…which Mr Dunlop is not one of. He made his choice. I am not saying he is a bad person. What I am saying is he is probably one of the most important people in this whole affair. He needs to step up and be a man. His testimony would be one of the most important of the whole inquiry.He can’t just show up, read his story and not be cross examined. That’s not the way it works. He’s a coward. He’s afraid of getting up there and being grilled. Suck it up big man. Take your fears and then multiply them 100 fold and you’ll get what the victims went through. If they can get up there and talk about their ordeal, then Dunlop can get up there and do his part instead of hiding in a cell pretenting to be a martar. You are not a martar Mr Dunlop. You have become the single greatest hinderence for justice in this whole process. You are a selfish coward and that is how the history books will remember you.
Reply | Report | Page Top Post #1 By Clive Horace,
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You are absolutely right!!! Perry Dunlop is NOT a martyr – it’s the people and authorities in Cornwall who have tried to portray him as such. People like YOU!!!Pay attention!!! Why is it necessary for a Cornwall Police Services forensic van to be stationed across the street FILMING a rally in support of Perry Dunlop??? Don’t you think CPS forensic officers or intelligence officers have better things to do with their time and your tax dollars than filming participants at a peaceful rally??? Like outing real criminals???…and what of the Special Investigation Unit showing up at the Weave Shed??? The SIU investigates major crimes against POLICE OFFICERS. Dunlop is in jail in Toronto…so why are they on the scene in Cornwall??? Who are they investigating??? …did you hear the motion regarding a detective/inspector with the OPP asking for limited standing at the Inquiry…seems the OPP have cast this officer off to find his own legal council and standing – they won’t represent him. WHY NOT??? …and then you have the gaul to say it’s all about Perry Dunlop and Dunlop being a martyr and a coward….it’s a red herring that YOU are creating. I suggest you pay attention to what’s really going on…it’s alot more than Perry Dunlop and I can assure you…Dunlop supporters are very well aware of that fact!!!
Reply | Report | Page Top Post #2 By RealityChecker,
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Do you think I or others would come anywhere near the Weave Shed KNOWING I was being filmed and under surveillance by Cornwall Police Services???Ask yourself – how many stay away for that very reason!!!
Reply | Report | Page Top Post #3 By RealityChecker,
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Anyone with nothing to hide would have any problems with showing their faces at the inquiry. My point with Mr Dunlop is that he is as important to the inquiry as he claims he is. He is the whistle blower, he did uncover some nasty facts, he is the instigator, without him, who knows what would be covered up and never have seen the light of day. That’s why it is so important for him to take the stand. All testimonies need to be investigated from all angles…including Mr Dunlop’s. Especially Mr Dunlop’s. The truth is in there somewhere and Mr Dunlop’s testimony is key to finding it. If the victim’s are to find any kind of justice, Mr Dunlop will have to face his toughest challenge yet…he needs to take the stand.
Reply | Report | Page Top Post #4 By Clive Horace,
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I sure do stand up for Perry Dunlop. Yes he is a former police officer who had a lot of evidence to present and that is true. What you people do not understand is that a lot of that evidence that Mr. Dunlop may have in his possession can be mighty dangerous to his life and that of his family. Cornwall is well known throughout the country and even in the US for the sex abuse. Cornwall is a town known to cover up all the dirty linen that goes on among other things. Yesterday while in the doctor’s office here in Ottawa some of the patients and myself were talking about just that in Cornwall. So many people were mighty harmed by everything. I saw a lot of names that I recognized among the perpetrators – the so called hyarchy of the town until the web site was removed. I left the Catholic church a mighty long time ago and never to return again. I laughed a while ago when I saw an advertisement somewhere offering free gas to those who would attend church to show you how people feel. As I went on to listen to programs on the net and read about what is going on I really educated myself on the Catholic church. Oh now that I am here I will give you one web site to look at with plenty of information and here is one: https://www.spirituallysmart.com look and listen to everything that is on there and try to open one’s eyes and ears. There was a lot of information about the Boys Town in Omaha Nebraska where orphans were taken to the White House as sex slaves and it is all documented and Ted Gundersen was one of the FBI agents on the case and that was exposed. Cornwall on the other hand has made it all into a real circus and many lives have been destroyed and nothing was done to help the victims – the abusers have either committed suicide, died of natural causes or are still walking the streets and preaching “double speak” or “forked tongue” to their “sheeple”.
Do you blame Perry Dunlop for not wanting to testify and his fellow officers shunned him and was railroaded out of Cornwall. Think again. There are many of us “former Catholics” who will never go back to the church ever again. We also prefer to stay out of “Dodge City”.
Reply | Report | Page Top Post #5 By jules10003
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“PROTEST ROCKS INQUIRY”…”ROCKS”….”ROCKS”. Are you kidding? What’s the intent of this headline…”ROCKS INQUIRY”? Hello? Who’s on first? Hello Cornwall? Hello, anyone home? “ROCKS INQUIRY”..LOL!!!
