Good morning!
Wendy Cox in Vancouver here.
A painstaking examination of 70 years worth of files by a task force formed by the Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver has uncovered instances of sex abuse by 36 priests, 25 of them involving children.
The document identifies only nine of the 36 priests whose names have been made public through court documents or lawsuits, but the archdiocese said it is working to find a way to release more, those “who have not been convicted, but of whose guilt we are morally certain.”
Ian Bailey reports that the archdiocese explains in its report that privacy rules prevent it, as the employer of the priests, from disclosing more.
But the spare details of the nine cases are chilling if familiar.
They include the case of Paul Blancard, who was accused of the sexual assault of a girl, aged six or seven, in St. Helen’s Parish in Burnaby in 1967 or 1968. No charges were laid, but he later pleaded guilty in 1992 to abusing six- and seven-year-old children while he was a priest in the Diocese of Victoria. He served a year in prison and has not been active in the priesthood since.
John McCann, who died last year, was charged and convicted in 1991 of six counts relating to sex abuse of girls under 16 in the 1970s. The abuse happened at two diocese churches and he was defrocked. But unbeknown to the Archdiocese, he was able to serve as a priest on Salt Spring Island in the Diocese of Victoria and in the Archdiocese of Ottawa.
Lawrence Cooper began a relationship with a 15-year-old girl when he was a 27-year-old seminarian and the relationship became sexual several years later. Similar complaints were made against him after he transferred to the Archdiocese of Portland. A civil lawsuit against him was settled out of court in 2012.
Antero Sarmiento was a priest on loan from the Archdiocese of Manila when the Archdiocese of Vancouver received complaints of inappropriate behaviour in 1980. He abruptly returned home and refused to return to B.C. for questioning, despite requests from Vancouver’s archbishop to his own. He died earlier this year.
Lawyer Rob Talach, who said he has filed 412 cases since 2003 over abuse in the Catholic church, said he is disappointed the names of all clergy facing allegations were not released.
He also said reflection is absent on why sexual abuse happens in the church.
“You can’t have prevention without understanding," he said. "To understand, you have to take it to its core – why this is so prevalent in the Catholic church?”
This is the weekly Western Canada newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox and Alberta Bureau Chief James Keller. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here. This is a new project and we’ll be experimenting as we go, so let us know what you think.
Around the West:
ELECTION COMMISSIONER: Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is defending his government’s decision to remove the province’s election commissioner amid an investigation into the governing United Conservative Party. Mr. Kenney says the role is simply being moved under the purview of Elections Alberta and that any outstanding investigations will continue.
EARTHQUAKE PREPAREDNESS: An internal case study for Canada’s agriculture ministry paints a bleak picture of what would happen after a massive earthquake on B.C.’s South Coast – and raises questions about how well the region is prepared. The report concludes a large quake could disrupt the flow of drinking water in and around Vancouver for several months, while bottled water and meal rations would likely be very difficult to deliver because of damage to the region’s dozen bridges.
CONSCIENCE RIGHTS: A private member’s bill in Alberta on conscience rights for doctors has been voted down at a legislature committee, all but ensuring it won’t progress any further. The bill, from a backbencher with the governing United Conservative Party, would have ensured health-care providers with moral objections could not be compelled to perform procedures or refer patients.
HOUSING: Vancouver is launching an aggressive plan to spur rental construction as the city continues to face a shortage. The plan includes changes that would allow more height and density for rental projects, more zones off arterial streets where rental would be allowed, and a streamlined process that is supposed to cut a year off approval times.
TRANSLINK: Unionized workers with the Vancouver region’s SkyTrain system have voted in favour of a strike. The vote adds to the chaos in the transit system ahead of a planned three-day walkout by bus and SeaBus operators next week.
CABINET REACTION IN ALBERTA: Alberta’s energy minister says her first sit-down meeting with the newly appointed natural resources minister was “positive” and she believes the province’s concerns were being listened to. Sonya Savage, the Alberta minister, met with Seamus O’Regan in Calgary on Friday, just two days after the unveiling of a federal cabinet that was designed, in part, to respond to growing anger and alienation in the West.
OPIOIDS: B.C.’s governing NDP is facing backlash from its own members over how the province is responding to the overdose crisis. At least 10 riding associations and union groups submitted a resolution for the party’s AGM that criticizes the government for not working fast enough on providing a regulated supply of drugs and decriminalizing possession.
ENERGY REGULATOR: The Alberta Energy Regulator has once again been targetted by a scathing report from the province’s Auditor-General, who found that top executives repeatedly snubbed expense-account rules by taking questionable flight upgrades, circumventing cash-bonus laws and avoiding taxes on subsidized parking. Previous investigations found the former CEO of the AER set up a pricey side project that diverted resources, money and employee time from the agency while concealing many of the details from the board of directors.
FARM SAFETY: The Alberta government has tabled long-awaited farm-safety legislation, which significantly reduces the number of farms that must provide insurance coverage for employees and removes the right for farmworkers to unionize.
FOOD: Our Vancouver food writer, Alexandra Gill, checked out three small patisseries in Richmond, B.C., where she found meticulous attention to detail as they reinterpreted classics with Asian twists. In Calgary, Dan Clapson wrote a two-star review for the Hawthorn Dining Room, located inside the Fairmont Palliser. His take? The Hawthorn stumbles on its menu but makes up for it with an elegant dining room, pleasant staff and unexpectedly good cocktails.
JOHN MANN: Spirit of the West singer John Mann died this week, leaving behind a legacy of a clever lyricist and charismatic showman whose anthem Home for a Rest has become a Canadian staple. Read Marsha Lederman’s obituary of Mr. Mann, who died seven years after he was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s Disease.
Opinion:
Kelly Cryderman on the removal of the Alberta election commissioner: “But both the content of the bill and the speed at which it made its way through the legislature mean those explanations ring hollow. Since Mr. Gibson had shown himself to be an active investigator of campaign financing, and is now gone, Bill 22 raises serious questions about the state of democracy in Alberta.”
Robyn Urback on the election commissioner: “The UCP has absorbed its opposition from the right, destroyed its opposition from the left and is ready to trudge ahead to the past. And as long as Mr. Kenney delivers on the most critical aspect of his mandate – that is, not being Rachel Notley – he should be able to weather all sorts of scandals, just like the many conservative governments that came before him.”
Gary Mason on B.C.’s court case over private care: “I will be shocked if the judge in this case sides with the province and gives the government the ammunition it’s looking for to put private clinics out of business for good. If that happens, however, it will be a dark day for health care in this country and people will suffer as a consequence.”
Melanie Bechard and Ali Damji on the B.C. health-care case: ”If B.C.’s law is deemed unconstitutional, then the Canada Health Act will be unenforceable. This would unravel medicare across Canada. Far from improving our system and increasing choice for patients, a victory for Cambie Surgeries would be a loss for the many Canadians who would not be able to pay out of pocket or afford private insurance and who would thus have to wait longer for treatment.”
Shirley Schipper and Vishal Bhella on Alberta’s new law for doctors: ”Family doctors base medical decisions affecting their patients on high-quality evidence. The same should apply to decisions being made about the physician workforce in Canada.”
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on Vancouver’s city plan: “Vancouver already knows what works, after years of opposition to new housing projects that continued even as home prices blew past the stratosphere.”
Wendy Cox
James Keller