Dunlop Statement

to be read at Red Flag Committee meeting (29 June 2005)

1…….Any one that the Government sends to Cornwall to head the Inquiry must be TOTALLY independent from the police, the church, offices of the Attorney General, Solicitor General, and the judiciary as concerns any and all present and past connections to Cornwall.

Ideally, that would mean that the person should be a non-Catholic, and preferably retired and from out of province.

2…….The Inquiry must be completely open to the public from the onset. The commissioner’s agenda must be totally transparent and exact in it’s definition and the mandate must be clear and concise.

3…….Given the history and the nature of the events over the past 13 years, the mandate must address the involvement and actions of the following institutions: The Cornwall Children’s Aid Society, The Cornwall Police Service, The Cornwall Crown Attorneys Office, The Ontario Provincial Police, The Ontario Attorney General’s Office, The Ontario Solicitor General’s Office, The Ontario Police Commission, The Ontario Judiciary and All other individuals or institutions considered to have had direct or indirect involvement.

4…….The Inquiry must be held in Cornwall.

5…….The focus and ultimate outcome of the Inquiry should be to expose the Truth about why the justice system and the above mentioned institutions failed the victims and citizens of Cornwall.

There are dozens of questions that must be addressed at the Inquiry. Some will be obvious and others will become pertinent as the story unfolds.

Here is a partial list of some questions that are of specific interest to us:

1. Why did the Cornwall police try to bury David Silmer’s complaint?
2. Why did the police and the Cornwall Crown Attorney agree and allow the church to pay off the initial complainant?
3. Why were neither Charlie McDonald or Kenny Sequin ever questioned?
4. Why weren’t all parties/ individuals involved with the pay off ever investigated or charged for obstructing justice?
5. Why weren’t any of the Cornwall police officers involved with the case ever charged under the police act or criminal code for “failing to report as mandated under the Ontario Child and Family Services Act”?
6. Why did the OPP destroy crucial evidence obtained by an illegal search warrant from Ron Leroux’s house?
7. Why has the Ontario Gov’t failed to release a copy of the Sirr’s Report to the public or the media?
8. Why was Perry Dunlop the focus and scapegoat for the majority of the Project Truth trials?

This is only the tip of the iceberg of a long list of questions that need to be answered if there will ever be a complete picture painted about what happened over the past 13 years.

If the Inquiry is only interested in “shooting the messenger” and further cover-up by the government at the expense of the victims, then it is a sham and needs to be addressed as such. “Closure” is a myth if the whole truth is not exposed.

This list is by no means complete, but it is a good starting point if we are interested in erasing any illusion that “justice was done.”

Our children need protection from child molesters and their supporters.

We need to know the Truth and Truth is the precursor to healing.

We have never allowed the truth to be sacrificed. We never will.

Perry and Helen Dunlop