Detecting Non-Profit Fraud In Ontario: Sure, there's lots of pedophiles in Ontario but they aren't organized..

2009: Cornwall inquiry urged to debunk rumours of pedophile ring but the truth always finds a way out... Sooner or later.

The Canadian Press · Posted: Feb 26, 2009 7:05 PM ET | Last Updated: February 26, 2009

Murky allegations that a pedophile clan operated with impunity in eastern Ontario were cast as fabrications spread by a misguided police officer and embraced by a panic-stricken community during four days of final submissions at the Cornwall inquiry.

Public agencies ill-equipped to handle sex abuse allegations, the equation of homosexuality with pedophilia and the presumption of guilt of accused abusers were all cited as factors in how rumours of the sex ring took root.

While the mandate of the inquiry, which has cost $40 million to date, was to examine the institutional response to decades-old allegations of abuse, the majority of the submissions, which began Monday, focused on discrediting the clan theory.

Many suggested the blame for the sensational story, which provincial police found no evidence of in an earlier probe, could be placed on former Cornwall police officer Perry Dunlop.

On Thursday, Commissioner G. Normand Glaude was urged to conclude in his report, due July 31, that the allegations were a paranoid myth.

'The story is false'

"There is no doubt that this commission was formed largely in response to the persistence of this story," David Sherriff-Scott, lawyer for the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall, submitted to the inquiry. "The commission, therefore, should unequivocally and unreservedly put the story to rest and declare that, after more than three years of probing, the story is false."

Vulnerable witnesses were easily manipulated by Dunlop into concocting an explosive tale of ritual sexual abuse. And supporters of Dunlop, who was seen as a local hero for his crusade against pedophiles, became a group of "media-savvy conspiracy theorists" who "exacted maximum damage on those targeted," the inquiry heard.

"It is important for you to set out exactly how these allegations were constructed and by whom," Cornwall Police Service lawyer John Callaghan told Glaude. "It's important, because the conspiracy theorists will never die. Long after you leave town, the bloggers, the gossip hounds, will continue to gather behind some grassy knoll in Cornwall and tell of a conspiracy."

Closing submissions from the diocese and Cornwall police took the position that two witnesses, one known as C8, the other a man named Ron Leroux, fabricated stories of a pedophile ring.

"It was [then] propagated by the reckless incompetence and lack of judgment of Perry Dunlop, who could not discern fact from fiction," Sherriff-Scott told the inquiry.

Allegations of abuse

It began in 1992, Sherriff-Scott said, when a 35-year-old former altar boy alleged he had been sexually abused by a priest and a probation officer. The man reached a settlement with the diocese for $32,000 and didn't pursue charges against either man.

Dunlop leaked the allegations to the local Children's Aid Society, and the information eventually appeared in the media. The man launched a complaint against Dunlop.

"Mr. Dunlop became convinced that he was being scapegoated, bullied, harassed and isolated," which caused him to mistrust all public institutions, Sherriff-Scott said. "In the ensuing storm, he simply fell apart."

By early 1994, Dunlop was on sick leave, suffering from mental health challenges and was on multiple medications to deal with conditions such as depression, the inquiry has heard.

Still, he pursued his own investigation, believing a pedophile ring was being operated by prominent locals and being covered up by even more high-profile officials, Sherriff-Scott said.

It was in this environment that Dunlop interviewed C8, who led him to Leroux.

Leroux told Dunlop he witnessed a clan of pedophiles who wore robes, burned candles and sexually abused young boys during weekend meetings in the 1950s and early 1960s.

In June 2007, Leroux told the inquiry that he fabricated the tale.

"Mr. Dunlop, who had been radicalized by his experiences and suffering from the problems he was having, was too lacking in judgment to do anything but snap at this story," Sherriff-Scott said.

Dunlop's former police force was less generous in their submissions, making no mention of Dunlop's mental distress.

Instead, they painted a picture of a man who, along with his lawyer, allegedly took the lead in actively changing Leroux's statements and adding names to a list of alleged pedophiles to fulfil personal vendettas.

Only 1 convicted

In 1997, provincial police launched an investigation and laid 114 charges against 15 people but found no evidence of a pedophile ring.

Of the men charged, only a bus driver was convicted. Four died before their cases came to trial, four were acquitted, four had the charges against them withdrawn and two had the charges against them stayed because of delays.

Two community groups told the inquiry this week that "inept" public institutions created a void that sent alleged abuse victims flocking to Dunlop, who became the "alternate constabulary."

Dunlop, who has since moved to British Columbia and no longer works in law enforcement, refused to testify at the inquiry and was jailed for seven months on civil and criminal contempt convictions.

The group Citizens for Community Renewal also suggested belief in a pedophile clan was able to gain a foothold due in part to rampant homophobia in the community.

The lawyer for the estate of an accused child sexual abuser who committed suicide said public hysteria flourished because of the lack of a presumption of innocence for people accused of such crimes.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/cornwall-inquiry-urged-to-debunk-rumours-of-pedophile-ring-1.849104

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Former teacher is fourth known person involved with child-porn case to have taken his own life.

Nicolas Boudreau is evacuated after swallowing a substance at the Quebec City Courthouse on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017.

Four years after police first alleged that hundreds of suspects had bought child pornography from a Toronto firm, fallout from the investigation is still rippling, with the suicide this week of a Quebec man who poisoned himself in a courtroom rather than go behind bars.

Project Spade, which netted 50 arrests in Ontario, 58 across the rest of Canada, 76 in the United States, and 164 in the rest of the world, according to the release. These arrests included 40 school teachers, six law enforcement officials, nine religious leaders, nine doctors and nurses, 32 children volunteers and three foster parents. Azov Films had made its way from Etobicoke to 92 countries around the world, heard the court in Toronto.

The three-year investigation revealed 386 child victims, all prepubescent, with some as young as five years old.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/man-poisons-himself-after-being-sentenced-in-child-pornography-case/article36374086/

https://www.thewhig.com/2016/08/17/child-porn-images-will-revictimize-kingston-police/wcm/6d8766ab-9664-fd1c-c6df-598dd57e71b1

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2013: Project Spade, massive international child porn bust centred on Toronto, nets 348 arrests in ‘horrific sexual acts’

School teachers, doctors, nurses, pastors and foster parents are among those facing charges in the wide-ranging operation that can be traced back to a business operating out of Toronto’s west end, police said.

Police say the sheer amount of images and videos seized in their investigation — 45 terabytes worth — was staggering.

“This is equivalent to a stack of paper as tall as 1,500 CN Towers,” said Beaven-Desjardins.

Toronto police revealed details this morning of an international child sex abuse and pornography investigation that stretched across six continents and has led to hundreds of arrests, including 50 in Ontario and 58 in the rest of Canada.

At a news conference Thursday, police said 348 people have been arrested and 386 children rescued from situations around the world where they were at risk. Twenty-four children in Canada were among those rescued, they said.

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/at-least-386-victims-rescued-after-project-spade-a-massive-child-porn-bust-that-started-in-toronto

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/11/14/child_porn_bust_the_men_who_were_charged.html

https://globalnews.ca/video/968642/project-spade

https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2013/11/14/canada-child-pornography-bust-robertson.cnn

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/hundreds-arrested-in-international-child-porn-case-1.2426176

https://www.macleans.ca/general/huge-child-porn-ring-busted-toronto-police-say-348-arrested-in-project-spade/

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2001: Cornwall pedophile investigation ends.

A four-year investigation in Cornwall, Ont., has ended without turning up evidence of an organized pedophile ring, or of a cover-up.

FROM CBC RADIO NEWS: Breach of Trust

Project Truth was the third investigation into the allegations. It produced 115 charges from gross indecency to sexual assault.

Of 15 people charged, seven either remain before the courts or are awaiting trial.

But the Ontario Provincial Police have brought the investigation to an end without producing evidence of an organized ring of pedophiles.

"It doesn't mean it was a ring, just because the same person may or may not have been victimized by two different people," said Det.-Spt. Jim Miller.

Cornwall Police Chief Tony Repa's spokesman Blake Paquin said the OPP conclusion lifts a cloud of suspicion from the police.

'I think the whole thing is a great victory for pedophiles'"Allegations were made against the Cornwall Community Police Service of a cover-up in these matters," he said. "The chief is very pleased with these findings."

But others are definitely not pleased, among them Perry Dunlop, the veteran Cornwall cop who first sounded the alarm over the allegations.

"I think the whole thing is a great victory for pedophiles," he said.

Dunlop was disciplined after he spoke out about alleged abuse to Children's Aid workers. A subsequent investigation by Cornwall police led to no charges.

FROM MARCH 18, 1999: MPP demands inquiry into pedophile ring

FROM MAY 28, 2001: Naming names in the Cornwall sex abuse scandal

Ottawa West-Nepean member of the provincial parliament Gary Guzzo, a PC backbencher, has been an outspoken critic of the investigations and the province's role in them.

He has accused the government of participating in a cover-up and said he will push for yet another investigation into the alleged pedophile ring.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/cornwall-pedophile-investigation-ends-1.276455

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2009: Huge $ 53 MILLION DOLLAR INQUIRY fails to find pedophile ring in Cornwall.

Cornwall inquiry fails to dispel or confirm pedophile ring

The Canadian Press.

CORNWALL, Ont. - Rumours that swirled for years that children were abused at the hands of a pedophile ring in eastern Ontario were neither put to rest nor given credence Tuesday by a $53-million public inquiry report four years in the making.

The Cornwall inquiry's official mandate was to examine institutional responses to historical claims of sexual abuse, and the sensational allegation that fuelled it went unresolved in the more than 1600-page report.

"Throughout this inquiry I have heard evidence that suggested that there were cases of joint abuse, passing of alleged victims, and possibly passive knowledge of abuse," Commissioner G. Normand Glaude wrote.

Related Links:

Cornwall abuse inquiry set to deliver report

Ont. can now better rein in inquiry costs: AG

Cornwall sex abuse inquiry gets extension

Ontario-wide strategy needed for male sex abuse victims, inquiry told

Cornwall inquiry urged to debunk rumours of pedophile ring

Cornwall inquiry hears past problems have largely been fixed

Presuming guilt fuelled sex ring rumours, lawyer says.

"I want to be very clear that I am not going to make a pronouncement on whether a ring existed or not."

The Ontario Provincial Police spent four years investigating allegations of sexual abuse, an investigation Glaude criticized in the report. Police laid 115 charges against 15 people under Project Truth, though only one was convicted.

The police declared there was no evidence of a ring, but that failed to quell the suspicion and fear in the community.

"There is good reason why certain members of the public were less than satisfied with the OPP's unequivocal position about the non-existence of a ring," Glaude wrote.

"I find that the OPP did not conduct a full-scale investigation into the linkages between victims and perpetrators."

Glaude made the point, however, of noting "much of what I have heard about linkages remain allegations that have not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt."

The report found institutional response to reports of sexual abuse was, in large part, inadequate and failed to protect the vulnerable. Among the commissioner's recommendations was to expand training and mandatory education for professionals such as public servants, those in the justice system, teachers and others having contact with children or adults who may have been sexually abused.

At closing submissions in February, groups including the local diocese and police service urged the commissioner to debunk the pedophile clan theory once and for all.

While the commissioner did not answer that call, he did find that allegations that officials at the Ministry of the Attorney General conspired to cover-up allegations of sexual abuse were unfounded.

And perhaps the most sensational of all the stories -- that a clan of powerful men sexually abused boys at a cottage during strange rituals while clad in robes -- was given little weight.

The source of the tale was Ron Leroux, who both police and Glaude found not to be credible and who later recanted his allegations at the inquiry. He was a "highly suggestible individual" who adopted ideas that one crusading police officer put to him as his own, Glaude wrote.

Leroux told his story to former Cornwall police officer Perry Dunlop, who was conducting an unsanctioned, off-hours investigation. Dunlop's probe began after he discovered an alleged abuse victim withdrew a complaint against a priest in 1993 after reaching a settlement with the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese.

Dunlop was right to disclose the settlement to the Children's Aid Society, said Glaude. However, Dunlop's distrust of public institutions, including police and prosecutors, eventually overwhelmed what was a genuine desire to help children, he wrote.

Further, the commissioner found it "troubling" that Dunlop could not accept, at some point, that Leroux was not the "definitive source" he had hoped for in his investigation.

Dunlop, who lives in British Columbia and could not immediately be reached for comment, spent seven months in jail for contempt when he refused to testify at the inquiry of his own making, saying he no longer had faith in the system.

Provincial police did investigate Leroux's specific clan allegation, but failed to properly pursue links between alleged perpetrators, Glaude added. He noted problems with defining a "ring," and said given the information police had at the time, it is "difficult to say whether the OPP should have declared that it had found some evidence of a `pedophile ring."'

The very real abuse that many people suffered may have been the result of an organized group or it could have been an "unfortunate coincidence," which could have arisen from the fact that many alleged abusers were part of a particular institution, such as the local diocese or justice system, Glaude wrote.

