Whitecaps Executive Chair Furlong being investigated

[RJB]

Given the allegations against John Furlong, the RCMP are now investigating:

http://www.straight.com/article-795226/vancouver/rcmp-confirms-its-investigating-john-furlong-allegations

In any situation like this, I would like the truth to come out. How this affects the Whitecaps, who knows. I suppose they can't play any poorer.

It's funny, plan an event like the Olympics with an endless supply of public money, volunteers, and political will, and you're an unquestioned hero. Maybe this reigns it in a bit.

[The Ref]

This guy deserves to be in prison for a long time. The Whitecaps will end with egg on their face.

[Macksam]

This guy deserves to be in prison for a long time. The Whitecaps will end with egg on their face.

What did he do?

[ted]

This guy deserves to be in prison for a long time.

You must be joking. Even by the legal standards of today he would not be facing jail time for these allegations let alone the standards of 1969.

What did he do?

He is accused of calling First Nations Children in the gym classes he was teaching in 1969 "Indian" and "squaw", using the strap and striking the legs of running students with a yardstick.

None of that is acceptable now but in the time and place I am pretty sure it was not actually illegal.

[Juby]

Yikes, I read the article http://www.straight.com/article-788776/vancouver/furlong-bio-omits-secret-past-burns-lake?page=0%2C0

[The Ref]

He also lied in 1974 when arriving in our country since he had already been here in 1969 as a teacher. If he lied once his credibility is questionable.

[Admin]

Uhm... the guy worked for Vanoc. WTF else could you possibly need to know.

[ted]

He also lied in 1974 when arriving in our country since he had already been here in 1969 as a teacher. If he lied once his credibility is questionable.

Now you are either not aware of the facts or willfully misrepresenting them. He did not "lie in 1974".

His book apparently starts the story in 1974. It could have started when he was born or when he first joined the VANOC team. Choosing to start the story where he did is not a lie. 1974 was when he came to Canada with the intent to stay and make a life. The teaching assignment in 1969 was a temporary job overseas as part of a Religious organization.

If you are going to destroy a man's reputation, maybe his life, then you better have a more solid case than this nonsense. Clearly you and others have made a pre-judgement based on something other than fact.

As for credibility, well, as a wise man once said, "Let he who is without sin..."

Uhm... the guy worked for Vanoc. WTF else could you possibly need to know.

Haha, NOT!

Whatever political problems were had with the Olympics this guy did a fantastic job running the actual event. Now he is being targeted based on his public profile for things that happened 40 years ago and were, in all likelihood, not illegal at the time.

[Admin]

Now you are either not aware of the facts or willfully misrepresenting them. He did not "lie in 1974".

His book apparently starts the story in 1974. It could have started when he was born or when he first joined the VANOC team. Choosing to start the story where he did is not a lie. 1974 was when he came to Canada with the intent to stay and make a life. The teaching assignment in 1969 was a temporary job overseas as part of a Religious organization.

If you are going to destroy a man's reputation, maybe his life, then you better have a more solid case than this nonsense. Clearly you and others have made a pre-judgement based on something other than fact.

As for credibility, well, as a wise man once said, "Let he who is without sin..."

Haha, NOT!

Whatever political problems were had with the Olympics this guy did a fantastic job running the actual event. Now he is being targeted based on his public profile for things that happened 40 years ago and were, in all likelihood, not illegal at the time.

I'm not talking about what happened 40 years ago.

Fantastic job running a brutally corrupt event.

That is not an endorsement.

The Olympics are an embarrassment and no city in Canada should ever partake in it as it condones corruption. Gives it a blank check.

[Sam]

I'm not talking about what happened 40 years ago.

Fantastic job running a brutally corrupt event.

That is not an endorsement.

The Olympics are an embarrassment and no city in Canada should ever partake in it as it condones corruption. Gives it a blank check.

I agree the Olympics are incredibly corrupt, but following that rationale we should never bid for the World Cup since FIFA is corrupt, which I don't agree with at all.

