TORONTO - With a running tab of $23 million and a key witness having recanted sensational allegations of a ritualistic pedophile ring, the inquiry probing accusations of systemic sexual abuse in eastern Ontario resumes Monday -- likely without the court-ordered testimony of the man who started it all.
Perry Dunlop, the former Cornwall, Ont., police officer who brought the allegations to light in the 1990s through his own off-hours investigation, has flatly refused to appear.
While commission counsel have pledged that their important work will continue regardless, at least one critic said he believes Dunlop's absence represents another major blow to the inquiry's credibility.
Peter Engelmann, lead commission counsel, admitted Dunlop's expected boycott will leave "gaps'' in the story the inquiry has been mandated to tell -- the institutional response to allegations of abuse that date back almost 50 years.
Still, "Dunlop's only a part of this story'' and the inquiry has routinely dealt with criticism from all quarters, Engelmann said in an interview.
"We get criticism from people who never wanted this inquiry, who say that we've done too much. Then there are people who say we're not doing enough,'' he said.
"To some extent, I think that means we're doing our job.''
To date, the inquiry has heard evidence from experts, victims and community members over 174 hearing days since 2006, he noted.
A government spokesman said the inquiry, which is scheduled to wrap in July at the earliest, has cost taxpayers $22.9 million as of last November.
That includes $12 million in costs identified by Commissioner Normand Glaude, a $3.2-million grant to the City of Cornwall, and legal costs for the government agencies involved, including the Ontario Provincial Police and the Ministry of the Attorney General.
The inquiry has heard heart-wrenching testimony concerning two probation officers and the "numerous lawsuits and settlements of alleged victims with both of these individuals,'' noted Engelmann.
"There's a lot to be said about what's been uncovered already and what is still to be uncovered.''
Claude McIntosh, a columnist with the Cornwall Standard-Freeholder, said while the pain of victims of sexual abuse should never be discounted, there's never been any evidence of a pedophile ring.
For McIntosh, who counts himself among the inquiry's critics, the probe's watershed moment came during the testimony of Ron Leroux last June.
Leroux had told Dunlop that, in the 1950s and early 1960s, he witnessed a clan of pedophiles that would meet on weekends at a cottage and, while clad in robes and using candles, sexually abuse young boys.
The story grabbed national headlines and prompted a police investigation, dubbed Project Truth, that ended in only one conviction and found no evidence of a ring.
In June, Leroux testified before the inquiry that he fabricated the story.
"You know when you always see in the movies where the bomb drops at a trial? It was just incredible,'' McIntosh said of the testimony.
The inquiry has been seriously undermined by Leroux's recanting of his story and Perry Dunlop's refusal to testify, he added.
Indeed, the term "clan of pedophiles'' was concocted by Dunlop and his lawyer, Charles Bourgeois, Leroux told the inquiry.
Dunlop, in an exclusive interview with The Canadian Press last week, remained steadfast in his belief that not only was there a pedophile ring made up of clergy and other prominent community leaders, but also a police coverup.
"Absolutely there was a pedophile ring in Cornwall,'' he said in the interview near his home in Duncan, B.C. "You can't suppress the truth.''
Despite being found in contempt for refusing to testify last year and under court order to appear Monday, Dunlop said he's lost faith in the justice system and has no plans to appear before the inquiry.
The commission has indicated if Dunlop doesn't attend Monday they will refer the matter back to the courts.
Without Dunlop's evidence and given Leroux's testimony, McIntosh said the inquiry amounts to little more than "very expensive group therapy.''
"You get victims up there, and they've got some real heart-wrenching stories to tell'' about how they were treated by the police and the lenient sentences doled out for sex crimes 50 years ago, he said.
"We're dealing with the 1960s, mostly, and things have really changed since then ... none of it applies to today.''
John Swales, who served as a liaison of sorts between alleged victims and a London, Ont., law firm at the outset of the inquiry, said the costs of not addressing sexual abuse far outweigh those of a public inquiry.
"Until, as a society, we recognize the impact and damages we've incurred as a result of not responding properly to sexual abuse, like the ripple effect, we're all affected,'' he said.
The days when children could go on unsupervised trips with priests or other figures of authority who are not their parents are long gone, said Swales.
"We've lost something, we've lost some innocence.''
McIntosh isn't convinced Glaude's final report will have much of an impact.
"I use the analogy that Glaude's going to be writing a safety report on a 1960 Chevy, on how General Motors can make it a better car,'' he said.
"Well, they've already done all that.''