Part of the inquiry's funding has been going toward counselling for victims of sexual abuse, support that is scheduled to end on Jan. 15.

Glaude said he hoped the Ontario government would reconsider that decision and called on it to fund counselling for up to five years.

Attorney General Chris Bentley said there was no question there would be more money to help victims, but did not specify an amount.

"Be clear, we're going to make sure those that suffered terrible wrongs and have been victims, to support them," said Bentley, who also defended the inquiry's work, despite the $53-million price tag.

"This community needed to be heard. Those who were victimized needed to be heard," he said.

"I would ask people not to forget the importance of allowing victims to have their story, have their pain, truly heard."

In finding there were systemic failures in how institutions responded to allegations of sexual abuse of children, Glaude said "for some, this resulted in revictimization by the institution from whom they sought help."

"The response of institutions became a further source of harm."

Most of the problems Glaude found with institutions such as the probation office, the diocese and the police stem from his assertion that they failed to fully investigate claims of child sexual abuse.

He highlighted several cases in which he said institutions, when confronted with evidence an official was abusing children, failed to attempt to find other victims or other abusers within the institution.

Glaude also highlighted expert evidence that abusers tend to associate themselves with particular institutions that give them ready access to children.

Bishop Paul-Andre Durocher of the Diocese of Alexandra-Cornwall was at the release of the report to offer an apology.

"I am truly and deeply sorry for the pain that has been visited upon some of our young people and their families," he said.

"On behalf of the Catholic diocese that I lead I want to apologzie to you for the suffering and indignity caused by those in a position of trust and authority who have robbed you of your innocence."

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/cornwall-inquiry-fails-to-dispel-or-confirm-pedophile-ring-1.464739

https://www.ctvnews.ca/cornwall-inquiry-fails-to-quash-pedophile-ring-rumours-1.465003

https://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/2009/12/16/huge_inquiry_fails_to_find_pedophile_ring_in_cornwall.html

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BACKGROUND.

2001: The pedophiles of Cornwall.

The little city of Cornwall, Ont., is not a place you'd expect unspeakable secrets to lurk. But for the past seven years, it has been racked by a dark drama that has shredded reputations and driven men to suicide. The villains, it's alleged, are that most loathsome form of human life -- pedophiles. The pedophiles allegedly include Catholic priests and the city's leading citizens.

The so-called pedophile ring has sparked endless charges of cover-ups and corruption in high places. The local MP is demanding a provincial inquiry. Some people even think the police may be in cahoots with the guilty. "The hysteria has been palpable," says Jacques Leduc, a respected lawyer who has lived in Cornwall all his life. "It has been a rather dark moment in our region's history."

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-pedophiles-of-cornwall/article759924/

Garry Guzzo, the headline-making MPP, agreed to sit down with me the other day to answer a question: What, exactly, is being covered up in Cornwall?

This is the gist of his answer.

For decades, Catholic priests and leading citizens practised weekly homosexual orgies of ritual abuse on altar boys recruited from the church. Every Friday night, this group would meet at the island home of one of them. The boys were draped in white sheets, and candles were placed in their rectums. "I can't be certain where it stops," he told me, referring to the abusers and the cover-up.

According to Mr. Guzzo, who was once a judge, the ring was multilayered, highly organized, and intergenerational. For all these years, the abusers have managed to manipulate the system to cover up their crimes. The cover-up may even extend to the attorney-general's office.

That cover-up, possibly combined with police incompetence, is the reason why the special OPP investigation called Project Truth has produced such miserable results. "There's only one answer," Mr. Guzzo told me. "And the answer's cover-up."

I asked why he was so certain of the truth that he said he would use his parliamentary privilege to name names in Ontario's Legislature. (He's now changed his mind.) "Because I have heard it from so many different victims."

Strangely, none of these victims have told it to the police. Or at least not in a version that would make a charge stick. Not one of the charges laid to date in the endless Project Truth investigation involves white sheets, or candles, or orgies.

The OPP is on record that, despite the numerous charges it has laid, it has not found one shred of evidence for a pedophile ring. For two years, it even ran an ad campaign begging victims to come forward -- anyone who had any complaint of sex abuse by anyone, any time, any place, in the vicinity of Cornwall. Several dozen people did. But there were no common victims. And most of the accused, in this town of 47,000, didn't know each other.

By January, Project Truth had laid a total of 115 charges against 14 men for various sex offences. The men include four priests, a former butcher, a school-bus driver, and a man who owns a diner. Mr. Guzzo maintains that Project Truth has missed the ringleaders, especially the local archbishop, who has been mounting a vigorous press defence this week after the CBC named him on national radio.

Mr. Guzzo says he has spoken with 78 alleged victims of the ring (a few of whom, he says, he does not believe) and has many sworn statements from them. He wouldn't show them to me. But he has shared them with at least one reporter, who repeated the most lurid of these claims in Tuesday's Ottawa Citizen.

The nut of Mr. Guzzo's evidence is a lengthy 1996 statement from Ron Leroux, a 54-year-old painting contractor now living in Maine. "I have witnessed a 'clan' of pedophiles," it says, and then goes on to list a long string of priests and town dignitaries. This document is the source of the ritual orgy story. "During this party, I observed a ceremonious ritual of candles in the altar boys' rectums with sheets over them. These altar boys were walking around with the candle in the rectum and the sheet over them with no clothes on, during this ceremony, several members of the clergy were fondling these young boys, and molesting them." And so on.

Perhaps coincidentally, this document has been featured for years on various crackpot Web sites, including one claiming that the Catholic Church is controlled by predatory homosexuals.

Even though Project Truth missed the big guns, says Mr. Guzzo, the charges laid to date prove that something went seriously wrong in the justice system. "How can you explain how two previous investigations missed all 115 charges?" he demands.

One explanation may be that the police failed to advertise for victims. In any event, the rap sheet has shrunk dramatically. There are no longer anywhere near 115 charges, and only six of the 14 accused now face trial. Four men have died, one had his charges dropped, one was found not guilty, and so on. Next up is the bus driver, who's accused of a string of assaults against both sexes in the 1990s.

Last January, the case against one man was thrown out in mid-trial after it transpired that key evidence against him was hopelessly tainted. Still, many people in Cornwall think he's guilty, because he once acted as a lawyer for the Catholic Church in an earlier sex-abuse case.

I asked if that man was part of the ring, too.

"He's on the periphery, I guess," Mr. Guzzo says.

That's how it goes with conspiracy theories. When you're a true believer, everything always fits. And the more bizarre it is, the truer it must surely be. mwente@globeandmail.ca

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-pedophiles-of-cornwall/article761542/

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2010: Cornwall sex abuse victims given large settlements.

Some victims of the Cornwall sex abuse scandal are receiving large financial settlements after decades of allegations that a cover-up of a pedophile ring existed in the eastern Ontario city, CTV Ottawa has learned.

The sex abuse scandal was uncovered in the early 1990s. A public inquiry ended in December 2009 after four years. The inquiry found the Catholic Church, police, the Ontario government and the legal system all failed to protect children from sexual predators.

Now, Ontario's attorney general has confirmed to CTV that several financial settlements have been reached with victims, and more lawsuits are outstanding.

Although confidentiality agreements could mean taxpayers will never learn the true cost of the settlements, a former MPP predicts the payouts will total tens of millions of dollars.

"I would look at somewhere between $70-100 million," said Garry Guzzo, a former Conservative MPP who blew the whistle on the scandal and pushed for a public inquiry.

"It's a lot of money coming from very few taxpayers, and the people of the Catholic Church are taxpayers."

While sources have told CTV the payouts are in the millions, alleged victim Steve Parisien says some individuals are getting less than $20,000.

"I think parishioners and taxpayers have a right to know how much has been paid out," he said.

A lawyer representing dozens of the victims wouldn't reveal how much money was paid. However, he confirmed several settlements have been reached with the Catholic diocese, the Ontario government and other Catholic organizations.

There are also several cases in the works against the Children's Aid Society.

Cornwall's Catholic Diocese says it has settled all 16 of the lawsuits against the Catholic Church. The last lawsuit was settled a few weeks ago.

Bishop Paul-Andre Durocher says the total payouts from those lawsuits amount to $1.2 million. He adds none of those settlements involved confidentiality agreements.

"There's no doubt in my mind that these victims deserve this money," said Guzzo.

"You know the confidentiality agreement - never going to trial, never allowing it to become public - there's an element of hush money."

Although Parisien hasn't received a settlement, he is hoping to get some compensation for his experience.

He says while no amount of money will change his life, it will help validate what he went through.

"Just for my loss of wages - that's all I seek. I don't want nothing else from these people, they've done enough damage. And they have to sleep with themselves at night."

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/cornwall-sex-abuse-victims-given-large-settlements-1.521190

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2013: Ex-foster children suing CAS, former foster parents.

Five former foster children are suing the Prince Edward County Children’s Aid Society and four former foster parents for millions of dollars in damages stemming from sexual abuse while they were in the society’s care.

The civil suits total $14 million ($2.8 million per plaintiff). Of the four former foster parents being sued, two are now serving prison terms for sexual abuse of children placed in their care. A third convicted predator’s case is now before the Ontario Court of Appeal.

The claims were filed March 28 by Belleville lawyer John Bonn, on the behalf of the five female plaintiffs, now in their late teens and early 20s. All complainants listed claim that “PECCAS is liable for the abuse that each of them suffered while in the care of PECCAS.”

The society is now part of the newly-amalgamated Highland Shores Children’s Aid Society, which also spans the societies of Hastings and Northumberland Counties.

“PECCAS is responsible in fact and in law for its own negligence and breaches of its statutory and fiduciary duties as well as for the negligence and breaches of duty committed by its servants, agents and employees,” states the claim, a copy of which was obtained by The Intelligencer.

One statement of claim states, “PECCAS caused (the plaintiffs) permanent and extensive injuries and losses” ranging from alcohol and substance abuse to inability to trust, impairment of mental health, nightmares of abuse, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts.

https://www.intelligencer.ca/2013/04/07/ex-foster-children-suing-cas-former-foster-parents/wcm/6595249f-4cb2-fd1f-bd66-2c83a3d3e216

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2014: Three CAS cases settled

Three former County foster children have reached out-of-court settlements with the Highland Shores Children’s Aid Society for damages stemming from sexual abuse sustained while they were in the society’s care.

An order dismissing further action against the child welfare agency has been approved by a judge at the Prince Edward County superior court where the lawsuit was filed in April 2013. Court staff confirmed only three of the five cases have been settled to date, leaving two outstanding plaintiffs.

Confidentiality provisions restrict the plaintiffs’ Belleville lawyer, John Bonn, from divulging details on the dollar amount of the compensation dispensed.

“It’s an order of the court dismissing the action on behalf of three of the plaintiffs, as against the children’s aid society,” Bonn said of the settlement. “They have resolved matters to their mutual satisfaction.”

Bonn added “there was no trial in this matter. They can’t talk about the terms of the resolution because there are confidentiality provisions in effect.”

When it was filed in 2013, the civil suits totalled $14 million ($2.8 million per plaintiff).

Each plaintiff initially claimed $350,000 for pain and suffering, in addition to $1 million each for loss of future earnings and another $1 million for punitive damages. They sought $100,000 in future care costs, plus $100,000 for special damages and $250,000 for aggravated damages.

Two outstanding plaintiffs will be addressed shortly, Bonn said.

“We continue to work on those,” he said. “We intend to mediate those.”

The suit directed at the CAS also targets four former foster parents, two are now serving prison terms for sexual abuse of children placed in their care. A third convicted predator’s case is now before the Ontario Court of Appeal.

“Like most of these issues, they’re difficult all the way through and deal with unpleasant issues, but the fact that we’ve been able to reach some form of agreement means that each side is able to live with it at some level,” Bonn said Tuesday.

Bonn filed the claims on behalf of the five female plaintiffs, now in their late teens and early 20s.

“With litigation done, it would bring an end to this piece of their involvement with the CAS,” Bonn said.

All complainants listed claim the Prince Edward County CAS (PECCAS) is liable for the abuse each of them suffered while in the care of PECCAS.

The County society is now part of the newly-amalgamated Highland Shores Children’s Aid Society, which also spans the societies of Hastings and Northumberland counties.

Mark Kartusch, the society’s executive director, was also tight-lipped about the settlement.

“I can’t disclose any of the details,” he said Tuesday. “However, we do hope this helps these youths move forward.”

Kartusch wouldn’t go as far as viewing the settlements as a form of closure for the plaintiffs.

“How does one ever have closure?” he said. “We believe in these young people and their future and want to support them in that.”

Before the 2013 merger, PECCAS was subjected to an extensive government probe which revealed a bevy of damning findings.

The investigation led by the Ministry of Child and Youth Services in Dec. 2011 – following a rash of child sex abuse charges against County foster parents – showed the agency was rife with significant internal conflicts recklessly placing vulnerable children in homes not properly screened and some cases not screened at all for months.

