Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 26, 2012, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A9 winnipegfreepress. com CANADA / WORLD WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 2012 A 9 O TTAWA - An independent review of six decades of Scouts Canada records revealed the organization failed at least 65 times to report allegations of sexual misconduct to authorities. Not all of those are ancient history. Thirteen of the 65 incidents came to the Scouts' attention since 1992, when it became mandatory to report everything suspicious to police, said the report by investigators at KPMG. The review was released on Monday. " I guess the most troubling part of the report is there are times where our processes and procedures and our policies and our people failed," Steve Kent, the chief commissioner of Scouts Canada, said. " We failed to follow our own policies and procedures." As soon as the auditors pointed out the unreported incidents, Scouts Canada gave police all the records it could find, Kent said. " I can now say confidently that every record we have, related to suspected abuse, has been shared with law- enforcement authorities across the country." The youth organization has touched the lives of 17 million children in Canada since 1905. In 2011, it had 102,609 members and about 24,000 volunteers. In its heyday in the 1960s, the organization had almost 320,000 members. Scouts Canada asked KPMG to go through 64 years of records after a CBC investigation last fall uncovered dozens of confidentiality agreements that essentially prevented victims from speaking out over the years. At first, the organization told KPMG there were 350 instances that needed reviewing. Then, as the auditors dug in and found more evidence, that number grew to 468. But KPMG said the records are so inconsistent, poorly kept and disorganized that it can't be sure it has uncovered everything. " The state of these important corporate records was surprising to both KPMG and Scouts' current management," the report said. " It is clear from the state of the files that Scouts was not managing these matters centrally or learning corporately from past mistakes." But shoddy record keeping does not mean malicious intent, Kent said. " I think one of the most positive findings is that the report didn't reveal any systemic attempt to cover up or hide any information relating to incidents that occurred in the past," he said. " So, I'm relieved by that. It really confirms what we've been saying... all along." There are still 64 cases of suspected sexual misconduct in which KPMG is still not exactly sure what happened. Kent said Scouts Canada has contacted every single organization across the country, required affidavits and " left no stone unturned" to collect more information and hand it over. - The Canadian Press Scouts failed to report 65 suspected abuse cases: audit WASHINGTON - The U. S. Supreme Court struck down key provisions of a border state's harsh crackdown on illegal immigrants, but did little to settle the nation's raging political dispute on immigration, a divisive issue on which U. S. President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are deeply at odds. While the conservative- dominated high court ruling released Monday found much of the Arizona law unconstitutional, it did rule that one part would stand - the portion requiring police to check the status of someone they suspect is not in the United States legally. Even there, though, the justices said the provision could be subject to additional legal challenges. Obama issued a statement declaring he was " pleased" with the ruling, but cautioned the enforcement provision left standing was wrong. " No American should ever live under a cloud of suspicion just because of what they look like," Obama said. " Going forward, we must ensure that Arizona law enforcement officials do not enforce this law in a manner that undermines the civil rights of Americans, as the Court's decision recognizes." Arizona's long southern boundary borders Mexico, where the law provoked outrage and even prompted the government to issue a travel alert against the U. S. state in 2010. During a speech in Houston in April, Mexican President Felipe Calderon described the law as not only anti- immigrant but also possibly racist. The Mexican government said it is disappointed the U. S. Supreme Court upheld the portion of the law requiring police check the immigration status of anyone they stop. Arizona's law " and others similar to it do not recognize the numerous contributions of migrants to their communities," the Mexican Foreign Relations Department said in a statement. " On the contrary, these types of laws carry high political costs and do not contribute to understanding between our societies." The Arizona decision landed in the middle of a presidential campaign in which Obama has been heavily courting Latino voters and Romney has been struggling to win Latino support. During a drawn- out primary campaign, Romney mostly embraced a hard line to avoid accusations he supports any kind of " amnesty" for illegal immigrants living in the U. S. Romney has taken a softer tone on immigration as a result of Obama's having issued an executive ruling that ends deportation of young people brought illegally into the country as children. But speaking to campaign donors in Arizona, Romney said he would have preferred the court " give more latitude to the states" to enforce their own immigration laws. - The Associated Press U. S. top court takes aim at tough immigration law By Steven R. Hurst By Heather Scoffield JONATHAN HAYWARD / THE CANADIAN PRESS Deadly flooding in B. C. People look on as a house comes off its foundation in Two Mile, B. C., just outside of Sicamous, Monday. Residents and emergency crews in British Columbia's flood- ravaged Interior are cleaning up after weekend storms forced hundreds from their homes, left one man dead and damaged countless properties. Almost 700 people across the province have been evacuated, while 1,000 more have been placed on evacuation alert. Weeks of wet weather caused river levels to rise in the B. C. Interior, the Kootenay region and the Fraser Valley, and a weekend of heavy rain and thunderstorms pushed many rivers and creeks to the brink. 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