The former principal of the elementary school where John Furlong is alleged to have physically abused former students says she was not aware of him ever administering the strap.
Sister Marie Melling, who worked at the Catholic Immaculata day school in Burns Lake in 1969 when Furlong was the PE teacher, testified Wednesday that freelance journalist Laura Robinson, who wrote an article making the abuse allegations, never contacted her for comment.
The Catholic nun was testifying at the trial at which Furlong, the former Vancouver Olympic CEO, is being sued for defamation by Robinson.
Melling, who was called as a witness for Furlong, told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Wedge that she found Furlong to be a “very knowledgeable” and also “very committed” instructor.
“He ran very good classes,” she told the judge. “He was always very kind and took more time than necessary to help the children do what they needed to do.”
She testified that at the time, B.C. schools still used the strap and it was up to individual teachers to decide whether the administer corporal punishment.
Melling said she was not aware of Furlong ever administering the strap, and added that she kept a book outlining incidents where teachers gave the strap and Furlong’s name did not appear in that book.
She said there was one complaint about Furlong from a student who got sore legs from being made to run up the hill backwards.
“I went to Mr. Furlong and I said, ‘This is happening, as you know these are children,’” she said. “And I also told him, ‘We are not sending them to the Olympics.’ He respected what I said.”
Melling told the judge that she’d never been contacted for comment by Robinson, who wrote a story in September 2012 in the Georgia Straight that outlined the abuse allegations. She said her phone number was listed in the phone book and that her contact information was available through a sisters’ association.
Johnna Sparrow-Crawford, a member of the Musqueam band who worked with Furlong during the Olympics, testified that she received an email from Robinson in June 2013 mentioning the allegations.
Sparrow-Crawford said she was “quite alarmed” and thought hard about what to do but in the end, decided to do nothing about it.
She did contact Furlong to let him know what was being said about him.
“It’s an individual opinion and I didn’t share that opinion,” she said of the email. “I didn’t want to respond to it.”
Renee Smith-Valade, former vice-president of communications for VANOC and currently vice-president of customer experience at Air Canada, testified about two incidents involving Robinson.
The first incident happened outside B.C. Supreme Court in 2008 during a court challenge to a decision not to allow women’s ski-jumping at the Olympics.
She said a woman later identified as Robinson approached her, demanded to know where Furlong was and accused her of just being the “pretty face” for the men in charge at VANOC.
“I was stunned,” she said. “Nobody had ever spoken to me like that before and never have since. It was insulting. It definitely caught me by surprise.”
Smith-Valade, who is now in a committed relationship with Furlong, said she and other co-workers had further contact from Robinson in connection with stories Robinson wrote about the Olympics and found that the information they provided rarely was included in her stories.
“There seemed to be an approach, opinion, attitude towards the Games that was largely negative.”
Smith-Valade said the second incident happened when Robinson approached her on a flight from Toronto to Vancouver in early April 2013. She said she told Robinson that she had nothing to say to her. but Robinson handed her a letter.
Smith-Valade said she was “taken aback” and at first didn’t want to open the letter, but did so in the end.
In the letter, Robinson told her that over 40 of Furlong’s students had now come forward about his alleged abuse, she said.
Smith-Valade said the figure of 40 students was a number she’d never heard before and nowhere in the letter did Robinson say that the abuse was alleged.
There was also a mention in the letter that there had already been a suicide, something she had never heard before, she said.
“That letter was shocking, particularly because I’d no interest in speaking to her.”
RCMP Cpl. Quinton Mackie, the lead investigator into allegations that Furlong sexually abused one of his students, testified that there were too many inconsistencies and not enough corroboration for him to lay charges in the case.
The sex abuse allegation was not included in the Georgia Straight article but was included in a story Robinson wrote for a small First Nations paper in Ontario.
On Thursday, the final witness for Furlong is expected to testify, followed by final submissions to the judge on Friday.
