Sexual abuse is grim; sexual abuse in the church is even grimmer, because the church sets high moral standards for its adherents and especially its clergy.
This makes reporting stories about sexual misconduct inherently grim and challenging.
All this is compounded when a child is involved and multiplied again when it involves a parent. What to do then when a story emerges about a minister disciplined over his daughter’s complaint that he sexually abused her over a 14-year period beginning when she was two?
What to do when there is no trial, but only the results and recommendation of the initial investigation? When the accused submits to the ordinary jurisdiction of presbytery, with no trial and no direct evidence called or challenged?
Such is the background of the sad news story in this issue concerning Rev. Bruce Cossar and his daughter, Anne Vautour.
Twenty years ago, Ms. Vautour began recalling instances of childhood abuse by her father. These recollections have been shown to be accurate in circumstantial detail and Ms. Vautour is said to exhibit traits consistent with abused women in the therapy she has undergone.
Her father says he has no recollection of any such events.
Of course none of this proves or disproves anything.
Until the 1980s, allegations of abuse in the church were practically unheard of. Around that time, however, stories of abuse by a number of Roman Catholic clergy in Newfoundland began to emerge. They were followed by the tales of horrific abuse at the Mount Cashel orphanage that gripped the country.
Shortly after Mount Cashel, in the early 1990s, Canadian churches began to develop protocols for
dealing with allegations of abuse. The Presbyterian Church’s policy dates from 1993.
The case outlined in this issue has clearly tested the church’s system for dealing with such allegations. With no corroborating evidence, the investigating committee spent about 18 months interviewing both the principal parties involved, their family and friends.
Their report also indicates that they spent a great deal of time reading about the subject.
Quite reasonably, decisions of this kind are based on the preponderance of evidence, also known as the balance of probabilities. Reasonably, because an employer or a professional certification association needs to be able to set and enforce a standard for employment or professional standing.
The civil burden of proof, on the balance of probabilities, was famously described by the English judge Lord Denning in 1947 as “more probable than not.” That does not mean that it is a simple test of odds, however.
In an important case in 2008, Justice Rothstein, writing a decision for the Supreme Court of Canada, said: “… [E]vidence must always be sufficiently clear, convincing and cogent to satisfy the balance of probabilities test.”
And that is where reporting this particular story runs into another difficulty. Presbytery was only presented with indirect evidence (the confidential report of the investigating commission) and the court was held in camera. (The Record has a copy of the report.) As the only media covering this case, we find ourselves in a difficult position.
On the one hand, part of our job is to help the administration and courts of the church to be as transparent as possible to the wider church. This is one of the fundamental responsibilities of journalism in our society and why a free press is constitutionally protected; transparency assists in accountability.
On the other hand, whichever side one believes is true in this situation, the story exposes a minister and his family to the court of public opinion based on a decision which might well fail the test of natural justice were it reviewed by an appeal to a civil court.
It appears that will not happen. Mr. Cossar told the Record’s reporter that he thought it pointless to go the church trial route. His daughter said much the same thing in her letter to presbytery two years ago explaining why she hadn’t pursued criminal charges against her father, saying she lacked faith in the system and the necessary emotional strength.
All of which makes a grim story even more tragic.
