Welcome to
mountcashelcoverup.com - the one and only
website that dares to expose the truth about the
decades old and still ongoing saga of political,
social and religious hypocrisy, corruption, scandal
and conspiracy that is The Coverup of Mount
Cashel.
NOTES TO USERS: This website is currently a work in
progress and will remain that way for quite some time.
Many of the documents posted on this website are in
PDF (portable document format) in order to retain
their original format. Adobe Acrobat Reader, version
5.0 or later, will be needed to view them. If you
don't already have the Adobe Reader, you can download
it for free at the Adobe website.
Users of this website should also note, and be at
all times aware, that one of the objectives of this
website is the exposure of The Hughes Report
as a total, out-and-out fraud.
A few links to currently "under construction"
pages are provided below. The user might want to
(probably should) read these pages first, before
getting in to the Hughes Report.
* * * * *
The Coverup of Mount Cashel is a "continuum" - a
"hand-me-down" coverup - that has been going on for a
very, very, very long time.
In St. John's, Newfoundland, on January 21,
1989, after a week of intense media
speculation and rumours, Brian Peckford - a
former cabinet minister in the Moores adminstration of
the 1970s, and premier of Newfoundland since March
1979 - announced his resignation from politics,
an event which The Sunday
Express reported on as follows the next
day.
|
Premier Peckford calls it
quits |
|
Premier Brian Peckford put an
end to a week of speculation about his political
future when he resigned as premier of
Newfoundland yesterday and asked the party
executive to call a leadership convention to
choose his
replacement.
After holding a
forty-minute meeting with caucus and a brief
meeting with the party executive, the
46-year-old premier cryptically explained to
reporters that he could no longer make certain
tough decisions after serving as premier and
party leader for nearly 10
years.
“Each of the
last two or three years leading up to 10 or even
beyond, it gets more difficult…to launch new
initiatives and do other things as a
government,” Mr. Peckford
said.
“Longevity
brings with it its own definition and its own
reality…I have made a lot of linkages and a lot
of friends in districts and in the caucus…And I
have come to a point in life after 10 years as
leader that I don’t think I have the necessary
ruthlessness to do what really has to be done as
we move into the next decade. A new, clean
leader can do that. My loyalties run so deep and
my friendships run so deep that I no longer can
make certain hard decisions party-wise,
cabinet-wise and so
on.”
A stern-faced and
subdued Mr. Peckford refused to reveal what
tough issues he could not resolve after 10 years
in office, or why he was telling reporters as
recently as last week that he intended to lead
the party into the next
election.
Rejecting suggestions
that the controversy over the Sprung greenhouse
had precipitated his resignation at this time,
Mr. Peckford said he simply wanted to leave the
party when it was in “very good
shape.” |
|
Excerpt from The
Sunday Express, January 22,
1989 |
* * * *
*
Two and a half weeks later, on February
7, 1989, CBC-TV (St. John's) aired part one
of a two-part television documentary whose primary
focus was on the sexual abuse crimes of
certain Roman Catholic priests in Newfoundland, but in
which CBC reporter Greg Stamp also made specific
reference to certain "rumours" he'd heard
recently about an official "coverup" of physical
and sexual abuse of children by Christian Brothers at
Mount Cashel in the 1970s.
Six days later, retired Liberal politician Steve
Neary (since deceased), who, in fact, knew a
thing or two about what went down with respect to the
1975-76 Mount Cashel matter (more later), put the
matter into the public domain. by calling in to
VOCM's "Open Line" Show (hosted by Bill Rowe, one
of Neary's former political bosses), and making
the 1975-76 installment of the coverup of Mount
Cashel a matter of public discussion.
Neary did that by reading out over the airwaves
certain Mount Cashel related excerpts from the in
camera testimonies that Art Pike and
John Kelly gave at the Soper Inquiry of 1979
(a particularly interesting Mount Cashel
Coverup related episode that will
be examined in considerable detail in due course
- much to Bill Rowe's chagrin).
This then prompted one of the call-in show's
listeners, a Mrs. Caddigan, to telephone
Newfoundland's then associate deputy attornery general
Robert Hyslop, requesting a public inquiry into the
matter.
