Posted on 03/29/2002 2:19:17 AM PST by Clive
In a perfect world, parents like Kim would not have to worry about pedophiles lurking behind positions of trust and authority, whether they be priests, hockey coaches, school teachers or a Boy Scout leader like Kitchener's Brian Durham.
Choose any agency or institution involving children and the pedophile will find his way there, as surely as there are snakes in rock piles, and regardless of whatever defences are built to keep them out.
Sexual predators like Brian Durham will look upon it as a game. They will do whatever it takes. They will obtain pardons for previous assaults, put on airs, lie through their teeth, befriend the friendless and then move in on the most vulnerable.
They are what they are.
Without question, Kim, the mother of 16-year-old "Dave" -- one of Durham's 20 victims -- was angry when she sent off her letter to Scouts Canada headquarters in Ottawa, angry about what Durham had done to her son, angry at watching the parents of other victims have their stomachs turned inside out when details of his deeds against their children were read out in court.
"I just wanted Scouts to hear the anguish," she admitted.
And when she heard nothing back from Scouts Canada, she turned her anger up a notch -- expressing it in upwards of 500 e- mails to media outlets across the country, as well as to many of Scouts Canada's corporate sponsors.
What she discovered were a great many deaf ears.
After hearing arguments last week to consider having the former Scout leader declared a dangerous offender and jailed indefinitely, Superior Court Judge Ron Sills put the case over until April 18, indicating he would render his decision then.
In the meantime, having made herself impossible to ignore, Kim finally heard back from Scouts Canada.
"Basically they just listened," she said.
Identities protected
According to a Scouts Canada spokesman, the organization still has no idea who Durham's victims are.
Their identities, as victims of sexual assault and as minors, are protected by law.
"We did what we could do at the time," Scout Canada's Jennifer Austin said.
"When we first became aware that Brian Durham had been charged, the district commissioner (in Kitchener) assembled a meeting of all the children and parents he might have had contact with as a Scout leader. The police were there, and so was the sexual assault team from St. Mary's Hospital.
"And psychological help was made available. What we don't know is who sought help or what service was provided. All names and all records are protected by law.
"Confidentiality laws are there for a reason, and that's to protect the children."
Scouts Canada has 50,000 leaders nationally and deals directly with more than 150,000 children.
To a pedophile, it doesn't get much better.
"We are one of the largest child agencies in Canada," Austin said, "and our policies are very stringent -- with mandatory police background checks, and some pretty heavy screening.
"But pedophiles are very devious. They are predators. They are calculating."
Before zeroing in on the Scouts, Durham sought and received a pardon for a previous sexual assault.
But instead of getting a copy of his criminal record from the local police, where the pardon would have been noted on the document, he went to the RCMP, where a more superficial check left the impression that his criminal record was clean.
"He knew how to use the system to his advantage," Austin said. "It's terrible, yes, but that's how they are.
They're manipulative."
No longer counts
As of January 2001, Scouts Canada now makes it a matter of policy to offer to pay for the private counselling of victims of sexual abuse when one of its leaders or volunteers is discovered to be another Brian Durham.
But, because of the court order in the Durham case, Scouts Canada still maintains it knows not a single victim's name and therefore has no idea whether counselling was either sought or provided.
Kim, for sure, knows her son got nothing.
He was no longer in Scouts when Brian Durham was arrested two years ago and was therefore never invited to that special meeting.
Instead, he was already living rough on the streets as a 14-year- old runaway -- eating from garbage cans, dulling memories of Durham with drugs and booze, having run-ins with the law.
In other words, he technically no longer counted.
What total crap! And moreso, it sounds like a slick attempt to progress the notion that
"You may as well let homosexual leaders in the Scouts, because they're gonna get in there anyway".
Yes, and from the headline on down, the implication was that the Scouts were to blame. Hell, if a scum pedophile can get past the RCMP with a clean sheet, how can anyone blame the Scouts for not knowing what he was?
America's Fifth Column ... watch PBS documentary JIHAD! In America
Download 8 Mb zip file here (60 minute video)
Since 9/11 it's the topic.
America's Fifth Column ... watch PBS documentary JIHAD! In America
Download 8 Mb zip file here (60 minute video)
Yesterday on Oprah they did an entire hour on the molesters in the Catholic church, with man after man coming forward with accusations. Not once during the entire hour was the word "homosexual" used.
I thought not....
The second reason is that true pedophilia is pretty well spread though all males straight or gay and to a lessor extent women. The largest single group of adult males in this country is married straight males. Even within that group if you want to break it down for this country the largest subgroup would be married white males
This argument because of the false statement of the case allows this fact to be used to create in effect a lie. This lie is being perpetrated by the media. In exchanging some e-mails with one reporter who wrote an article using this lie he told me "You're right about the term pedophilia. The problem is that whatever its technical definition it has come to be popularly understood to cover the whole range of sexual abuse of minors. But it probably wouldn't hurt to try to make the distinction and I'll certainly keep your suggestions in mind." I did ask him in response who was responsible for the confusion in the publics minds about this term, what’s really occurring; also who is responsible for clearing up this confusion. My answer to him was it was the news media’s job. That paper BTW had 2 news articles and one opinion column in two days that used this distortion and lie. They wouldn’t use the terms pedophilia or pedophile if the victim was the same age and a girl and the victimizer was a man. That’s based upon 25+ years of reading that newspaper. The only thing that I can guess for this deliberate blurring of terms and confusion of the issue is the papers (it’s a liberal paper in a very liberal city) is that they have decided to be "very sensitive" to the large and powerful gay community in this and surrounding cities.
It’s up to all of us to call the media when the perpetuate the inaccurate use of the terms pedophiles and pedophilia. This delliberate misuse of words to create a different view of what’s going on is just another example of why the media has a reputation lower than an used car salesman
Regardless of the technical definitions, if man commits sodomy upon a boy of any age, he be “gay.” There is no such thing as a “straight” married man who does little boys, a distinction Leslie Stahl tried to make on her fallacious exposé on the BSA ban on “gays.”
Next, speaking out against it in a negative fashion will become "hate speach", the child victims will become the crimminal, and it will be taught in school as a "choice." Employers will be forced to hire them, and parents will be forced to allow their kids to entertain them.
It has happended with homosexual butt fetish, now the AMBLA wants their turn. The doors have been opened, the propaganda has started.
There was a time when 18 was the cut off age. The pedophilia propaganda is working. Next, there will be no limit.
12 year olds are still children. Has anyone else noticed that?
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