Posted On: September 5, 2008

Nora Bernard named to Order of Nova Scotia

I am pleased to announce that my friend and client, Nora Bernard has been named to the Order of Nova Scotia.

nora.jpg

Yesterday the Protocol Office for the province of Nova Scotia released the names of this years recipients of the award. You can read the announcement here.

I was proud to have met Nora and honoured to have considered her my friend. Her death was a terrible loss.

You can read more about Nora on our website.

Related posts:

Remembering Nora Bernard

Prime Minister Offers Historic Apology to Residential School Survivors

Prime Minister to Apologize (finally) for Indian Residential School Abuse

Related Residential School posts

Posted On: September 4, 2008

Perry Dunlop still in Jail: Bishop who Hired Abusive Priests Free

Perry Dunlop, a former Cornwall Ontario police officer whose investigation launched a huge criminal investigation in the 1990s is still in jail.

Contempt of Court

Dunlop refused to testify before the Cornwall public inquiry and was sentenced to 6 months in jail. Yesterday he was sentenced to another 30 days in jail for a criminal conviction of contempt of court.

Sentence Reduced for "Hardship"

The National Post has reported that the judges who sentenced Dunlop said he would normally receive another three months in jail. But the judges reduced his sentence because of the hardship to his family and the fact Dunlop has been in protective custody as a former police officer.

Dunlop Started Sex Abuse Investigation

Dunlop triggered a huge investigation into allegations of sexual abuse by more than a dozen men between 1950 and 1980 after he learned that the Cornwall Catholic Diocese had paid a former alter boy $32,000.00 to drop his sexual abuse complaints against 2 priests.

Bishop Knew About Abusive Priests

While Dunlop sits in jail, Bishop Eugene Larocque, who approved the payments to the alter boy testified before the inquiry that he knew about allegations of sexual abuse against his priests and he even lobbied to have a priest who had been convicted of sodomizing 2 teenagers brought into his Diocese.

So the police officer who uncovered sexual abuse by priests in Cornwall Diocese sits in jail while the Bishop who was responsible for knowingly hiring sexually abusive priests remains free.

Where is the justice in that?