[Admin]

I agree the Olympics are incredibly corrupt, but following that rationale we should never bid for the World Cup since FIFA is corrupt, which I don't agree with at all.

Well sadly that is true. We probably shouldn't.

The WWC is unlikely to spoon out a billion dollars in tax payers money though. I also doubt the countries that are the worst offenders would be throwing down for this anyway. They might, though ironically require some greasing knowing that we might actually make money out of the WWC and try and block it. How is that for cynicism.

[kj52]

You must be joking. Even by the legal standards of today he would not be facing jail time for these allegations let alone the standards of 1969.

He is accused of calling First Nations Children in the gym classes he was teaching in 1969 "Indian" and "squaw", using the strap and striking the legs of running students with a yardstick.

None of that is acceptable now but in the time and place I am pretty sure it was not actually illegal.

Maybe not illegal but I went to a high school in 1969 that had quite a few native students and he would have been fired immediately I can assure you. His actions then clearly indicate he was and likely is a congenital a**hole, I doubt very much that his basic makeup would have changed over the years.

[Trillium]

John Furlong apparently attended .... Dublin’s St. Vincent’s Christian Brothers Secondary School. To get an insight to the Christian brothers schools in Ireland during the time he would have been a student you might want to read the news story of the attached link.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/thousands-raped-in-irelands-christian-brothers-schools-14308329.html

The story is headlined .... Thousands Raped in Irelands Christian Brother Schools....

A relevant quote..

"The report found that molestation and rape were "endemic" in boys' facilities, chiefly run by the Christian Brothers order, and supervisors pursued policies that increased the danger. Girls supervised by orders of nuns, chiefly the Sisters of Mercy, suffered much less sexual abuse but frequent assaults and humiliation designed to make them feel worthless."

If Furlong came from such and environment at nineteen, with no training to work at a religious school where native children were being schooled by Nuns and Priests.... what would his understanding of acceptable behaviour have been ?

It is pretty much accepted the religious schools carrying out education of native youths were institutions that had molestations, brutality, and humiliation as a bases of the "culture" in the schools.

We can only hope that as the facts are revealed in testimony from persons at the reconciliation commission, that Mr. Furlong will get assistance to deal with his past and become at ease with the truth of his personal past.

http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/index.php?p=26

[Gordon]

You must be joking. Even by the legal standards of today he would not be facing jail time for these allegations let alone the standards of 1969.

He is accused of calling First Nations Children in the gym classes he was teaching in 1969 "Indian" and "squaw", using the strap and striking the legs of running students with a yardstick.

None of that is acceptable now but in the time and place I am pretty sure it was not actually illegal.

Corporal Punishment was certainly illegal in 1974 (I was advised as much by the Vice Principal of Keating Elementary in West Saanich when discussing suitable punishment for my, ummm...boisterous behaviour). Whether this was true from '69-73 I do not know. And I do not believe that the legs were ever a legal part of the body upon with to apply corporal punishment, nor, in all likelihood was the use of a yardstick. Got whacked on the back of the head and the hands with a yardstick by a 4'6" ancient nun in 1970 (Jardin Langevin in St. Boniface, Manitoba) so I know it was not uncommon. But against the law? Yeah, I'd bet money it was. The corporal punishment laws were always quite well defined as to implment and location of the body. The strap - legal when Corporal punishment was, as was the cane in some jurisdictions. Yardstick on the legs...not likely.

[ted]

But against the law? Yeah, I'd bet money it was.

Then you would lose. IF he did these things (and that has not been proven) then they may have been morally repugnant. They were not however, by any standard of the time, illegal.

[Macksam]

Then you would lose. IF he did these things (and that has not been proven) then they may have been morally repugnant. They were not however, by any standard of the time, illegal.

I guess we can all agree that even though he did not do anything illegal, he was still a scumbag.

[Grizzly]

I guess we can all agree that even though he did not do anything illegal, he was still a scumbag.