Kartusch said the agency has found better footing since the findings triggered amalgamation.

“I think we’re moving forward but will not forget the past,” he said.

Some concerns linger.

“I’m concerned that this may cause people to lose confidence in fostering or foster families,” he said, adding few bad apples aren’t representative of the whole bunch.

The 2013 statement of claims alleged “PECCAS is responsible, in fact and in law, for its own negligence and breaches of its statutory and fiduciary duties as well as for the negligence and breaches of duty committed by its servants, agents and employees,” states the claim, a copy of which was obtained by The Intelligencer in April 2013.

“They (plaintiffs) have incurred medical expenses and will continue to require therapy and medical attention,” the 2013 statement of claim adds.

Two of the former foster parents initially targeted in the claim were Walter Joseph Holm, 46, and his wife, Janet Holm, 49.

They pleaded guilty to several charges, including possession of child pornography, sexual assault and invitation to sexual touching and were sentenced in November 2011 to four- and three-year prison terms respectively.

Three of the five plaintiffs, now ages 21, 23, and 19, are linked to the Holms. It’s not known if they were the three of five now concluded.

Justice Geoff Griffin blasted the Holms for turning their home into a “sexual cult” while fostering 25 teenagers over the course of nine years.

The three plaintiffs further implied that PECCAS was “vicariously liable for the actions” of the Holms.

https://www.intelligencer.ca/2014/10/21/three-cas-cases-settled/wcm/3fd07287-3f2a-1755-7386-1c8c2353c943

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Crown Ward Class Action (Children who suffered abuse before and while they were Crown wards, including in foster care and foster homes, and while in the care of the Children’s Aid Society (“CAS”)).

https://kmlaw.ca/cases/crown-ward-class-action/

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2012: When Robert Horsburgh confessed to having sex with his foster daughter more than 30 years ago, then-Dufferin Children’s Aid Society (CAS) executive director Gary Putman saw no reason to inform police.

In those days, reporting illicit sex wasn’t something CAS workers did, Putman told The Banner.

“I have no regrets in what I did. I did exactly what would have been expected in that time, given that situation,” Putman said.

Although Horsburgh, who grew up in foster homes, had committed illicit sexual intercourse with a foster daughter — a criminal offence that was repealed in 1988 — Putman said CAS had yet to establish protocols to work jointly with police.

https://www.orangeville.com/news-story/1481994--no-regrets-for-not-reporting-sex-with-foster-child/

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Catholic Children's Aid Society failed teen impregnated by foster dad.

She thought she was finally home.

Shunted about in the care of the Catholic Children’s Aid Society from the time she was six years old, bounced around more than 22 different foster homes in the previous two years alone, the young teen was relieved when they placed her in the Scarborough home of Howard Smith and his family.

He was a rising star at the TTC, she was given her own room in their four-bedroom house and was initially treated as well as the couple’s two children. She thought she was safe at last.

But in reality, the 14-year-old had been placed in a hornet’s nest. And by the time the CCAS finally heeded her pleas and rescued her, she was 15 and pregnant with Smith’s child.

https://torontosun.com/2013/01/29/catholic-childrens-aid-society-failed-teen-impregnated-by-foster-dad/wcm/934e92f3-a164-45dc-b3d1-85e9a660ab32

:::

2011: Foster parent charged with sex offences.

https://www.niagarathisweek.com/news-story/3311746-foster-parent-charged-with-sex-offences/

:::

Drugs, theft, alcohol and inappropriate relationships alleged at Children’s Aid group home.

https://globalnews.ca/news/5334666/drugs-theft-alcohol-abuse-alleged-childrens-aid-group-home/

:::

Ontario lawyer fired after claiming 14- and 15-year-old girls are 'sexually mature'.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/ontario-lawyer-fired-after-claiming-14-and-15-year-old-girls-are-sexually-mature-1.4350351

:::

In a rare legal case, Toronto teen gets green light to sue children’s aid for negligence.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2019/08/23/in-a-rare-legal-case-toronto-teen-gets-green-light-to-sue-childrens-aid-for-negligence.html

:::

2019: Teen ‘sexual cult’ in Ontario foster home known to Children’s Aid Society, victim says

https://globalnews.ca/news/5360057/teen-sexual-cult-ontario-foster-home-childrens-aid-society/

:::

2019: Foster parent facing sex charges.

https://www.chch.com/foster-parent-facing-sex-charges/

https://www.sachem.ca/news-story/9732832-dunnville-foster-parent-charged-with-sex-offences/

https://www.norfolktoday.ca/2019/11/21/dunnville/

:::

Children’s Aid executive facing 20 charges in child abuse case

MK, whose identity is protected under a publication ban, spoke to CBC News about her abuse while in foster care in Prince Edward County, Ont. The former head of the county Children's Aid Society has been criminally charged for overseeing an agency that placed children with foster parents who were later convicted of sexual abuse. (Richard Agecoutay/CBC)

Ontario Provincial Police have taken the unusual step of charging the head of a Children's Aid Society for overseeing an agency that placed 10 children with foster parents who ended up being convicted of sexual abuse.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-county-foster-care-abuse-negligence-charges-1.4723516

https://globalnews.ca/news/4182170/childrens-aid-executive-charged/

:::

Woman charged with sex assault of minors worked at male CAS group-home at time of alleged offences

https://globalnews.ca/news/4916584/woman-charged-with-sex-assault-of-minors-worked-at-male-cas-group-home-at-time-of-alleged-offences/

:::

2019: The retrial for Neil Joynt, the 78-year-old former teacher and long-time hockey billet, accused of sexual assaulting two boys in the 1960s and ’70s, began Monday in Napanee superior court.

Warning: This story contains explicit details some readers may find disturbing. Discretion is advised.

In October 2016, Joynt was convicted of two counts of indecent assault against two boys that he taught, and was sentenced to eight months in jail. He was found not guilty of assaulting a third boy.

Joynt never served jail time, since he appealed his conviction the day of sentencing.

According to Crown counsel Roberto Corbella, the retrial was granted because the judge failed to deliver two pieces of information to the jury — a summary of the evidence and failing to provide the jury with prior consistent statements of a witness.

https://globalnews.ca/news/6094291/retrial-kingston-teacher-billet-sex-crimes-minors/

:::

Abuse by Children's Aid Societies, Group Homes and Other Residential Facilities.

A caregiver standing in the shoes of a parent owes a fiduciary duty to the child. When a caregiver sexually assaults a child, that duty is breached and the harm is particularly devastating. Courts have imposed high standards on those responsible for overseeing foster parents to carefully screen potential foster parents and to monitor children in foster care carefully.

Cases to Watch

May 25, 2017

A Sudbury boy’s stolen childhood

Sep 25, 2014

Former Scout leader Scott Stanley is to be sentenced on Oct. 29 after pleading guilty to pleaded guilty to 16 sex offences against four boys, aged 12 to 15, in 2012 and 2013

Aug 1, 2014

71-year-old Toronto man William Robert (“Bob”) Metcalfe charged In historical sexual assault investigation

Jun 27, 2014

Ex-Scouts Canada Scott Stanley leader pleads guilty to sexually abusing 4 boys

May 14, 2014

Former SW Ontario priest Gabriele DelBianco gets 4 years on sex charges involving 2 teen girls

May 6, 2014

Former minor hockey coach and Big Brother Michael Kachanovsky charged with sexual assault

Apr 22, 2014

Gordon Stuckless, Gardens sex abuser, pleads guilty to 100 charges

Mar 21, 2014

2 Ottawa private school teachers guilty of sex assault cover-up

Mar 7, 2014

Former RCMP officer and minor hockey coach Alan John Davidson charged with sexual assault of minors

Mar 1, 2014

Geraldton priest Roger Pronovost charged with sexual assault

More Cases to Watch

Jul 10, 2019

Former TVDSB vice principal Michael George Dennis accused of sexual relationship with student

The Ontario College of Teachers is moving forward with a disciplinary hearing for a former St. Thomas vice principal whom they accuse of having a romantic relationship with a female student. The professional misconduct allegations again...

Jun 27, 2019

Charges against Prince Edward County Children’s Aid Society executive director Bill Sweet regarding sexual abuse in foster homes he was responsible for.

Sweet is currently facing 10 counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and 10 counts of failing to provide the necessities of life. Sgt. Carolle Dionne, provincial media relations co-ordinator for the OPP, said his charges stemmed not because he fostered any children of his own but because he oversaw a Children’s Aid Society where several foster children were abused.

Jun 25, 2019

Former Catholic priest Barry McGrory found guilty of historic sex assaults

Defrocked Catholic priest Barry McGrory has been found guilty of sexually abusing two teenage boys in a church rectory during the early. “Mr. McGrory used his position as a parish priest,” the judge said, “to exploit vulnerable and naïve young men for his own sexual satisfaction.”

May 24, 2019

Lawsuit targets convicted sex offender Ron Léger, Catholic religious order and Archdiocese of St. Boniface

May 24, 2019

Paul Bruce Harper, 21, of Garden Hill First Nation, faces multiple counts of sexual assault, sexual interference, aggravated assault and assault. Three people have been charged with sexual, physical abuse of 17 children and there may be 150 victims

May 16, 2019

Former Sudbury teacher going to jail for sex crimes

Former Sudbury teacher Damir Bulic has been sentenced to two years less a day for sexual crimes involving a student. He was found guilty of four counts of committing an indecent act in the presence of a person under 16 years old and one count of sexual invitation to a minor.

Mar 20, 2019

Former priest charged with historical sexual assault

A former eastern Ontario priest, Deslauriers was convicted more than three decades ago of abusing boys and has again been charged in another case of historical sexual abuse. Click here to read more on CBC News Network.

Sep 27, 2018

Loretta Merritt speaks to CBC News and The London Free Press on the London Diocese sexual abuse case settlements

Irene Deschenes reported being sexually abused by Father Charles Sylvestre in 1994 and later settled a civil suit. Now, Deschenes is going to court to reopen her settlement because she claims it was based on misinformation. Survivor of Catho...

Sep 06, 2018

John Bain was arrested regarding historical sexual assaults against young persons which took place in the 1970s. He was employed as employed as a music teacher from 1976 to 2006 in Clearview Township

https://www.collingwoodtoday.ca/police-beat/former-music-teacher-charged-in-historical-sexual-assault-investigation-1028738

May 14, 2018

Ontario Club Coach and Teacher Thomas Grieve Charged With 30 Counts of Sexual Assault

https://volleymob.com/ontario-club-coach-charged-with-30-counts-of-sexual-assault/ The 39-year old coach and teacher has been arrested and faces 30 charges of sexually assaulting children under the age of 16. Grieve is a former volleyball coa...

Apr 18, 2018

Durham Region teacher Thomas Grieve is accused of 15 counts of criminal sexual conduct with children under the age of 16, according to information released Tuesday, April 17 by Durham police.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/04/17/whitby-elementary-school-teacher-faces-sexual-assault-charges.html

Jan 31, 2018

A Canadian gymnastics coach Scott McFarlane is facing a number of sexual abuse charges

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/gymnastics-coach-charged-with-allegedly-sexually-assaulting-teen-girl/article37786102/ A Canadian gymnastics coach Scott McFarlane is facing a number of charges after one of his teenaged athletes came f...

Sep 13, 2017

Teacher Brian Hathway at Guelph's College Heights Secondary School (Upper Grand District School Board) has been charged with several sex-related offences involving a youth.

Guelph Police issued the following release late afternoon on Tuesday: "On Sept. 8, 2017, the Guelph Police Service commenced an investigation into allegations against a 49-year-old Guelph teacher in relation to sexual offences involving a yo...

May 25, 2017

A Sudbury boy’s stolen childhood

Loretta Merritt speaks to the Sudbury Star on what may be the first case against a Children’s Aid Society in Ontario.

May 09, 2017

Oakville's Jared Gould Arrested for Sexual Offence

Gould was a coach with the Minor Oaks Hockey Association.

Mar 08, 2017

North Huron Man Facing Sexual Assault Charges Back In Court

BlackburnNews.com A pre-trial meeting was held for a North Huron man facing 39 historical sexual assault charges involving youth. Martin Cretier was in court last week as... ...

Mar 08, 2017

Jaclyn McLaren, Ontario teacher pleads guilty to sex crimes involving students

Ontario teacher charged with sex crimes against minors to appear in court CP24 Toronto's Breaking News The charges include multiple counts of sexual assault on a person under 16, sexual interference with a person under 16, invi...

Nov 28, 2016

Former Ottawa priest Rev. Barry McGrory, 82, charged in historical sexual assault case

A retired Ottawa priest, who has admitted he suffered from a powerful attraction to adolescents as a young cleric, appeared in court Friday on historical sexual assault charges. The man newly alleging he was victimized by McGrory was 15 years old ...

Nov 18, 2016

Main suspect faces 40 charges in sexual abuse case

Police identified another man, 48-year-old Geoffrey Burnet of Kitchener, Ont., who was arrested and charged with making and distributing child pornography. Police said Burnet is a former elementary school teacher in several boards in southern Onta...

