Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 7, No. 3, 2008, Page 69
The sexual abuse trial of Daniel Cormier, self-proclaimed minister of the now-defunct
Church of Downtown Montreal, continued in April with testimony from the alleged
victim‘s mother telling about his relationship with her family. Having emigrated from Nova
Scotia with her two pre-school children in 1993, ending up on the street, on drugs, and
prostituting herself, she says Cormier became a sort of guardian, helped get the girls out of
child protection, paid the family‘s bills, took them all on vacations, once to Disney World,
and spent a great deal of time with the older girl when their mother was at work. He made
the girl his wife when she was 10, with the mother‘s approval, he says. Cormier asserts that
his admitted sexual relationship with the now 18-year-old girl — she was nine when it began
— was legal because they were — as they are still — husband and wife, and, moreover, that
a spouse cannot be forced to testify against a husband or wife. ―I didn‘t see any harm in it
because I trusted him,‖ said the mother. ―He was a pastor, and I never would have thought
in a million years that he‘d hurt my children.‖ He says the girl ―used every trick in the book
to win me over,‖ but that everything he did with her was out of love and for her benefit.
―She was very sexually aware at 8 years old. I don‘t know if she was abused before. She
loved me a lot and had certain needs. I‘m convinced that what I did with her was for her
and was good for her.‖
A senior Liberal Party (Australia) source has confirmed allegations made in a new book,
Behind the Exclusive Brethren, that members of the Exclusive Brethren tried to offer large
donations, anonymously, to help the re-election campaign last year of Prime Minister John
Howard. The source said, ―What the Liberal Party stands for should not be confused in the
mind of the electorate by the acceptance of donations from fringe groups.‖ Brethren
members, active lobbyists who are urged on principle not to vote, took advantage of the
Howard government‘s lax disclosure law to put $370,000 into a pro-Howard and anti-Green
campaign in 2004.
An appeal court in Montreal has refused to award damages to Falun Gong members even
though it agreed that Les Presses chinoises had published defamatory statements about the
group. ..Falun Gong computer experts provided software to journalists and others
attending the Olympics claiming that it would get them through any firewall devised by the
Chinese government to limit the flow of information from the outside world.
A Texas judge on June 2 ordered authorities to return to their families hundreds of children
seized in a raid late last month on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints (FLDS) ranch. The terms of the release are severe: parents must agree to be
photographed picking up their children, allow themselves to be fingerprinted, provide
identification, agree to attend ―standard parenting classes,‖ and agree not interfere with the
Texas Child Protective Services‘ investigation into alleged child abuse and neglect. The
parents must also agree to allow CPS workers to visit, question, and examine the children,
both medically and psychologically, in their homes provide seven days notice before any
moves, and 48 hours notice of any travel over 100 miles from their homes and promise not
leave Texas with their children. Only a few FLDS members have returned to the ranch.
Many, fearing more government intrusion, have gone to live elsewhere, while remaining
loyal to the FLDS. Some have already found outside jobs and apartments. By August, the
cases involving 150 children had been dismissed — mainly because the parents had
complied with court requirements — and the Texas Supreme Court ordered the state to
release them from custody, saying there was a lack of evidence that they were in danger.
The cases are being dropped not because abuse never occurred, but because many children
can safely live with a parent or relative — something that members and their lawyers
argued early on.
Authorities have widened their probe of the group, and are now investigating 20 cases of
sexual assault and 50 bigamy charges against members. An FLDS lawyer said conviction on
bigamy charges would be difficult because no deception was involved and the plural
The sexual abuse trial of Daniel Cormier, self-proclaimed minister of the now-defunct
Church of Downtown Montreal, continued in April with testimony from the alleged
victim‘s mother telling about his relationship with her family. Having emigrated from Nova
Scotia with her two pre-school children in 1993, ending up on the street, on drugs, and
prostituting herself, she says Cormier became a sort of guardian, helped get the girls out of
child protection, paid the family‘s bills, took them all on vacations, once to Disney World,
and spent a great deal of time with the older girl when their mother was at work. He made
the girl his wife when she was 10, with the mother‘s approval, he says. Cormier asserts that
his admitted sexual relationship with the now 18-year-old girl — she was nine when it began
— was legal because they were — as they are still — husband and wife, and, moreover, that
a spouse cannot be forced to testify against a husband or wife. ―I didn‘t see any harm in it
because I trusted him,‖ said the mother. ―He was a pastor, and I never would have thought
in a million years that he‘d hurt my children.‖ He says the girl ―used every trick in the book
to win me over,‖ but that everything he did with her was out of love and for her benefit.
―She was very sexually aware at 8 years old. I don‘t know if she was abused before. She
loved me a lot and had certain needs. I‘m convinced that what I did with her was for her
and was good for her.‖
A senior Liberal Party (Australia) source has confirmed allegations made in a new book,
Behind the Exclusive Brethren, that members of the Exclusive Brethren tried to offer large
donations, anonymously, to help the re-election campaign last year of Prime Minister John
Howard. The source said, ―What the Liberal Party stands for should not be confused in the
mind of the electorate by the acceptance of donations from fringe groups.‖ Brethren
members, active lobbyists who are urged on principle not to vote, took advantage of the
Howard government‘s lax disclosure law to put $370,000 into a pro-Howard and anti-Green
campaign in 2004.
An appeal court in Montreal has refused to award damages to Falun Gong members even
though it agreed that Les Presses chinoises had published defamatory statements about the
group. ..Falun Gong computer experts provided software to journalists and others
attending the Olympics claiming that it would get them through any firewall devised by the
Chinese government to limit the flow of information from the outside world.
A Texas judge on June 2 ordered authorities to return to their families hundreds of children
seized in a raid late last month on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints (FLDS) ranch. The terms of the release are severe: parents must agree to be
photographed picking up their children, allow themselves to be fingerprinted, provide
identification, agree to attend ―standard parenting classes,‖ and agree not interfere with the
Texas Child Protective Services‘ investigation into alleged child abuse and neglect. The
parents must also agree to allow CPS workers to visit, question, and examine the children,
both medically and psychologically, in their homes provide seven days notice before any
moves, and 48 hours notice of any travel over 100 miles from their homes and promise not
leave Texas with their children. Only a few FLDS members have returned to the ranch.
Many, fearing more government intrusion, have gone to live elsewhere, while remaining
loyal to the FLDS. Some have already found outside jobs and apartments. By August, the
cases involving 150 children had been dismissed — mainly because the parents had
complied with court requirements — and the Texas Supreme Court ordered the state to
release them from custody, saying there was a lack of evidence that they were in danger.
The cases are being dropped not because abuse never occurred, but because many children
can safely live with a parent or relative — something that members and their lawyers
argued early on.
Authorities have widened their probe of the group, and are now investigating 20 cases of
sexual assault and 50 bigamy charges against members. An FLDS lawyer said conviction on
bigamy charges would be difficult because no deception was involved and the plural