If he is guilty of the allegations then yes he is a scumbag. However, I don't like seeing someone convicted in the media and court of public opinion by people who don't know all of the facts. Unless this does go to trial and people testify under oath and he is either found guilty of something or at least proven to have committed unethical acts I think one has to consider him someone against whom serious but unproven allegations have been made.

[Trillium]

If he is guilty of the allegations then yes he is a scumbag. However, I don't like seeing someone convicted in the media and court of public opinion by people who don't know all of the facts. Unless this does go to trial and people testify under oath and he is either found guilty of something or at least proven to have committed unethical acts I think one has to consider him someone against whom serious but unproven allegations have been made.

From todays Province

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Explosive+abuse+allegations+filed+against+former+Vancouver+Olympic/7851774/story.html

Former 2010 Winter Olympics CEO John Furlong is facing new allegations in a legal response to his defamation lawsuit against a journalist.Photograph by: Jason Payne , PNGNew allegations of sexual, physical and emotional abuse against former 2010 Olympics boss John Furlong have surfaced in court documents filed by journalist Laura Robinson in response to a defamation lawsuit against her.

In a response filed in Vancouver court Monday, Robinson laid out examples of Furlong’s alleged violence against women and children, including groping female students, beating up his first wife and sexually assaulting his common-law partner.

The allegations have not been proven. Furlong has yet to respond to these new claims and has emphatically denied wrongdoing.

Furlong sued Robinson after she wrote an article published in The Georgia Straight that included allegations of mistreatment against former students at Immaculata, an aboriginal school in Burns Lake where Furlong taught physical education in 1969 and 1970. That article didn’t contain allegations of sexual abuse.

Monday’s defence filing alleged Furlong would wait for student Beverly Mary Abraham outside the girls’ changing room and grab her buttocks on numerous occasions. He called her “my favourite princess,” and “my favourite out of all the girls” and would grope her breasts.

He also allegedly tried to grope Audrey George, another PE student who was 13 years old at the time.

The documents alleged Furlong hit and slapped his first wife, kindergarten teacher Margaret, in their living quarters in Prince George between 1970 and 1972.

Between 1979 and 1982, Furlong allegedly abused, bullied and raped his common-law wife in Nanaimo. He also routinely called her derogatory names, including “fatso” and “damaged goods,” “when he could not rationally win an argument,” said the court documents.

“On one occasion, a discussion escalated into a screaming episode and resulted in the plaintiff shoving her against the wall and causing her to fall down the stairs,” it continued.

“The plaintiff felt that he had a licence to have sex on demand,” including one occasion where he forced himself on her while in the shower, according to the response.

On Sept. 27, 2012 — the same day the initial article in the Straight was published — Furlong denied all allegations of wrongdoing during a news conference.

“I have been accused of physical abuse and apparently within the last hour, sexual abuse ... I categorically deny absolutely any wrongdoing,” he said at the time.

The court document filed Monday said Furlong’s common-law wife contacted Robinson after the original article was published. Other individuals who had been abused by Furlong also came forward, it said.

The document said Robinson decided to write two more stories on Furlong, including one of Furlong’s alleged “physical and emotional violence against women,” specifically against his former wife and former common-law wife.

In the response, Robinson said she didn’t defame Furlong and argued the article constitutes responsible communication and fair comment. She said she tried repeatedly to get Furlong to respond to the allegations without success.

On Monday, a spokeswoman for Furlong said he will not be making any statements about the new allegations.

“As this matter is before the courts, Mr. John Furlong, the TwentyTen Group and his counsel are not available for public comment,” wrote Catherine Locke in an email.

The civil suit launched by Furlong names Robinson, Vancouver Free Press Publishing Corp., and Daniel McLeod and Charlie Smith of the Straight.

The Straight filed its response last week.

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/news/Explosive+abuse+allegations+filed+against+former+Vancouver+Olympic+boss+John+Furlong/7851774/story.html#ixzz2IinxtCAH

[RJB]

Anyone know what's happening with this story? Or is it one of those, "I'm going to sue you!" and then nothing happens.