And the following day, after Hyslop and
then director of public prosecutions Colin
Flynn, and several other senior officials of the
Newfoundland department of justice, had met and
reviewed certain 1975-76 Mount Cashel
police files, Hyslop and Flynn met with the then
minister of justice Lynn Verge and informed her
as to the contents of the files. And
then, with her consent and approval, Hyslop
wrote to Chief of Police Ed Coady, officially
directing him to reopen the 1975-76 Mount Cashel
matter.
Naturally, the Hyslop to Coady letter of 14
February 1989 deserves and will be given careful
consideration on various grounds. But for now,
however, we simply point out that at page 2 of
this letter, Hyslop made specific reference to
two Mount Cashel police files delivered by
RNC Superintendent Len Power, and described said
files as follows:
The thin
file dated March 3, 1976 was consistent with my
curious inquiries, i.e. physical abuse, but a
thicker file dated in November
1975 reveals sexual abuse on a large
scale.
Apparently the investigation
into these allegations was
discontinued.
And then went on to direct the Chief of
Police to assign his "most senior and able
people" to reopen the 1975-76 Mount Cashel matter
along the following two lines:
a. complete the
investigation into sexual abuse of children
at Mount Cashel, and
b. determine why
these individuals were never brought to justice. I
need to know this in order to deal with these
charges once and for all. Is there criminal
liability on the part of any person(s) responsible
for the termination of this
investigation?
I
cannot over stress the need for urgent action on
this
file.
And so, officially at least, the 1989-90
'reinvestigation' of Mount Cashel got underway
and proceeded along those two lines. But it was
doomed from the start - particularly the obstruction
of justice aspect of it - for a number of
reasons, including but certainly not limited to
the following.
For one thing, the Newfoundland Constabulary had
actually conducted not one but two ill-fated police
investigations of Mount Cashel in the fall of 1975,
both of which were shut down and covered up soon after
they began. The first took place in and
about mid-November 1975. And while it was suppressed
and concealed by the Government, the RNC, the Hughes
Commission, and various others, in 1989-90, and
remains top secret to this very day, there is, as will
be seen, still sufficient evidence available
to prove its occurrence, at least, if not all the
facts and circumstances surrounding it. Including, for
instance, the original handwritten statement of Wayne
Pittman's younger brother, Kenny Pittman, which, as
can be seen, was taken by Detective Robert
Hillier and is dated and timed Nov.
12th at 2:05 PM.
And the second was, of course, the now
infamous December 1975 investigation that many have
long since heard of, but which, for reasons similar to
those that led to the suppression and
concealment of the November 1975 investigation, were
never told the truth about.
Also complicating matters was the fact that the
same police force that conducted the ill-fated 1975-76
investigations, and participated in the coverup of
them all down through the years, was now being
asked to investigate not only its own personnel's
involvement in the coverup, but also that of current
and former personnel of the departments of justice and
social services.
And CID Chief Len Power, the
officer assigned overall responsibility
for the 1989 reinvestigation, and who took
personal responsibility for the obstruction of justice
aspect of it, was, in fact, the very same police
officer who'd conducted the sham 1982 Mount
Cashel investigation, without revisiting the 1975-76
matter in any worthwhile fashion.
Furthermore, some of the same justice
department officials, such as, for example, Robert
Hyslop, who had been involved in both the
1978-79 Farrell Fire/Soper Inquiry matter, and the
sham 1982 investigation, were now also intimately
involved in the "official" conduct of the 1989-90
reinvestigation of Mount Cashel.
Other notables, such as (1972-79) minister of
justice T. Alec Hickman and Frank Simms's
permanent (1971-85) legal advisor Mary Noonan had
since been made untouchables. That is to say, they'd
both been promoted to the Bench.
Hickman (with the assistance of John Crosbie) was
made Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in December
1979, after the 'successful' rigging of the 1979 Soper
Inquiry, and was still in that position in 1989.