Oct 31, 2016

Son of late Grenville headmaster arrested for sex assault

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/10/07/son-of-late-grenville-headmaster-arrested-for-sex-assault.html

Page 1 of 5

SEE MORE:

http://www.sexualabuselawyer.ca/sexual-abuse-and-assault-survivors/details/abuse-by-children%27s-aid-societies-group-homes-and-other-residential-facilities

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2017: Sexual, physical abuse 'rampant' at Ontario training schools, suit alleges.

TORONTO -- A man who says he was badly abused at one of Ontario's now-defunct training schools is spearheading a proposed class-action against the province that seeks $600 million on behalf of other children and youth sent to the provincial facilities.

In his unproven statement of claim, Kirk Keeping, 64, alleges the schools were festering cesspools of sexual, physical and psychological abuse perpetrated by unsupervised and unqualified staff on hapless kids.

"The training schools contained a toxic environment in which degrading and humiliating treatment of children in the Crown's care was the norm," the claim states. "Physical, sexual and psychological abuse was rampant, and residents of training schools were systematically denied their dignity and basic human rights."

The provincial training schools for boys and girls aged eight to 16 operated between 1931 until they were finally shut down in 1984. Those sentenced to the facilities were children found begging on the streets, runaways, truants, those deemed "incorrigible," those convicted of petty offences, or those who, for various reasons, had inadequate adult supervision. Once there, they became wards of the Crown and were cut off from any family support.

While the idea was to provide support, correction and vocational training for troubled youth, the claim alleges the reality was far more sinister -- one of "fear intimidation and brutality."

Staff forced children to beat up on other children or meted out physical punishment themselves. Youth were thrown into solitary confinement in shackles, not allowed to go to the washroom, were forced to scrub floors with toothbrushes or sleep on floors, and were forced into sexual acts, according to the claim.

Attempting to report the abuse would lead to retaliation in the form of longer sentences, the claim alleges.

Keeping, of Thunder Bay, Ont., was an unmanageable runaway when a judge in 1968 sent the 15 year old to Pine Ridge in Bouwmanville. During his two years there, he was sexually abused by a woman in the kitchen where he was given work and later, on a dairy farm, he says, by a man.

"I've held it inside myself for going on 50 years and it's been a long time," Keeping, now a father and grandfather, told The Canadian Press from Thunder Bay. "I grew up in a time when things like that were kept in the closet and you were ashamed -- you didn't want people to know things like that."

He said he lived in fear for a lot of years -- even after he left Pine Ridge -- and still suffers from nightmares and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The suit filed last week in Ontario Superior Court in Thunder Bay, has yet to be certified as a class action or proven in any court.

"I just feel it's time," Keeping said. "It's time that people understood what happened to us young boys in that training school."

Among other things, the claim states, the provincial government knew or ought to have known what was happening in the schools but failed to do anything about the situation.

It seeks $500 million in general damages and another $100 million in punitive damages, alleging the province was negligent, failed in the expected standard of care, and breached its duty toward its young charges.

"The Crown conducted its affairs with wanton and callous disregard for the class members' interests, safety and well-being," the claim states.

Attorney General Yasir Naqvi said he couldn't discuss a lawsuit that is before the courts but expressed sympathy for the victims.

"As a parent and as an Ontarian, my heart goes out to all the children who suffered those abuses," Naqvi said on Tuesday. "Those parents entrusted their children to those institutions and those type of abuses should never have happened."

According to a report from former Quebec judge Fred Kaufman in 2002, Ontario reached settlements with survivors of three schools -- St. Joseph's, St. John's and Grandview -- decades ago. Former premier Dalton McGuinty formally apologized to some of those students in 2004.

The new suit seeks to represent those who attended 12 others in places such as Oakville, Galt, Lindsay, Port Bolster, Bowmanville, Simcoe, Hagersville, Cobourg and Guelph.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/sexual-physical-abuse-rampant-at-ontario-training-schools-suit-alleges-1.3718044

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‘Justice is long overdue’ for training school survivors, says MP who spent three ‘painful’ years at one.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/01/19/justice-is-long-overdue-for-training-school-survivors-says-mp-who-spent-three-painful-years-at-one.html

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2016: Survivors of Ontario 'training schools' say their suffering is being erased by redevelopment project

Clarington is set to refurbish and repurpose the Jury Lands, home for more than 50 years to a correctional facility for children who were deemed 'unmanageable'

CLARINGTON, Ont. — Survivors of a shadowy chapter in the history of Canada’s prison system say the legacy of the alleged abuse they endured as children is being ignored, if not erased.

They point to a recent decision by the town of Clarington, Ont., to refurbish and repurpose the Jury Lands, most commonly known as the site of Camp 30 — a prisoner-of-war camp for captured high-ranking Nazis during the Second World War.

For more than 50 years, it was also the site of the Pine Ridge Training School — a correctional facility for children, mostly boys, aged eight to 18 who were deemed “unmanageable.”

The schools — about a dozen in Ontario — were shuttered in the early 1980s.

Wikipedia: The revitalization plan will see the site, located about 75 kilometres east of Toronto, transformed into an economic centre, complete with offices, restaurants and shops.

But the plan is not sitting well with some of those who allege they suffered horrific physical and sexual abuse in the hands of their minders.

“It’s not fair that this real estate company is going to put all this money into it and glorify what it wasn’t,” said Steve G., of Markham, Ont., who, on his lawyer’ advice, did not want his last name used.

“I’d have every boy’s name or girl’s name on that wall somewhere,” he said in a recent interview.

Steve G. said he was sent to Pine Ridge as a young teen after being caught breaking and entering. He said he had a “difficult” childhood: his parents separated when he was young, his mother was a “partier” and he was forced to steal to provide for his sister.

When he first arrived at the school, Steve G. recalls looking at the white picket fence, which he would jump over in a number of escape attempts in the coming months.

Then came “the hole,” a solitary confinement cell where he would spend days at a time — his feet shackled, his wrists cuffed.

Wikipedia: “It was a caged room — three walls of concrete and bars. I had a bed, toilet, sink, that was it,” he said. “That was your introduction to training school.”

Once, he was sent to “the hole” after an escape attempt in which he caught poison ivy.

“I had blisters all over me. I couldn’t move. And the hole temperature was about 110 (Fahrenheit, or 43 Celsius),” he said. “I remember it was so friggin’ hot. And I was sittin’ there at the sink, filling it up with water and splashing myself.”

The emotional and mental abuse was even worse, he said.

“They’re trying to ruin you. Break you down.”

Steve G. also alleges that he was sexually assaulted twice after he was transferred from Pine Ridge to the Sprucedale Training School in Hagersville, Ont.

He had escaped to Toronto, where he overdosed, and then was taken to he hospital, where he was eventually picked up by a couple of guards from the school, he said.

They allegedly put him in a pickup truck and drove out of the city.

“They beat me, they sodomized me, they did what they wanted with me,” he said, adding that he doesn’t remember all of the specifics because he was recovering from the overdose.

Steve G.’s allegations of sexual and physical abuse have not been tested in court. He said he is in the early stages of launching a lawsuit against the province.

As an adult, Steve G. said he’s struggled with alcohol and drug addictions. He’s had seven convictions, some for drinking and driving, and, on several occasions, he’s attempted suicide, he said.

They beat me, they sodomized me, they did what they wanted with me

But in the last few years, Steve G. said he’s turned his life around. He’s started going to church, is more open about his past, and he’s in a happy, stable, long-term relationship.

But he said he’s upset that Pine Ridge will only be recognized for its role in the Second World War, while the hundreds of children who were allegedly abused there will be forgotten.

Loretta Merritt, a lawyer who has represented hundreds of training school survivors in civil court, said only one person has been convicted related to abuse at Ontario’s network of secular training schools.

In January 2000, Raymond Arthur Elder, a former supervisor at White Oaks Training School in Hagersville, was found guilty of two charges, including gross indecency and breach of trust. Both charges related to oral sex acts which Elder had admitted to, and which involved one victim.

Elder was acquitted on nine other charges. He did not respond to requests for comment.

Sanford Cottrelle was at White Oaks, a training school for younger boys, when Elder was working there as a housemaster.

Google Maps: He was interviewed by police years ago about his time at the school, but was never called upon to testify at Elder’s trial.

“(Elder) would get a hold of me and he would nibble on my ear,” Cottrelle alleged in an interview.

He also alleged he was beaten by a staff member when he was on his way to bed. The attack came out of nowhere, he said.

“I don’t know what it was, if it was because I was a native kid or what,” Cottrelle said.

Since leaving the schools, Cottrelle says life hasn’t been easy. He’s been through the prison system, where he said he heard about more cases of abuse from inmates who had attended training schools in the province.

For much of his life, he says he’s had suicidal thoughts, starting from the time he was at White Oaks.

Merritt said that many of the training school survivors are now in prison, some for violent crimes.

“I’ve been in most of the maximum-security facilities in this province, with some guys who have criminal records that go on for 10 pages,” she said.

Catherine Classen, a clinical psychologist at the University of Toronto who specializes in therapy for people who have experienced trauma, called Ontario’s training school legacy a “tragedy” on several fronts.

It was a caged room — three walls of concrete and bars. I had a bed, toilet, sink, that was it. That was your introduction to training school

“If we actually would address the impact of trauma in childhood, of abuse in childhood, we would empty our prisons,” she said.

“So many of these behaviours really are about these people trying to cope in the best way they know how, and we never really help them figure out better ways of coping.”

Sometimes, Classen said, trauma survivors can be so consumed by what they experienced, they relive it in real time, through flashbacks.

Merritt said that’s something she sees in her clients in prison.

“I see the 12-year-old who was beaten and sexually abused and had no one and nowhere to turn. That’s who I’m meeting with,” she said.

“That’s where they go, when they talk to me. They go back to that child they were and they talk about what happened to them.”

Merritt said her clients that have taken the province through the civil courts have received payouts that range from tens of thousands of dollars to just over $100,000.

Representatives from the Office of the Attorney General, Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and Ministry of Children and Youth Services declined to comment on the training school system.

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/survivors-of-ontario-training-schools-say-their-suffering-is-being-erased-by-redevelopment-project

:::

2018: Lawsuit arising from alleged abuse at Ont. training school certified as class action.

TORONTO -- A lawsuit against the Ontario government arising from alleged sexual and physical abuse at the province's now-defunct training schools has been certified as a class action.

The provincial government did not oppose certification of the suit, launched by Kirk Keeping, a man who alleges he was badly abused at one of the schools.

"This is an important milestone for the boys and girls from the training schools," Keeping said in a statement. "We have all lived with this for years and we are glad this case is moving forward."

READ MORE HERE:

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/christie-blatchford-bullying-ontario-chief-forensic-pathologist-accused-of-interfering-with-cases

READING MUSIC:

https://youtu.be/TuCGiV-EVjA

:::

Ontario's chief forensic pathologist wants to see autopsies done in Thunder Bay.

(HERE COMES THE COVERUP SQUAD)

Michael Pollanen says OIPRD's call for Thunder Bay forensic pathology unit 'directly aligns' with his vision.

Ontario's chief forensic pathologist says he agrees with the recommendation made by Ontario's independent police watchdog that calls for the capacity for autopsies to be done in Thunder Bay but adds it's ultimately up to the province's community safety ministry whether a forensic pathology unit is set up in the northwestern Ontario city.

Ontario Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) Gerry McNeilly released a highly-critical, 200-plus page report in December into systemic racism in the Thunder Bay Police Service which makes dozens of recommendations. Most are aimed at the local force but several call on the chief coroner's and chief forensic pathologist's offices to improve communication and coordination between each other and police investigators when probing deaths in Thunder Bay.

'Racist attitudes' contributed to poor Indigenous death investigations by Thunder Bay police, report says

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/thunder-bay-oiprd-report-1.4942388

'As tragic as it is unsurprising': leaders react to report on systemic racism in Thunder Bay police

https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/thunder-bay-police-report-systemic-racism-reaction-1.4942775

One of those recommendations calls for a forensic pathology unit in the city so autopsies can be performed locally. McNeilly's report stated that "there are significant challenges affecting the ultimate quality and timeliness of [police] investigations in not having a forensic pathology unit in Thunder Bay and in the requirement that [police] officers must be sent to Toronto for autopsies."

"The suggestion or the recommendation of producing a regional forensic pathology in Thunder Bay directly aligns with our vision for the death investigation system," Dr. Michael Pollanen, Ontario's chief forensic pathologist told CBC News.

"We will work with the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and our senior management team to progress that recommendation."

Currently, the vast majority of autopsies ordered on deaths in Thunder Bay are done in Toronto.

Ontario does have a system of regional units, usually set up in partnership with teaching hospitals and medical schools, Pollanen said but in the north, there are only two such units in Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie. Having "regional capacity" for autopsies helps to keep the death investigation process running smoothly, he added.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/wicked-deeds/201907/facts-and-fictions-about-serial-killers

"It also allows for the seamless communication because the autopsies are occurring in the geographical area where the police are present, where the Crown Attorneys are present, where the local defence bar is present," he said.

