No mandatory sex abuse reporting in Canada?
Corner Brook and Labrador Bishop Douglas Crosby says an adult victim of sexual abuse by a priest should tell the RCMP about his allegations, and it’s not up to church authorities to report possible crimes:
“I think we always take our lead from him. He’s old enough to do that if he wants to,” Crosby said of the victims in comments to The Western Star newspaper.
The Mounties beg to differ:
Sgt. Jacques Morneau of the Deer Lake RCMP confirmed the police have not been contacted by church officials concerning the allegations. He said anything involving criminal offences should be reported.
“Unless we get a complaint, we can’t investigate,” Morneau said.
“That’s strange that they haven’t notified anybody yet, if it’s serious enough that they have to remove (someone) from the position. I can’t see them wanting to deal with this internally.”
Morneau offered reserved comment since details have not been disclosed to the RCMP.
“I don’t think they should leave it up to the complainant to come to us,” he said. “If they’re aware that a member of their organization has committed a criminal offence, (it) should be reported.”
Do mandatory reporting laws only apply when the alleged victims are still minors? Is the bishop exploiting a loophole here? Or is this somehow SOP?
HatTip: CWNews
Have no idea about Canadian law. But wouldn’t an adult victim have to be willing to testify to the police, if not make the complaint?
My understanding is that you always reported a crime, no matter what. If you see a woman raped, e.g., you report it, even though there is a good possibility she may not want it reported or to cooperate with authorities. It’s out of the victim’s hands, though that can seem tough on the victim.
“SOP”
Could we please establish a convention here that when acronyms are first used their meanings will be spelled out at least once? I find myself guessing at a lot of them or having to go back and re=read a whole post.
Standard Operating Procedure, I think.
“My understanding is that you always reported a crime, no matter what. If you see a woman raped, e.g., you report it, even though there is a good possibility she may not want it reported or to cooperate with authorities. ”
Yes, I agree with this.
Fwiw – my first thought is that, unlike the sexual abuse of minors, a consensual relationsip between adults probably isn’t a crime in Canada, or at least a crime that would be prosecuted, even if one of the adults is a member of the clergy. So we’d be looking at a subset of the activities that constitute the sexual abuse of minors. Certainly, rape and attempted rape would qualify. So would sexual harassment (but what is the legal standard for that? Would a single proposition qualify?). Not sure what else? (I haven’t thought about it very deeply, though).
Ann, you probably already know this, but fwiw = “for what it’s worth”
Ann, you are right — pardon my SNAFU re SOP (standard operating procedure) which is as obnoxiously insider-y as the untranslated Latinisms that we also throw around here. Acronym-speak is of a much less elevated plane, however.
“as obnoxiously insider-y as the untranslated Latinisms that we also throw around here”
I guess this means that I need to start translating my Latinist malaprops, too. Ah well, caveat bonum.
I actually like some of the Latin discussions, because I might learn something, which is easy as I know nothing. But they tend to descend quickly into impenetrability, which is probably fine. Of the throwaway bon mots in Latin, well, the line between apercu and affect can be thin.
Agree with David’s first two sentences. Plus, to some degree it makes me feel honored to be in such distinguished company.
David: I hope one asks you to explain SNAFU
Jim: What does “caveat bonum” mean? I haven’t a clue.
All: How about those Italian flourishes one finds here and there? Or are we all fluent in Italian?
Oops, a Freudian slip, David–I kid you not. For “one” substitute “no one”.
Joseph G. – I was making a funny. I’m sure all of the other people who never made it past ‘Roma in Italia est” were slapping their knees.
Joe G: F is for “fouled” — of course. Yep.
Jim: So it means “watch out for the bone”?
Thanks for the meanings, guys. l like acronyms and the foreign words too. I just like to know what they mean. The thing about foreign words is that when they’re actually used in a sentence their meanings somehow seem to stick, unlike what happened when we were confronted with those lists of words we had to memorize in language classes. Ugh.
“Because each diocesan Bishop is autonomous, each is responsible for adopting a diocesan protocol, as well as initiating, supporting and maintaining the means for preventing sexual abuse, and also for responding to abuse complaints in the diocese.”
CCCB
http://www.cccb.ca/site/images/stories/pdf/orientations-diocesan_protocols.pdf