Similarly, Mary Noonan was made
the Chief Justice of the Unified Family Court in
October 1985 - about a year after she played the
role of Co-ordinator for the Requirements of the
Papal Party for the September 12-13, 1984
visit of Pope John Paul II to Newfoundland, to
participate in and give his blessing to the
elaborate Celebrations that the
Roman Catholic Establishment in
Newfoundland staged to mark the 200th Anniversary of
the establishment of the Roman Catholic Church
in Newfoundland.
To make matters worse, with the notable
exception of Art Pike (of whom more will later be
said), practically all of the police officers who'd
been involved in the 1975-76 coverup had, over
the years, been promoted up through the ranks and
were now occupying the most senior positions on
the force.
Detective Robert Hillier was now Inspector Robert
Hillier. Detective Ralph Pitcher was now Inspector
Ralph Pitcher. Detective Allan Thistle was now Deputy
Chief Allan Thistle.
And Detective Len Power, who'd been promoted to
Detective Sergeant in charge of the Assaults
Section shortly after the launch of the 1982
investigation, at which time Robert Hillier
was moved on up to Lieutenant, was now Superintendent
Len Power, officer in charge of the Criminal
Investigations Division of the Royal Newfoundland
Constabulary (the "CID").
* * * *
*
Shortly after the mid-February announcement of the
official reopening of the 1975-76 investigation, talk
began to surface of The Evening Telegram's
Mount Cashel investigation, that took place in late
February 1976, but which was also quickly shut down
and covered up soon after it began, in much the same
way as the police investigations of the fall of 1975
had been (much more later).
In early March, Peckford announced that the
government was considering holding a public inquiry
into the matter and had directed various departments -
the police, justice, social services, health and
education - to forward documents and information to
cabinet for use in making that decision.
A couple of nights later, Peckford
waltzed on out
of the high-profile going away
party that the Tories staged in his honour,
with a cool $100, 000 stuffed into his
pockets. And a little bit later, at a much
more private event, the Tory Party topped that
stack up considerably.
On March 11, 1989, Tom "I've got the ruthlessness"
Rideout won the Tory leadership race and became
premier-designate of Newfoundland.
The next day, Sunday, March 12, 1989, the
police interviewed former Mount Cashel resident John
Pumphrey - whose December 15, 1975 statement includes
the following information.
About a
month and a half ago my brother Ian also in
the Orphanage came and told Dad that Brother
English had put his hand down inside his pants.
[Hughes Report, vol. 2, Appendix C, p.
53]
And Sunday Express publisher and editor-in-chief
Michael Harris published an editorial entitled
'Miscarriage at Mount Cashel: Where was the rule of
law?' an excerpt of which follows below.
Harris excerpt to follow (stay tuned)
Two days later, Shane Earle, having read the above
article, met with Sunday Express publisher and
editor-in-chief Michael Harris, and complained to him
of the shabby treatment that both the police and
Father Kevin Molloy had treated him to after he'd come
forward to participate in the re-opened Mount Cashel
investigation. And the department of justice
authorized the Constabulary to lay charges of
sexual abuse of children at Mount Cashel against one
Christian Brother.
Then, on March 16, 1989, Michael Harris handed
Shane Earle a letter, in which he warned Shane
of several consequences that he could reasonably
expect to incur as a result of going public with his
story, before closing the letter on the following
note.
One other thing; there are powerful
forces involved in this story, for whom the last
thing that is wanted is the truth. I don't
believe that many people will be congratulating
either you or me for bringing this sordid affair
into the public eye. Given the enormity of the
public interest involved, it is my job to do that.
But it is your choice. [Unholy Orders, pp.
272-3]
Various other developments took place after that,
including, among other things, the March 19, 1989
publishing of Part One of the Shane Earle
story by Michael Harris, together
with an article by Sunday Express
reporter Philip Lee with respect to an
interview he'd recently conducted with Father Kevin
Molloy.
- Lee article re Father Molloy (to be
posted)
The next day, former Mount Cashel resident
James Ghaney called the RNC from Ontario and spoke
with then Staff Sergeant (later Lieutenant) Freeman
Twyne, who was in charge of the sexual abuse
allegations aspect of the 1989 reinvestigation. And
while Twyne was at that time in possession of a 1975
statement from James Ghaney, he omitted giving Ghaney
any information from it at that time. And would
(apparently) repeat the same behaviour when
interviewing Ghaney several months later, on July 31,
1989 - the same day that Len Power submitted his
second obstruction of justice report.