"So in other words ... this regional or community approach is a highly effective way of delivering service."

Pollanen added that, ultimately, he'd like to see the regional model extended to include Kenora as well.

Chief coroner, forensic pathologist 'embrace' OIPRD recommendations

Improving communication between police, coroners and pathologists, while front-and-centre in McNeilly's recommendations to Pollanen and chief coroner Dirk Huyer, has already started, Huyer said.

A specific framework, or set of guidelines, for death investigations was developed while the police oversight body was conducting its investigation, Huyer said, adding that the framework effectively focuses on how best to manage communication and information-sharing between agencies.

That's crucial for investigations in Thunder Bay, officials said, due to the geographical distance from Toronto.

"We identified challenges that had occured both in our experience with investigations of death but also identified by the OIPRD and we've specifically outlined those, we've highlighted those," Huyer said. "We've pointed out the structure and the approach that should be — must be — taken for each of the death investigations that have the high attention ... type of case management."

"By bringing in a framework, it puts a structure in place, it's applied across the board and that way that allows us to address the issues in a systematic way."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/oiprd-report-coroner-pathologist-1.4985926

:::

Death as Expected: Inside a child welfare system where 102 Indigenous kids died over 5 years. National News | September 25, 2019 by Kenneth Jackson

https://aptnnews.ca/2019/09/25/inside-a-child-welfare-system-where-102-indigenous-kids-died-over-5-years/

:::

Archive for the Accountability Category: Child Welfare Sector Response to Auditor General Report 2015 On December 2, 2015 / Accountability, Children's Aid Societies, Featured, Government.

The Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies (OACAS) and its members welcome the 2015 report of the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario. The safety and protection of children is the first priority of Ontario Children’s Aid Societies (CASs). As noted by the Auditor General, child

https://www.oacas.org/category/accountability/page/8/

:::

Former child advocate's investigation finds deplorable conditions at now-closed Thunder Bay foster homes

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/irwin-elman-report-thunder-bay-1.5118129

:::

'No standard of care,' former Ontario child advocate says of foster care system in call for overhaul

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/irwin-elman-thunder-bay-report-1.5118815

:::

Shocking conditions at now shuttered Thunder Bay foster homes detailed in child advocate’s final report

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2019/04/30/shocking-conditions-at-now-shuttered-thunder-bay-foster-homes-detailed-in-child-advocates-final-report.html

:::

Province shuts down three Thunder Bay foster homes

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/06/13/province-shuts-down-three-thunder-bay-foster-homes.html

:::

Ontario child advocate wonders whether Doug Ford just made your children 'invisible again'

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/04/01/news/ontario-child-advocate-wonders-whether-doug-ford-just-made-your-children-invisible

:::

Something must be done about the Thunder Bay police

An unprecedented report says ‘systemic racism’ exists within the force, and that there was ‘neglect of duty’ among investigators. Is it beyond fixing?

by Kyle EdwardsDec 12, 2018

https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/something-must-be-done-about-the-thunder-bay-police/

:::

Thunder Bay police officer now ‘off duty’ as investigation into Saturday’s incident begins

https://aptnnews.ca/2018/12/04/thunder-bay-police-officer-now-off-duty-as-investigation-into-saturdays-incident-begins/

:::

Thunder Bay: Police in Thunder Bay, Ont., reopen investigations into deaths of 9 Indigenous people.

Cases will be reviewed by multi-disciplinary, multi-agency team.

(MULTI-DISCIPLINARY: THE WE KNOW ALL THE EXCUSES SQUAD)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/thunder-bay-investigations-reopened-1.5180092

:::

'Racism exists at all levels' of Thunder Bay, Ont., police service, review finds.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/racism-exists-at-all-levels-of-thunder-bay-ont-police-service-review-finds-1.4214534

:::

NO REASONABLES TO EVER DOUBT THE ACCURACY OR INTEGRITY OF THE PDRC REPORTS ON THE DEATHS OF CHILDREN IN CARE. NOPE NOTHIN' TO SEE HERE.. MOVE ALONG...

Report of the Paediatric Death Review Committee and Deaths Under Five Committee Office of the Chief Coroner Province of Ontario.June 2009.

The Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario

On October 1, 2008, Commissioner Stephen T. Goudge released the Report of the Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario.

Background

The Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario was established under the Public Inquiries Act by an Order in Council signed by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario on April 25, 2007. The Honourable Stephen T. Goudge was appointed Commissioner with a mandate to conduct a systemic review and an assessment of the policies, procedures, practices, accountability and oversight mechanisms, quality control measures and institutional arrangements of pediatric forensic pathology in Ontario from 1981 to 2001 as they relate to its practice and use in investigations and criminal proceedings. The Commissioner was asked to make recommendations to address systemic failings and restore and enhance public confidence in pediatric forensic pathology in Ontario.

The inquiry was announced after Dr. Barry McLellan, then Chief Coroner of Ontario, released the results of a review of 45 criminally suspicious/homicide cases dating back to 1991 where Dr. Charles Smith had performed an autopsy or provided an opinion in consultation. This review was undertaken to determine

whether the conclusions reached by Dr. Smith in his autopsy or consultation reports, or provided during his testimony where applicable, could be supported by the information from materials available for independent review.

WHY WERE NONE OF DR. SMITH'S OTHER FINDINGS EVER REVIEWED?

https://www.ncfrp.org/wp-content/uploads/Publications/PDRC_Annual_Report_2009.pdf

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Workers found human tissue in disgraced pathologist's office, inquiry told

Tom Blackwell, CanWest News Service Published: Monday, December 17, 2007

TORONTO - A secretary who worked alongside Dr. Charles Smith for years says she found a bag of dried human tissue, a dish containing bones and a child's hospital bracelet during one of her frequent searches of the pathologist's ramshackle office.

Maxine Johnson, an administrative co-ordinator at Sick Children's Hospital, told a public inquiry on Monday she once had pictures taken of the chronically messy office to try to prod Smith to keep his quarters neater. It did not work, she said.

It was during a 2005 audit of tissue samples requested by the chief coroner's office that Johnson and a colleague made the unusual discoveries in the pathologist's room.

"We found some dried-out tissue in plastic bags ... skeletal bones in another little dish," she said.

As well, they discovered a bead bracelet of the kind given to young patients at hospital.

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/porchlightcanada/dr-charles-smith-inquiry-t2479.html

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Ontario's Deaths Under Five Committee By Disgraced Pathologist Charles Randal Smith. (The webs they weave can be unraveled ...)

Introduction

The Deaths Under Five Committee (DU5C) of the Office of the Chief Coroner (OCC) meets at least five times per year for the purpose of comprehensively reviewing the deaths of children less than five years of age investigated by coroners in Ontario.

It is a secret multi-disciplinary committee and members include forensic pathologists, coroners, police detectives, child maltreatment and child welfare experts, crown attorneys, a Health Canada product safety specialist and executive staff from the OCC and at one time the CEO of OACAS Mary Ballantyne. (I wonder how many experts are on this committee aren't fake)

Attendance for knowledge enhancement is common, including learners from different stages of medical education and detectives from police services that are not active committee members. The membership is balanced to reflect Ontario’s geography. It also includes members from several police agencies that provide diversity in terms of geographic area, size of police service and the skill set of the investigators.

Scope and Mandate

The DU5C reviews all cases investigated by a coroner involving the deaths of children under five years of age including neonatal cases where the death was potentially linked to parental behaviour (e.g. sleep circumstances/unsafe sleep environment, maternal substance use, neglect, domestic violence, etc.) and those in which a children’s aid society or Indigenous child wellbeing society (“Society”) was involved at time of the death. The committee does not review neonatal deaths that occur prior to discharge from hospital where no substantive issues have been identified.

The mandate of the DU5C is to determine the cause and manner of death for all cases meeting the criteria for review. Case-specific recommendations for additional investigation, further laboratory/pathologic testing, evaluative testing of relatives or systemic improvements may arise during the review.

DU5 Review Process

Cases are referred to the DU5C by the relevant Regional Supervising Coroner. Case reviews are not confined to deaths that occurred during the calendar years of this Annual Report. Given the complexities involved in paediatric death investigations, the investigations sometimes take a long time to complete, delaying the DU5C review.

The DU5C review is a two-tiered “triaging” process involving an Executive Team Review and/or Full Committee Review.

Executive Team

The Executive Team reviews cases of deaths under five that are:

Natural deaths with defined illnesses and no issues (i.e. the deaths are “all natural” and there are no police or child welfare concerns)

Accidental deaths that are well documented where no issues have been identified (e.g. motor vehicle collision, drowning)

Homicides or criminally suspicious deaths where the case is still under active police investigation or before the courts.

The cases are received, tracked and triaged by the Executive Team, whose membership includes the DU5C Chair, Executive Lead and other individuals as necessary.

Full Committee

The full DU5C includes the multiple disciplines noted above. The full committee reviews cases of deaths under five including:

All cases where the cause of death remains undetermined after a complete investigation

Deaths where the sleep circumstances\unsafe sleep environment may have been a potential contributor

Potential cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

Natural deaths with complex medical presentations where potential investigative or pathologic issues that may affect the cause and/or manner of death have been identified

Accidental deaths involving unusual circumstances

Deaths resulting from head injuries that are not well documented accidental deaths (i.e. motor vehicle collision)

Homicides (when the investigation and court process has been completed)(Most homicides are reviewed by the Executive Team and presented to the committee prior to completion of the court process given the time period until resolution in the criminal justice system)

Cases referred to the DU5C undergo a comprehensive and detailed review of investigative materials including (but not limited to):

Post mortem examination, toxicology results and other investigative findings

Photographs (of the scene and post mortem examination)

Coroner’s Investigation Statement

Investigation Questionnaire for Sudden and Unexpected Deaths in Infants

Police and other investigative reports (e.g. Fire Marshal and children’s aid society/Indigenous child wellbeing society reports, etc.)

Chart 6 Illustrates that over the past seven years, the full DU5C reviewed between 55 and 108 cases. The manner of death for the majority of cases was “undetermined.”

Chart 6: DU5C - Full Committee Reviews Based on Manner of Death 2010-2017 Chart 6.

Year Natural Accident Homicide Undetermined Total

2010 17 14 4 73 108

2011 3 13 3 79 98

2012 6 2 9 75 92

2013 3 3 0 49 55

2014 7 4 0 53 64

2015 7 3 0 45 55

2016 2 1 0 58 61

2017 4 2 0 51 57

https://www.mcscs.jus.gov.on.ca/english/Deathinvestigations/OfficeChiefCoroner/Publicationsandreports/PDRCDU52017Report.html

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Dr. Charles Randal Smith was long regarded as one of Canada's best in forensic child pathology. A public inquiry was called after an Ontario coroner's inquiry questioned Smith's conclusions in 20 of 45 child autopsies.

Court of Appeal Justice Stephen Goudge is lead the inquiry into how the use of faulty forensic pathology evidence by Ontario prosecutors may have led to as many as 13 people being wrongfully convicted of killing children.

THIS ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW:

While Dr Smith was wrongfully accusing the innocent how often did he let the guilty go? Please watch this short video to get a clue.

https://youtu.be/C9AcaPxUj_k

RELATED ARTICLES: 2009: Why did 90 children die?

Ninety children known to Ontario's child welfare system died in 2007, according to the latest report from the chief coroner's office – a number the province's new child advocate says is shocking and should trouble us all.

Equally disturbing, says Irwin Elman in his first annual report to the Legislature today, is the government's refusal to share detailed information on these deaths with his office.

By Laurie Monsebraaten SOCIAL JUSTICE REPORTER

https://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2009/02/23/why_did_90_children_die.html

SEE ALSO: A PLAUSIBLE SOUNDING COVER STORY BY OACAS.

Paediatric Death Review Committee 2008 Annual Report (according to OACAS).

Coroner recommends public education on safe sleeping for infants and children. By Marie-Lauren Gregoire, OACAS Communications Coordinator.

Click here to download this report.Dr. Bert Lauwers and Karen Bridgman-Acker presented the report of the Paediatric Death Review Committee (PDRC) to child welfare professionals on the last day of the conference.

http://www.oacas.org/pubs/external/prdcannualreport08.pdf

The Associate Deputy Coroner indicated the most common causes of child deaths are natural, however, other causes include accident, homicide and undetermined.

One of the main causes of child deaths is unsafe sleeping environments. Unsafe sleeping practices include:

Adult beds used at home or for napping when visiting relatives or friends

Bed sharing or co-sleeping - room sharing is encouraged

Couches and sofas should not be used as sleep surfaces for babies

Crowded cribs are dangerous – keep cribs clear of toys, pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, and bumper pads

The safest sleeping environment for an infant is on its back in an empty crib with a firm mattress

The PDRC, a multidisciplinary committee of the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario, reviews all child deaths in Ontario including those child deaths where a child welfare agency has had some involvement with the child and/or family within the previous year. In 2007, the Paediatric Death Review Committee examined the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 91 children between the ages of 0 and 18 years. The Deaths Under Five Committee reviewed 117 deaths. The presentation focused on the issues and themes raised in 35 cases reviewed by the PDRC in 2007 where a Children’s Aid Society (CAS) was involved with the family during the preceding 12 months.

