CANADA
Hamilton Spectator

There are many questions. There are likely to be few answers, now and in the foreseeable future.

Perhaps the biggest unknown is whether the deal that allowed a Roman Catholic priest to leave the country without facing prosecution on a sexual assault charge is the best outcome for the case.

There is too much we don’t know, so that question, like so many others, is impossible to answer. We do know that if Jose Silva ever returns to Canada, there is a bench warrant for his arrest. That means the sexual assault charge can be prosecuted by the Crown if Silva comes back to this country.

Silva, a native of Brazil, spent two years at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church on Park Street North, where he was a popular parish priest. The sexual assault charge was laid last September following a complaint to police by an…