- Twyne excerpt (to be posted)
A couple of days after having received the
above-mentioned telephone call from James
Ghaney, Lieut. Twyne received yet another
interesting telephone call, this time from Mrs.
Kathryn Burry, who, among other things, had read
the March 19, 1989 edition of The Sunday
Express, and subsequently decided to
inform the RNC about certain Mount
Cashel related interactions she'd had with
both Ches Riche, first, and then with Father
Kevin Molloy, back in the fall of 1975.
And so, between the jigs and the reels, it came to
pass that by March 29, 1989, the
Tories, under newly minted premier
Rideout, having given the available Mount Cashel
evidence thier careful consideration and perusal, had
concluded that their interests would best be
served by the calling a 'snap election' for
April 20, and the holding of a public inquiry into the
Mount Cashel matter.
Thus it was that the day after the March 29
election call, Len Power - who all along had been
keeping Hyslop, Flynn, and others at the department of
justice regularly updated on the 'progress'
of the reinvestigation - submitted the first
of what would eventually turn out to be
several 'obstruction of justice' reports to
the department of justice. But no charges of
obstruction of justice were laid against any of the
perpetrators of the coverup of Mount Cashel as a
result of the contents of that report.
In fact, by that time the Tories, under whose watch
the 1975-76 instalment of the coverup of Mount
Cashel was instituted, and thereafter
perpetuated through to 1989, had already decided
to buy themselves some much-needed time by holding a
public inquiry (the Hughes Commission of Inquiry) into
the matter. To that end they had also already
recruited the inquiry's three main
principals; Samuel Hughes, a retired judge of the
Ontario Supreme Court as inquiry
commissioner, and St. John's lawyer David Day and
Ontario lawyer Clay Powell as commission
co-counsel.
Thus, they announced this decision the next
day, making it their first election plank - and
at or about that same time issued the Hughes
Commission with a terms of reference "under the great
seal of Newfoundland and dated March 31, 1989."
On April 14, 1989, the justice department
authorized the police to lay abuse-related charges
against several more Christian Brothers. And the
Tories issues a a directive to all (provincial)
government departments to comply fully with any and
all requests for documents and information from the
Hughes Commission. (Hughes Report, vol.
1, introduction, pp v-vii).
But still no charges of obstruction of justice were
laid. And the Rideout terms of reference were not
published. And on April 20, the people of Newfoundland
voted the Tories out of office. Consequently, the
reins of power shifted into the hands to the
Liberals, under the leadership of Clyde Wells, whose
law firm had been involved in the 'Father Ron Kelly
matter' of May 1979 (more later).
During the ensuing two-week transfer of power
period, a number of developments took place, including
an April 25, 1989 letter from Robert Hyslop to Chief
Coady regarding "past practices that prevailed in
terms of the relationship between your Force and this
department when the question arises about the
propriety of laying charges against any person or
persons." (Hughes Report, vol. 1, pp. 191-2)
And the hiring of Ontario lawyer Rod McLeod to
provide the department of justice with an independent
opinion on the obstruction of justice matter.
And following these developments, Robert Hyslop was
interviewed by the Sunday Express, which
resulted in the following article being published
on April 30, 1989.
- Sunday Express article, April 30, 1989 (link to
be provided)
Two and a half weeks later, on May 19, 1989,
the Wells Liberals appointed Robert Hyslop as a judge
of the Provincial Court (The Evening Telegram, June 7,
1989).
And on June 1, 1989, the Wells Liberals issued
the Hughes Commission with a 'reworked' terms of
reference which omitted any mention of the
"thicker file dated in November 1975" and
directed them:
"to inquire into an investigation by the
Royal Newfoundland Constabulary into a complaint
or complaints of child abuse alleged to have been
committed at Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John's
which culminated in two police reports, which were
prepared and dated December 18, 1975, and March 3,
1976, respectively,
..."
More later.