The purpose of review is to analyze the circumstances of the death, the services provided to the family, and to make recommendations for possible prevention of future deaths under similar circumstances. The recommendations are focused on promoting best practices within the child welfare and medical systems and educating the public on child safety measures. The Annual Report produced by the PDRC summarizes the findings, statistics, recommendations, trends and themes identified in these reviews.

The main recommendation of this report is increased public education about safe sleeping practices. CASs educate parents about safe sleeping practices and ensure child protection workers complete safety assessments of the child’s home, especially the sleeping areas for infants. Ontario’s CASs need the support of community partners and professionals to educate parents about safe sleeping practices, positive parenting and the duty to report.

Previous article: An Evening to Remember

Next article: Youth report on improving the well-being of youth in care

http://www.oacas.org/pubs/oacas/journal/2008June/paediatric.html

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2001: DEAD WRONG.

How the faulty findings of an eminent pathologist led to erroneous murder charges and ruined lives. JANE O’HARA. macleans.ca

When Dr. Charles Randal Smith settled into the witness box of the Kingston, Ont., courtroom, he looked perfectly at home. He'd brought along his teenage daughter to watch him testify at this preliminary hearing, even though it was not exactly family fare. The tall, grey-haired pathologist, who since 1992 has run the Ontario pediatric forensic pathology unit at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.

Crown prosecutors viewed the case as one of the most sensational child murders ever in Canada. Their theory was straightforward: on June 12, 1997, Louise Reynolds, a 28-year-old single mother from Kingston, had killed her seven-year-old daughter, Sharon, by stabbing her more than 80 times with a pair of scissors. Reynolds’s motive? Prosecutors argued she was angry at the child for having head lice.

For Kingston police and Crown prosecutors, Smith’s opinion was crucial.

His 10-page report on the autopsy he performed on Sharon’s perforated body was the linchpin of the second-degree murder case. But it didn’t hold. Just over three months ago, in late January, Smith’s theory was totally discredited when the Crown abruptly dropped the murder charges against Reynolds. This, after numerous experts—some hired by the Crown—disagreed with Smith and concluded instead that a powerful dog had mauled the girl.

By then Reynolds had spent 3'/2 years in custody because of the outlandish charge. Now she is suing the 51-year-old Smith, Toronto dental oncologist Robert Wood (who advised the prosecution that the marks did not look like dog bites) and the Kingston police force for $7 million. But as damning as that case sounds, it is just one ofat least six to cast doubt on Smiths expertise.

Now, the alarm bells are going off. Smith himself has voluntarily stopped doing autopsies for the coroners office - and asked for a review of his work in the Reynolds case and in another Toronto child death case that depended on his testimony.

And the provincial coroner’s office has taken possibly unprecedented steps to restore faith in the system. Ontario’s deputy chief coroner, Dr. James Cairns, has had Crown prosecutors and defence lawyers informed that his office is “more than

willing” to have independent experts examine Smiths findings. The reviews Smith requested, he added, would have happened in any case. “It has to be done,” said Cairns, “but it’s obviously not something one does jumping up and down for joy.”

READ LOTS MORE HERE:

http://archive.macleans.ca/article/2001/5/14/dead-wrong

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Dr. Charles Smith: 5 examples of the wrongfully accused.

https://globalnews.ca/news/2548081/dr-charles-smith-5-cases-of-the-wrongfully-accused/

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Doctors who supervised disgraced pathologist Charles Smith never faced disciplinary hearing.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/02/28/doctors-who-supervised-disgraced-pathologist-never-faced-disciplinary-hearing.html

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Death in the family: The story of disgraced doctor Charles Smith and the families he destroyed.

Author John Chipman on the tragic miscarriage of justice that impelled him to investigate Ontario's most notorious pediatric pathologist. By TVO Current Affairs - Published on February 9, 2017.

https://www.tvo.org/article/death-in-the-family-the-story-of-disgraced-doctor-charles-smith-and-the-families-he-destroyed

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Dr. Charles Smith: The man behind the public inquiry.

Charles Randal Smith is a disgraced former Canadian pathologist who was the head pediatric forensic pathologist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, from 1982 to 2003. The quality of his autopsies, and the resulting criminal charges and convictions of thirteen people, have been called into question and a full public inquiry was ordered. The inquiry found there to be fundamental errors made on the part of Smith and many of the cases in which he had testified are now being re-examined and appealed.[1] [2]

In 2008, the chief forensic pathologist for Ontario began a public inquiry into 220 cases of shaken baby syndrome to determine if anyone was wrongfully convicted in the babies' deaths.[3] Smith proclaimed that he had "a thing against people who hurt children", while critics said that "he was on a crusade and acted more like a prosecutor" than a pathologist.[4]

(Did Dr. Charles Randal Smith ever hold a seat on the Ontario PDRC and/or did the PDRC ever access his expertise? See more below.)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/dr-charles-smith-the-man-behind-the-public-inquiry-1.864004

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Goudge Inquiry: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario, commonly known as the Goudge Inquiry, was created to address serious concerns over the way criminally suspicious deaths involving children are handled by the Province of Ontario in Canada. The inquiry was primarily the result of evidence that arose in regards to discredited pathologist Charles Smith.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goudge_Inquiry

https://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/inquiries/goudge/policy_research/pdf/Sossin_Accountability-and-Oversight.pdf

https://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/inquiries/goudge/schedule/witnesses.html

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Dr. Charles Smith, a pediatric forensic pathologist whose work is being reviewed by the coroner's office, has resigned from his post at the Hospital for Sick Children.

Did Dr. Charles Randal Smith ever hold a seat on the Ontario PDRC and/or did the PDRC ever access his expertise - or was he the head of the PDRC?

Once considered Ontario's leading expert on pediatric forensics, Dr. Smith has been surrounded by controversy in recent years.

In 1992, the Ontario Coroner's Office created a pediatric forensic pathology unit at Hospital for Sick Children and Smith was appointed director. He had become almost solely responsible for investigating suspicious child deaths in Ontario.

In this period he conducted hundreds of autopsies and testified in court multiple times. He conducted training sessions for lawyers on how to examine and cross-examine expert witnesses, and training for law-enforcement and medical staff on detecting child abuse.[5]

In 2003, he was removed from the five-person team that conducts autopsies for the coroner's office after judges and medical authorities criticized his methods and conclusions. He continued to work as a pathologist at the hospital, earning a salary of $290,000 last year. But earlier this year officials discovered that evidence crucial to criminal cases had gone missing in his office.

A hospital spokeswoman gave no reason for his departure, but said he resigned in July. No announcement was made.

In June, Chief Coroner Barry McLellan launched a review into 40 homicide and suspicious-death cases handled by Dr. Smith since 1991. (PDRC?) It was to be conducted by a panel of independent experts and was expected to examine whether Dr. Smith's autopsies and consultation reports in a number of sensitive cases were reliable. At the time, Dr. McLellan said the review was necessary to maintain public confidence in the coroner's office.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/embattled-pathologist-no-longer-at-sick-kids/article18247696/

While at Sick Children's Hospital, Smith lived on a farm in Newmarket. His marriage collapsed around the time that his pathology work at Sick Children's received heavy scrutiny.[4] Smith was briefly relocated to Saskatoon and since 2007, he has lived in Victoria, British Columbia, with partner Dr. Bonnie Leadbeater, director of the Centre for Youth and Society at the University of Victoria.

In 1999, a Fifth Estate documentary singled him out as one of four Canadians with this rare expertise.

For more than a decade, Mr. Smith enjoyed a stellar reputation as the country's leading pathologist when it came to infant deaths giving lectures to law enforcement, medical students and other coroners. Several complaints about his work had little effect.

A 2008 inquiry on Smith’s work condemned his “flawed approach” and noted the he “lacked the requisite training and qualifications” to work as pediatric forensic pathologist.

Smith’s findings had helped convict more than a dozen people, some of whom spent years in prison and lost access to their children.

For 24 years, Smith worked at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. In the hospital's pediatric forensic pathology unit, he conducted more than 1,000 child autopsies.

But Smith no longer practices pathology. An Ontario coroner's inquiry reviewed 45 child autopsies in which Smith had concluded the cause of death was either homicide or criminally suspicious.

The coroner's review found that Smith made questionable conclusions of foul play in 20 of the cases — 13 of which had resulted in criminal convictions. After the review's findings were made public in April 2007, Ontario's government ordered a public inquiry into the doctor's practices.

That inquiry, led by Justice Stephen Goudge and concluding in October 2008, found that Smith "actively misled" his superiors, "made false and misleading statements" in court and exaggerated his expertise in trials.

Far from an expert in forensic child pathology, "Smith lacked basic knowledge about forensic pathology," wrote Goudge in the inquiry report.

"Smith was adamant that his failings were never intentional," Goudge wrote. "I simply cannot accept such a sweeping attempt to escape moral responsibility."

"Dr. Smith expressed opinions ... that were either contrary to, or not supported by, the evidence," Ms. Silver told the hearing Tuesday, reading from an agreed statement of facts.

Smith had been in search of his own personal truths. He was born in a Toronto Salvation Army hospital where he was put up for adoption three months later. After years of looking for his biological mother, he called her on her 65th birthday. But she refused to take his call.

Smith's adoptive family moved often. His father's job in the Canadian Forces took them throughout Canada and to Germany. He attended high school in Ottawa, and graduated from medical school at the University of Saskatchewan in 1975.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/disgraced-pathologist-charles-smith-stripped-of-medical-licence/article578634/

https://www.tvo.org/article/death-in-the-family-the-story-of-disgraced-doctor-charles-smith-and-the-families-he-destroyed

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An overview of Jenna's case prepared by Goudge Inquiry staff tells us that:

Jenna was born in Peterborough, Ontario on April 21, 1995 to Randy and Brenda Waudby. Jenna died on January 22, 1997, at the age of 21-months in Peterborough; Mrs. Waudby was charged with second-degree murder on Sept. 18 1997. The criminal proceeding concluded on June 15, 1999, when the charge was withdrawn.

The local Children's Aid Society apprehended Ms. Waudby's older child, Justine, on the day of Jenna's death and placed her in temporary foster care. She remained in foster care until January 27, 1997, when she moved in with Tom and Kim Waudby, her maternal aunt and uncle. She remained there until March 27, 1997, at which time she was again placed in foster care. She was ordered returned to Ms. Waudby's care on May 2, 1997, pursuant to an Order of Justice A.P.Ingram and remained in her care until Sept. 18, 1997, the day of Ms. Waudby's arrest. She was later re-apprehended on the date of Ms. Waudby's arrest.

The Children's Aid Society also apprehended a second child, M.W. born after Jenna's death, and placed him with his father. On July 23, 1999, subsequent to the withdrawal of Ms. Waudby's murder charge, Justine was ordered returned to her mother's care. That same day, access was also granted to M.W. who would continue to reside with his father. The Children's Aid Society appealed the decision. On August 13, 1999, the appeal was dismissed. On Dec. 28, 2006, the youth who was babysitting Jenna the night she died was charged with second-degree murder. On December 14, 2006, J.D. pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The criminal proceeding concluded on March 1, 2007, when he was sentenced as a youth to 22 months incarceration followed by 11 months of community supervision;

READ MORE HERE:

https://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2016/07/charles-smith-ontario-what-kind-of-man_21.html

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https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/disgraced-pathologist-charles-smith-stripped-of-medical-licence/article578634/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Smith_(pathologist)

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2016/02/29/like-a-god-dr-charles-smith-left-poisoned-trail-behind-him/

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The Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario

The Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario was established by the Government of Ontario under the Public Inquiries Act on April 25, 2007. The Honourable Stephen T. Goudge was appointed Commissioner.

The Inquiry's mandate was to conduct a systemic review and an assessment of the policies, procedures, practices, accountability and oversight mechanisms, quality control measures and institutional arrangements of pediatric forensic pathology in Ontario from 1981 to 2001 as they relate to its practice and use in investigations and criminal proceedings. The Commissioner was asked to make recommendations to address systemic failings and restore and enhance public confidence in pediatric forensic pathology in Ontario.

The Commission's mandate did not include reporting on any individual cases that have been or may be subject to a criminal investigation or proceeding. However, members of the Commission met privately with individuals or families affected by practices in Ontario's pediatric forensic pathology system between 1981 and 2001. These meetings were not part of the formal hearing process. There are no transcripts of the meetings.

https://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/inquiries/goudge/report/v2_en_pdf/Vol_2_Eng.pdf

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A CHILD IN CARE IS A CHILD AT RISK.