In addition, the Cornwall Standard-Freeholder’s Trevor Pritchard writes, …”Security was high at Thursday’s hour long protest. Non-uniformed police officers milled about, while a Cornwall Community Police Service forensics van was parked across the street, filming the action.” I mean, for “God’s sake” get real!! You idiots!! You morons!! You clowns!!!
You buffoons, you stupid, stupid, desperate people!!
I guess the “pearheads” were expecting Perry’s Mom, Heather, who is as calm, quiet and un-noticeable as most field mice, to show her true colours…a suicide bomber? Or maybe there was fear of that terrible, Helen Dunlop and other “Girls Going Wild”, to brazenly reveal their naked breasts and set about running through the streets of Cornwall, setting cars on fire!! Or maybe, that even more terrible, terrible, terrible Sylvia lady! Ya, that’s right, maybe Sylvia and that other lady from the Ottawa area she hangs around with…. maybe the “powers that be” were expecting them to disperse anthrax or other toxins into the atmosphere!!! Or perhaps it was the other, dangerously, radical, revolutionary, mad-looking terrorist types, pictured in the “online” photo accompanying Trevor Pritchard’s article…I mean, don’t they look like they were paid anarchists, just waiting for the word…… “LUNCHTIME!!” I mean you idiots, you stupid, stupid “pearhead morons”…so brutally and obviously, out of touch.
Even my favourite “poster”, the appearingly fair and balanced-“farthandle”, “2 sides”, who seems to represent himself as a kinda, “wait until the end of the world”, before judging if civilization was worth it or not, person; “2 sides” “posts” there were just a few of the same old, same old few, Dunlop cry babies. Obviously, hardly anything to get your toes in a tangle about. LOL!!!
But oh no, bring out “SWAT”!! TOP COPS!!! LOL!!! Who authorized this exercise in stupidity? Like when was Canada’s last social uprising…other than “Bilderberger meets”?
Who was really trying to provoke?
Did anyone consider, maybe the “heavy “Gaestapo” presence was to quickly suppress feared and anticipated, NEW disclosures.
Let the record show, as the “pearheads” know and has been evident in Divisional Court hearings as well as Inquiry hearings, like Perry Dunlop, Mr. Dunlop’s supporters are peaceful, intelligent, well informed, understanding and very positive, productive members of society. Despite attempts by the “pearheads” to provoke Dunlop and despite the practice of the lapdog, mainstream, news media to report on nothing, other than perceived American shortcomings, Perry Dunlop has been successful in his peaceful resistance. So too, have been his supporters. This, is very upsetting for the “desperate ones”.
Wayne Gretzky does not have to tell anyone he was “The Great One”.
The only one’s criticizing Perry Dunlop now and who are afraid today, are the DESPERATE one’s and their surrogates, who have something to fear and something to hide.
I believe Perry has no fear!! I believe Perry Dunlop is at peace.
Beware of DESPERATE people, places and things!!
Reply | Report | Page Top Post #6 By JAMES “SPEAK OUT”
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IF PERRY DUNLOP WAS A COWARD, HE WOULD HAVE GONE TO A DOCTOR AND GOT A LETTER TO DISMISS HIM FROM TESTIFYING LIKE THE REAL COWARDS!
AT LEAST HE OFFERED TO SUBMIT HIS TESTIMONY WITH THE NOTES THAT HE HAD TAKEN WHILE ALL OF THE INCIDENTS WERE STILL FRESH IN HIS MIND.
I AM SADDENED BY WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THIS MAN AND HIS FAMILY–THIS DID NOT ONLY PUT PERRY IN PRISON, BUT HIS WIFE, 3 GIRLS, AND HIS MOM. PLEASE COME TO YOUR SENSES CORNWALL AND LET HIM GO HOME TO FORGET CORNWALL EVEN EXISTS!!! I HAVE DONE THAT….
Reply | Report | Page Top Post #7 By Hillside,
IF PERRY DUNLOP WAS A COWARD, HE WOULD HAVE GONE TO A DOCTOR AND GOT A LETTER TO DISMISS HIM FROM TESTIFYING LIKE THE REAL COWARDS!
AT LEAST HE OFFERED TO SUBMIT HIS TESTIMONY WITH THE NOTES THAT HE HAD TAKEN WHILE ALL OF THE INCIDENTS WERE STILL FRESH IN HIS MIND.
I AM SADDENED BY WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THIS MAN AND HIS FAMILY–THIS DID NOT ONLY PUT PERRY IN PRISON, BUT HIS WIFE, 3 GIRLS, AND HIS MOM. PLEASE COME TO YOUR SENSES CORNWALL AND LET HIM GO HOME TO FORGET CORNWALL EVEN EXISTS!!! I HAVE DONE THAT….
Reply | Report | Page Top Post #8 By Hillside
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I agree whole heartedly with Hillside Perry Dunlop did his job brought the whole shady affair to the forefront. I also agree with James”SPEAK OUT”. Beware the hammer is coming down on the guilty you know exactly who you are and you are trying to scare everyone else.
Reply | Report | Page Top Post #9 By dodger,