No Early Parole for Disgraced Sudbury Priest
By Carol Mulligan
A former Sudbury Roman Catholic priest has been denied full parole by the Parole Board of Canada two years into his five-year sentence. Parole was denied partly because Bernard Cloutier isn't accepting responsibility or showing remorse for sexually assaulting children as long as four decades ago. Cloutier, 71, was convicted in July 2009 of four counts of indecent assault against a male, four acts of gross indecency and four sexual assault charges against four boys aged 13-16 years from 1974 until 1983.?He appealed those convictions, but they were upheld in July 2011. One of Cloutier’s victims, Jerome Myre, now 43, travelled to Joyceville last month to present an impact statement to the Parole Board of Canada. He described how being abused by Cloutier when he was parish priest at L'Annonciation Church has affected his life. Myre attended the hearing, along with another of Cloutier's victim, and told board members Cloutier should serve his full sentence. Priests like Cloutier "ruined children's lives and altered their life courses," said Myre, a locomotive operator for CP Rail. He has been on sick leave from his job since February, trying to deal with the psychological aftermath of what happened to him as a boy and the stress of the parole hearing and a civil lawsuit. You can't be running locomotives when you lack focus, said Myre. He travelled to Joyceville, 20 miles northeast of Kingston, for two reasons. One was to speak against Cloutier being released on parole. The other was to see the facility, the Pittsburgh Institution, where the priest has been living since November 2011, after serving less than four months at the Millhaven Assessment Unit. While Myre was relieved his abuser was denied parole, he was "disappointed" to find the priest living in a minimum security facility in a complex of townhouses where the freedom of about 200 inmates doesn't seem to be limited. Cloutier works full-time in the grocery store at the institution and, despite some health setbacks, remain mobile.?"The only concern noted by your parole officer is the lack of responsibility and insight you demonstrated for your offending," the board wrote to Cloutier in its report. While units at the Pittsburgh Institution are modest, they are better than many public housing units in Sudbury, Myre observed. In a unit he visited with a warden, Myre opened the fridge to find it so stocked with food, items almost fell out of it. "I don't think (Cloutier's) been punished enough," said Myre, who believes it would be more appropriate for perpetrators like the priest to do time in a prison cell. "I'm in a prison where I'll never be released," said Myre. He complained to his parents in 1983 when the abuse occurred. They took the matter to Sudbury police and to the bishop of Sault Ste. Marie diocese at the time, Gerald Dionne. Myre has said, and so have the courts, the matter was swept under the carpet by authorities. Myre reported that Cloutier had plied him and another boy with alcohol and cigarettes, then sexually molested him. At last month's parole hearing, Myre said the priest would not admit to anything other than giving the boys beer and showing them how to masturbate. In a pre-release decision by the Parole Board, board members said court documents suggest Cloutier and Dionne "covered up what you knew was a lie" and that Cloutier was "a participant in the interruption of the police investigation." Despite hearing the trauma that his victims have experienced, Cloutier has "consistently denied any responsibility for the sexual abuse," the board said in the report. "You have further stated the victims' motivation for the false accusations was to seek compensation from the Catholic Church," the board wrote. Myre and at least a dozen other men have launched civil lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie and several of its priests, Cloutier among them, for historic sexual abuse. In the reasons for sentencing at Cloutier's criminal trial, the judge considered aggravating factors such as the fact the priest had groomed his victims, was partly responsible for a cover-up, abused his position of trust as a priest and the young age of the victims, the parole board said in its report. While Cloutier scores low on a recidivism test, that is offset by his denial he offended and his explanations that the board said were "neither believable nor plausible given the facts." The impact of his violence against children "haunts the victims to his very day," said the board, and Cloutier "appear(s) oblivious or hardened to their plight." Cloutier has been identified as having deviant sexual interests "that remain untreated and as such you are an untreated sex offender." While unlikely to re-offend, "the triggers and contributing factors which caused you to offend in the manner you did remain unaddressed," said the board. "Your continuing denial and lack of credibility you continue to display calls into question your ability to (be) open and honest with those that would manage your risk in the community," the board wrote. Given that, the board concluded Cloutier would present an undue risk to society before his sentence expires. No further parole hearings are scheduled before Cloutier's release by the law on statutory review Oct. 14, 2014, the board said in a letter to Myre. The priest can appeal the board's Sept. 24 decision and if successful, another hearing for a full parole review would be scheduled. In the meantime, Myre is angry his abuser is living in relative ease, and that he is still considered to be a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. Myre believes priests who have been criminally convicted as Cloutier has should no longer hold those positions in the Roman Catholic Church. "Who do I have to contact to have (him) defrocked?" asked a distraught Myre. Contact: carol.mulligan@sunmedia.ca
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