Between 2008/2012 natural causes was listed as the least likely way for a child in Ontario's care to die at 7% (only 15) out of the total deaths reviewed while "undetermined cause" was listed as the leading cause of death of children in Ontario's child protection system at 43% of the total deaths reviewed. The rest of the deaths were categorized as homicide, suicide and accidental.

43% equals 92 children out of just the deaths reviewed by the PDRC in 4 years. 92 mystery deaths and like every other year no further action was taken to determine the cause...

Undetermined means those 92 had no pre-existing medical conditions and there was no reason for them to have died.

http://www.mcscs.jus.gov.on.ca/english/DeathInvestigations/office_coroner/PublicationsandReports/PDRC/2013Report/PDRC_2013.html

http://www.mcscs.jus.gov.on.ca/sites/default/files/content/mcscs/images/195633-19.jpg

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CAS can’t protect all children; but YOU can.

BY GUEST COLUMNIST PATRICK LAKE.

The 90 child deaths to which the advocate – Irwin Elman – refers were based on the 2008 Report of the Pediatric Death Review Committee (PDRC) of the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario. That same report says “involvement of CAS is

not a factor in the vast majority of child deaths in Ontario; for those children who died while receiving CAS services, most deaths could not have been foreseen or prevented by a CAS”

http://www.yorkcas.org/Articles/patlakemarch122009.pdf

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Canada in Afghanistan - Fallen Canadian Armed Forces Members.

One hundred and fifty-eight (158) Canadian Armed Forces members lost their lives in service while participating in our country’s military efforts in Afghanistan between 2002 and 2011.

You can click on the names to explore their entries in the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/canadian-armed-forces/afghanistan-remembered/fallen?filterYr=2009

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THERE'S NOTHING TO SEE HERE: MOVE ALONG...

The now defunct child advocate's office had called for an inquest into the deaths of every child in care.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2018/11/19/eliminating-the-ontario-child-advocates-office-a-mistake.html

“It is stunning to me how these children... are rendered invisible while they are alive and invisible in their death,” said Irwin Elman, Ontario’s advocate for children and youth. Between 90 and 120 children and youth connected to children’s aid die every year.

Teen’s death raises questions about secrecy surrounding kids in care.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/12/10/teens-death-raises-questions-about-secrecy-surrounding-kids-in-care.html

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Nearly half of children in Crown care are medicated.

Psychotropic drugs are being prescribed to nearly half the Crown wards in a sample of Ontario children's aid societies, kindling fears that the agencies are overusing medication with the province's most vulnerable children.

Ontario researchers have found that not only were psychotropic drugs prescribed to a clear majority of the current and former wards interviewed, but most were diagnosed with mental-health disorders by a family doctor, never visited a child psychiatrist or another doctor for a second opinion, and doubted the accuracy of their diagnosis.

A Toronto Star investigation has found Ontario’s most vulnerable children in the care of an unaccountable and non-transparent protection system. It keeps them in the shadows, far beyond what is needed to protect their identities.

“When people are invisible, bad things happen,” says Irwin Elman, Ontario’s now former and last advocate for children and youth with the closure of the Office.

A disturbing number, the network's research director, Yolanda Lambe, added, have traded the child-welfare system for a life on the street.

"A lot of people are using drugs now," she said. "There's a lot of homeless young people who have been medicated quite heavily."

In Ontario the CAS has turned themselves into a multi-billion dollar private corporation using any excuse to compel parents into submitting to fake drug testing to justify removing children or keeping files open keeping that government funding flowing.

All the while they've taking the thousands of children to specific CAS approved doctors who are all to happy to prescribe medication based on the workers assessments of the child's condition.. That's why there are no follow ups with qualified medical and psychiatric doctors and not because the CAS lack the funding, staff or attention span to care properly for the children.

Marti McKay is a Toronto child psychologist was hired by a CAS to assess the grandparents' capacity as guardians only to discover a child so chemically altered that his real character was clouded by the side effects of adult doses of drugs.

"There are lots of other kids like that," said Dr. McKay, one of the experts on the government panel. "If you look at the group homes, it's close to 100 per cent of the kids who are on not just one drug, but on drug cocktails with multiple diagnoses.

"There are too many kids being diagnosed with ... a whole range of disorders that are way out of proportion to the normal population. ... It's just not reasonable to think the children in care would have such overrepresentation in these rather obscure disorders."

According to documents obtained by The Globe and Mail under Ontario's Freedom of Information Act, 47 per cent of the Crown wards - children in permanent CAS care - at five randomly picked agencies were prescribed psychotropics last year to treat depression, attention deficit disorder, anxiety and other mental-health problems. And, the wards are diagnosed and medicated far more often than are children in the general population.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/nearly-half-of-children-in-crown-care-are-medicated/article687480/

"Use of 'behaviour-altering' drugs widespread in foster, group homes."

Almost half of children and youth in foster and group home care aged 5 to 17 — 48.6 per cent — are on drugs, such as Ritalin, tranquilizers and anticonvulsants, according to a yearly survey conducted for the provincial government and the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies (OACAS). At ages 16 and 17, fully 57 per cent are on these medications.

In group homes, the figure is even higher — an average of 64 per cent of children and youth are taking behaviour-altering drugs. For 10- to 15-year-olds, the number is a staggering 74 per cent.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/12/12/use_of_behaviouraltering_drugs_widespread_in_foster_group_homes.html

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FAKE EXPERTS IN KEY LOCATIONS: FAKE EXPERTS AT THE FRONTEND OF THE SYSTEM SNATCHING CHILDREN, FAKE EXPERTS IN THE MIDDLE DRUGGING CHILDREN OUT OF THEIR MINDS AND MORE FAKE EXPERTS TO EXPLAIN AWAY WHY SO MANY CHILDREN DON'T SURVIVE ONTARIO'S CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM ALIVE AND UNHARMED.

2019: Former head of Sick Kids’ Motherisk lab gives up medical licence amid investigation By Jacques Gallant Legal Affairs Reporter.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/02/22/former-head-of-sick-kids-motherisk-lab-gives-up-medical-licence-amid-investigation.html

https://www.cbc.ca/fifth/m_blog/motherisk-hair-testing-scandal-timeline

https://blog.cansfordlabs.co.uk/5-reasons-why-the-motherisk-scandal-shouldnt-happen-again

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What’s worse is that the number of children prescribed dangerous drugs is on the rise. Doctors seem to prescribe medication without being concerned with the side-effects.

Worldwide, 17 million children, some as young as five years old, are given a variety of different prescription drugs, including psychiatric drugs that are dangerous enough that regulatory agencies in Europe, Australia, and the US have issued warnings on the side effects that include suicidal thoughts and aggressive behavior.

According to Fight For Kids, an organization that “educates parents worldwide on the facts about today’s widespread practice of labeling children mentally ill and drugging them with heavy, mind-altering, psychiatric drugs,” says over 10 million children in the US are prescribed addictive stimulants, antidepressants and other psychotropic (mind-altering) drugs for alleged educational and behavioral problems.

In fact, according to Foundation for a Drug-Free World, every day, 2,500 youth (12 to 17) will abuse a prescription pain reliever for the first time (4). Even more frightening, prescription medications like depressants, opioids and antidepressants cause more overdose deaths (45 percent) than illicit drugs like cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines and amphetamines (39 percent) combined. Worldwide, prescription drugs are the 4th leading cause of death.

https://dailyhealthpost.com/common-prescription-drugs/

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Standards of Care for the Administration of Psychotropic Medications to Children and Youth Living in Licensed Residential Settings.

Summary of Recommendations of the Ontario Expert Panel February 2009.

http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/documents/specialneeds/residential/summary_report.pdf

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Separating kids from parents a 'textbook strategy' of domestic abuse, experts say — and causes irreversible, lifelong damage even when there is no other choice.

“Being separated from parents or having inconsistent living conditions for long periods of time can create changes in thoughts and behavior patterns, and an increase in challenging behavior and stress-related physical symptoms,” such as sleep difficulty, nightmares, flashbacks, crying, and yelling says Amy van Schagen - California State University.

The Science Is Unequivocal: Separating Families Is Harmful to Children Even When There Is No Other Choice.

In news stories and opinion pieces, psychological scientists are sharing evidence-based insight from decades of research demonstrating the harmful effects of separating parents and children.

In an op-ed in USA Today, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff (University of Delaware), Mary Dozier (University of Delaware), and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek (Temple University) write:

“Years of research are clear: Children need their parents to feel secure in the world, to explore and learn, and to grow strong emotionally.”

In a Washington Post op-ed, James Coan (University of Virginia) says:

“As a clinical psychologist and neuroscientist at the University of Virginia, I study how the brain transforms social connection into better mental and physical health. My research suggests that maintaining close ties to trusted loved ones is a vital buffer against the external stressors we all face. But not being an expert on how this affects children, I recently invited five internationally recognized developmental scientists to chat with me about the matter on a science podcast I host. As we discussed the border policy’s effect on the children ensnared by it, even I was surprised to learn just how damaging it is likely to be.”

Mia Smith-Bynum (University of Maryland) is quoted in The Cut:

“The science leads to the conclusion that the deprivation of caregiving produces a form of extreme suffering in children. Being separated from a parent isn’t just a trauma — it breaks the relationship that helps children cope with other traumas.

Forceful separation is particularly damaging, explains clinical psychologist Mia Smith-Bynum, a professor of family science at the University of Maryland, when parents feel there’s nothing in their power that can be done to get their child back.

For all the dislocation, strangeness and pain of being separated forcibly from parents, many children can and do recover, said Mary Dozier, a professor of child development at the University of Delaware. “Not all of them — some kids never recover,” Dr. Dozier said. “But I’ve been amazed at how well kids can do after institutionalization if they’re able to have responsive and nurturing care afterward.”

The effects of that harm may evolve over time, says Antonio Puente, a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington who specializes in cultural neuropsychology. What may begin as acute emotional distress could reemerge later in life as PTSD, behavioral issues and other signs of lasting neuropsychological damage, he says.

“A parent is really in many ways an extension of the child’s biology as that child is developing,” Tottenham said. “That adult who’s routinely been there provides this enormous stress-buffering effect on a child’s brain at a time when we haven’t yet developed that for ourselves. They’re really one organism, in a way.” When the reliable buffering and guidance of a parent is suddenly withdrawn, the riot of learning that molds and shapes the brain can be short-circuited, she said.

In a story from the BBC, Jack Shonkoff (Harvard University) discusses evidence related to long-term impacts:

Jack P Shonkoff, director of the Harvard University Center on the Developing Child, says it is incorrect to assume that some of the youngest children removed from their parents’ care will be too young to remember and therefore relatively unharmed. “When that stress system stays activated for a significant period of time, it can have a wear and tear effect biologically.

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“It is stunning to me how these children... are rendered invisible while they are alive and invisible in their death,” said Irwin Elman, Ontario’s former and last advocate for children and youth. Between 90 and 120 children and youth connected to children’s aid die every year.

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MAYBE IT'S TIME FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO ACCESS DIFFERENT EXPERTS IF THE GOVERNMENT HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE..

See: Robert D. Hare, C.M. (born 1934 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada) is a researcher in the field of criminal psychology. He developed the Hare Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-Revised), used to assess cases of psychopathy. Hare advises the FBI's Child Abduction and Serial Murder Investigative Resources Center (CASMIRC) and consults for various British and North American prison services.

Hare wrote a popular science bestseller published in 1993 entitled Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us (reissued 1999).

http://www.psychology-criminalbehavior-law.com/…/hare-psyc…/

He describes psychopaths as 'social predators', while pointing out that most don't commit murder. One philosophical review described it as having a high moral tone yet tending towards sensationalism and graphic anecdotes, and as providing a useful summary of the assessment of psychopathy but ultimately avoiding the difficult questions regarding internal contradictions in the concept or how it should be classified.

Hare received his Ph.D. in experimental psychology at University of Western Ontario (1963). He is professor emeritus of the University of British Columbia where his studies center on psychopathology and psychophysiology. He was invested as a Member of the Order of Canada on December 30, 2010.

Assessment tools

Frustrated by a lack of agreed definitions or rating systems of psychopathy, including at a ten-day international North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) conference in France in 1975, Hare began developing a Psychopathy Checklist. Produced for initial circulation in 1980, the same year that the DSM changed its diagnosis of sociopathic personality to Antisocial Personality Disorder, it was based largely on the list of traits advanced by Cleckley, with whom Hare corresponded over the years. Hare redrafted the checklist in 1985 following Cleckley's death in 1984, renaming it the Hare Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R). It was finalised as a first edition in 1991, when it was also made available to the criminal justice system, which Hare says he did despite concerns that it was not designed for use outside of controlled experimental research.[12] It was updated with extra data in a 2nd edition in 2003.

The PCL-R was reviewed in Buros Mental Measurements Yearbook (1995), as being the "state of the art" both clinically and in research use. In 2005, the Buros Mental Measurements Yearbook review listed the PCL-R as "a reliable and effective instrument for the measurement of psychopathy" and is considered the 'gold standard' for measurement of psychopathy. However, it is also criticised.[13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_D._Hare

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The Special Investigations Unit is the civilian oversight agency responsible for investigating circumstances involving police that have resulted in a death, serious injury, or allegations of sexual assault of a civilian in Ontario, Canada.

(unregistered child protection social workers seem like a good fit for this kind of oversight wouldn't you agree and there doesn't seem to be a single province in Canada where this kind of oversight is being provided)

WITH GREAT POWER COMES THE NEED FOR EVEN GREATER OVERSIGHT THAN THE COLLEGE OR THE OMBUDSMAN... TRUE OR FALSE?

https://www.siu.on.ca/en/index.php

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2015: The Boy Who Should Have Lived

By: Allya Davidson

Chazz Petrella had an idyllic childhood in Cobourg, Ontario - 4 older siblings, loving parents, a hobby farm. But that all changed when his rages became too much for his family to handle. He was diagnosed with mental illness at age ten and was eventually on the files of nine agencies and services - including residential placements. Despite all of this care, he committed suicide just after he turned 12. His parents are now calling for an inquest into his death. And they’re not alone.

Ontario’s Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth Irwin Elman is pushing the provincial coroner to launch an inquest into Chazz’s death. “How does that 12-year-old boy end up hanging from a tree? I want to know” Elman tells the fifth estate as part of its investigation into Chazz’s death. “There’s a 12-year-old boy who has by all accounts some real strengths, [is] really engaging and for a number of years has had services in his life, people in his life.

https://www.cbc.ca/fifth/m_episodes/2014-2015/the-boy-who-should-have-lived

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God's Answers A Record of Miss Annie Macpherson's Work at the Home of Industry, Spitalfields, London, and in Canada.
"The abuses suffered in Australia by the children were similar in Canada. The rapes, beatings and torture were all prevalent here in Canada." -- Canadian Centre for Home Children
Research beginning in the 1980s, exposed abuse and hardships of the relocated children. Australia apologised in 2009 for its involvement in the scheme. In February 2010 UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a formal apology to the families of children who suffered. Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney stated in 2009 that Canada would not apologise to child migrants, preferring to "recognize that sad period" in other ways.
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Annie Parlane MacPherson (1833 – November 27, 1904) was a Scottish evangelical Quaker and founder of the Home Children scheme, sending poor and orphaned children to Canada and other colonies to serve as slave child labour.[1]
She was born in Campsie, by Milton, Stirlingshire, and educated in Glasgow and at the Home and Colonial Training College in Gray's Inn Road, London. After her father died she moved to Cambridge, but soon after returned to London. Touched by the poverty in the East End of London in 1868 she opened the Home of Industry at 60 Commercial Road in Spitalfield.[2]
In the 1870s, she organised that Home children were sent to Canada from her home in London, and also had arrangements with Barnardo's Homes of Dr. Barnardo in London, Quarriers homes in Scotland, and Smyly homes in Dublin, Ireland[3] similar to arrangements with English and Scottish homes.[4] In Canada she had set up a number of Homes, Marchmont, Galt in Ontario and in Knowlton Quebec [5]
The Doyle Report of 1875 into the emigration of children from these homes cast a shadow over the process of exporting children although it acknowledged the benevolent motives of MacPherson and others.[6]
Her sister Louisa MacPherson married Charles Henry Birt, and helped her sister in her mission.[7] In 1873 she established a home in Liverpool called The Sheltering Home.
MacPherson died in 1904.[8]
The child migration scheme founded by MacPherson in 1869, sent more than 100,000 children from the United Kingdom to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. (human trafficing)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_MacPherson
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Children
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_migration
http://www.britishhomechildren.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=190:annie-macpherson&catid=27:sending-agency-founders&Itemid=2
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayback_Machine
http://retirees.uwaterloo.ca/~marj/genealogy/children/Organizations/smyly.html
http://www.britishhomechildren.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=73:doyles-report-on-macpherson-a-rye&catid=24:editor-letters&Itemid=192
http://retirees.uwaterloo.ca/~marj/genealogy/children/Organizations/birt.html
http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/50744
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"Special Report on the Immigration of British Children."
John Joseph Kelso founded the Toronto Humane Society in 1887 for the prevention of cruelty to children and animals, the Fresh Air Fund and the Santa Claus Fund in 1888 to provide excursions and cheer for poor women and children, and the Children's Aid Society in 1891.
In 1888, an Act for the Protection and Reformation of Neglected Children encouraged foster homes as alternatives to institutions. With this legislation in place, John Joseph Kelso helped found the Children's Aid Society of Toronto in 1891. Due to the number of homeless and impoverished children in the city, Kelso was determined to create a social safety net that would protect abandoned children.
His actions led to the enactment of the Act for the Prevention of Cruelty to and Better Protection of Children in 1893.[8] The Act permitted the creation of semi-public organizations, namely the Children’s Aid Societies, to legally care for neglected children. The CAS was allowed to manage and supervise children and collect monies from municipalities.[9] In addition, the Act authorized the transfer of guardianship from parents to a CAS. Prior to Mr. Kelso’s reforms there were no official child welfare program in Canada.[10] His efforts created the infrastructure we use today to support children in care. The CAS’s work has changed how we think about children’s rights and has helped us understand the responsibility we have as community members for disenfranchised children and youth.
In December of 1897 John Joseph Kelso submitted ‘A Special Report on the Immigration of British Children,’ to the Ontario government in which he concluded that “child immigration, if carried on with care and discretion, need not be injurious to the best interests of this country.”
This part was written as an afterthought he said, in view of the growing hostility of the public toward child migration. By the late nineteenth century, there was a strong belief—largely instigated and fostered by the media—that Canada had become the dumping ground for British children of suspect upbringing and the importation of them was not in the best interests of the country.
And you notice there's no mention by Kelso of the rapes, beatings and torture in the report. How does such an eminent reporter overlook the rapes, beatings and torture and no doubt the deaths.
http://britishhomechild.com/john-joseph-kelso/
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Excerpts from Doyle's Report regarding Annie Macpherson & Maria Rye.
Doyle, an Inspector from the English Government was sent over to Canada to inspect their work. Rye didn't ship children during the years 1875/76 while this was going on but Macpherson did.
This information taken from Lost Children of the Empire (Bean & Melville) focuses on the abuses of the orphans regarding Macpherson & Rye. Doyle travelled through Ontario & Quebec & found intolerable evidence of ill treatment, overwork and physical abuse.
(Annie Macpherson)
Doyle came across one girl who had called at the Home after
leaving several employers and was handed 'advice' rather than practical 'help'. She became pregnant and Doyle asked her to call in at the Home, only to receive this letter:
Dear Sir:
I write to tell you that I would very much like to see you on Wednesday, but no, I cannot any more have the heart to go to Marchmont (the Home), for it has never been a home for me, although it was told to me and all the rest, that when we came to Canada it was to be a home. But, sir, I have known the time when I would have been glad for a bit to eat and a bed to
lie on, for I my own self have had to sleep in barns for a shelter when the snow have been so thick, and no person would be seen out, and have been to Marchmont for a shelter, and was turned away, so that I have nothing to thank them for....as long as they can bring out poor children to be pounded half to death, and slave to the uttermost, that is all they care for.
Also mentioned is Macpherson's habit of inviting the children to ''repay'' the cost of their emigration in order to assist the emigration of other children.
(Maria Rye)
Another girl described her punishment at Our Western Home for having been returned for bad temper, or as I (Doyle) find it recorded by Miss Rye, 'violent temper'. She was placed in a room at the top of the house (it is a large airy room) and kept there in solitary confinement for 11 days upon bread and water, without book or work to divert her thoughts.
Your comments - responses - or your own stories are most welcome - GAIL
https://web.archive.org/web/20110911063808/http://www.britishhomechildren.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=73%3Adoyles-report-on-macpherson-a-rye&catid=24%3Aeditor-letters&Itemid=192
Similar articles
God's Answers A Record of Miss Annie Macpherson's Work by C. Lowe
https://web.archive.org/web/20110911063808/http://www.britishhomechildren.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=227:gods-a&catid=49:nonfic-books&Itemid=126
MPP Jim Brownell to Debate Private Members’ Bill Recognizing the Contributions of British Home Children to the Province of Ontario
https://web.archive.org/web/20110911063808/http://www.britishhomechildren.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=645:mpp-art&catid=193:bhcpol-cat&Itemid=2
https://openparliament.ca/debates/2017/11/22/guy-lauzon-1/only/
MPP Jim Brownell to debate Private Members' Bill
Jim Brownell MPP - Stormont, Dundas, South Glengarry
MPP Jim Brownell to debate Private Members
Today, in the Ontario Legislature, Jim Brownell, MPP for Stormont, Dundas and South Glengarry, will be debating his Private Members' Bill recognizing the contributions of Britain's Home Children to the Province of Ontario.
PHOTO CREDIT - JimBrownell.onmpp.ca
Cornwall - May. 19, 2011 - Today, in the Ontario Legislature, Jim Brownell, MPP for Stormont, Dundas and South Glengarry, will be debating his Private Members' Bill recognizing the contributions of Britain's Home Children to the Province of Ontario.
The Bill entitled Bill 185 - An Act to Proclaim British Home Child Day, if passed, would proclaim September 28th of each year as British Home Child Day. Last year, the same bill was introduced twice, as Bill 241 and Bill 12. Both Bills passed second reading, with unanimous support from all parties; however, they have either died or stalled in the Justice Committee.
Descendants of home children will be present in the Legislature while the bill is debated. The Bill is co-sponsored by MPP Cheri DiNovo (Parkdale-Highpark) and MPP Steve Clark (Leeds-Grenville). Also speaking on the bill will be MPP Donna Cansfield (Etobicoke-Centre) and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, The Honourable Dr. Eric Hoskins.
Private member's business begins at 1:30pm, with each bill lasting approximately 50 minutes. MPP Brownell’s Bill is the third to be debated.
http://www.hometownhockey.ca/news/MPP0003.php
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BE ADVISED: SOME OF THESE ARE OLD LINKS I HAVEN'T GONE THROUGH TO FIND THE NEW LINKS OR BEST ALTERNATIVE SOURCES YET.
Wreath to be laid on behalf of British Home Children during National Remembrance Day Ceremony in Ottawa today.
NOVEMBER 11, 2017
OTTAWA — British Home Children and their descendants will be among those remembered again this year at the National Remembrance Day Ceremony in Ottawa on November 11.
The Ontario East British Home Child Family group, which includes active participants in SD&G like Judy Neville of Finch, have invited Smith Falls & District Collegiate Institute teacher Blake Seward to be this year’s wreath bearer.
For decades, impoverished or orphaned children from England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland were sent to Canada, often to serve as indentured farm and house labour. Ranging from three to 18 years of age, an estimated 130,000 or more of these ‘British Home Children’ arrived here between 1869 and the 1940s. Many went on to serve their new country as members of the Canadian military, some of them paying the supreme sacrifice.
A wreath has been laid on their behalf at Canada’s National War Memorial since 2013.
Beyond the Remembrance Day honour, Ontario has officially recognized Sept. 28 as British Home Child Day since 2010. Neville’s brother, then-MPP Jim Brownell, successfully spearheaded the private members’ bill that enshrined the commemorative date — inspired by their British Home Child grandmother.
Efforts are now underway to similarly recognize British Home Child Day nationally on Sept. 28, starting next year. Debate is scheduled Nov. 22 in Parliament on local MP Guy Lauzon’s motion (m-133) “That, in the opinion of the House, the government should recognize the contributions made by the over 100,000 British Home Children to Canadian society, their service to our armed forces throughout the twentieth century, the hardships and stigmas that many of them endured, and the importance of educating and reflecting upon the story of the British Home Children for future generations by declaring September 28 of every year, British Home Child Day in Canada.”
Several other MPs have seconded Lauzon’s motion.
This article was updated to reflect the new date for debate on Lauzon’s motion — now pushed from Nov. 21 to Nov. 22. It’s scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. in the House of Commons.
https://nationvalleynews.com/2017/11/11/wreath-laid-behalf-british-home-children-national-remembrance-day-ceremony-ottawa-today/
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John Throgmorton Middlemore and the Children’s Emigration Homes
https://web.archive.org/web/20110911063808/http://www.britishhomechildren.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=294:jtmiddlemore-art&catid=27:sending-agency-founders&Itemid=2
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Lost Innocents: Righting the Record - Report on child migration
https://web.archive.org/web/20110911063808/http://www.britishhomechildren.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=319:lostinn-rpt&catid=49:nonfic-books&Itemid=126
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Government of Canada Designates 2010 as the Year of the British Home Child
https://web.archive.org/web/20110911063808/http://www.britishhomechildren.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=516:official2010-art&catid=193:bhcpol-cat&Itemid=2

Detecting Non-Profit Fraud In Ontario

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Sure, there's lots of pedophiles in Ontario but they aren't organized..

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