The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 34

D2 THE OTTAWA CITIZEN CITY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1998 Police computer leads to arrest in child-exploitation case Prior illness nixes insurance payment 1 1 -t 'J manager of claims for Canada Life. "We are very sympathetic toward the loss of her husband. She and her family have obviously suffered a great deal. However, Canada Life cannot agree that the claim met the eligibility require My mother-in-law has been forced into bankruptcy, a she feels she was pushed into because of by Canada Life. Early in 1997 my father-in-law applied for and Action Line Tony C6t6 Ottawa-Carleton police.

Regional police began their own investigation. In the next several weeks, the two victims picked the suspect out of a photo lineup, an arrest was made and charges filed. The charges against Mr. Doiron are. three counts of obtaining for consideration the sexual services of a person.

Mr. Doiron appeared in court yesterday morning and was released on several strict conditions, including that he not be with young boys. Police in Ottawa, Hull and West Quebec are continuing their investiga-tioa ViCLAS was developed after Clifford Olson's murderous rampage in the early 1980s. It is designed to serve as a shared memory bank for information on major crimes. The system requires that officers fill out detailed booklets in relevant cases and submit them to be entered into the system.

Ottawa-Carleton Deputy Chief Vince Bevan said yesterday that he couldn't help remember the frustration he felt as a member of the Green Ribbon Task Force, which investigated the killings of Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French in the Burlington area several years ago. "It struck me through that case that there was a need for a system which could link crimes to suspects," said Mr. Bevan. "Potentially, this system could have changed the course of that investigation. "This is proof it works." Mr.

Doiron is scheduled to appear in court again on Nov. 3. By don Campbell A year-old, nationwide police analysis system designed to link sex offenders with unsolved cases has led to charges against a man who police suspect is a serial sexual predator. Ottawa-Carleton police yesterday arrested 42-year-old Joseph Oscar Do-iron at his Hull rooming house and charged him in connection with two incidents last year in which teenaged boys at a Rideau Street arcade were offered money in exchange for sexual favours. The alleged offences took place during the summer of 1997, and the police investigation had reached a dead end.

Police felt they might not be able to apprehend the suspect unless he committed further crimes. Police credit the Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System (ViCLAS) for information that finally led to an arrest. The system was made mandatory in Ontario in 1997. Yesterday's arrest is the first by Ottawa-Carleton police that has been credited directly to the system. "It (the investigation) was going nowhere," said Sgt.

Ken Dumont, lead investigator with the region's sexual assault unit. "Without (ViCLAS), I feel it would have gone unsolved." Until recently, the only information that police had on the case was that two male Ottawa youths, 14 and 17 at the time of the offences, told them that a middle-aged man approached them twice in an arcade and offered them $10 if they would expose themselves to was approved for two loans by the Royal Bank in Embrun. The loans totalled nearly $40,000 and they were life insured through Canada Life. About 10 months later my father-in-law caught a cold. Three days later he was in the hospital with pneumonia and two days after that he died.

Once we got over that shock we began to out together the necessary paperwork to send to Canada Life to cover the balance of the loans. In March we got hit with another shock. Canada Life refused to honour its commitment, claiming my father-in-law died as a result of a pre-existing condition, namely a heart and lung condition for which he had been receiving treatment. We couldn't believe what we were told and sent the company copies of an autopsy report that showed he died from pneumonia and a letter from his doctor confirming that. It did no good, Canada Life stuck to its guns and refused to pay.

The decision was devastating to the family. No longer able to afford the payments on the loan and certainly unable to cover the cost of a lawyer to -appeal the decision, my mother-in-law was forced to contact a bankruptcy trustee and go through that devastating life-changing process. She ended up losing her house and self-esteem. This for a 59-year-old woman with four daughters. None of this seems right.

What is especially hard to take is for a company of that size to grasp on an unrelated condition to deny a claim and then ar- gue that the only alternative is to sue them. Name withheld Answer: Canada Life is hanging its hat on a line in the autopsy report that says that, while the pneumonia caused your father-in-law's death, a con tributing factor was the heart and lung condition he already had. In other words, says the insurance company, secondary cause of death was the heart and lung illness. "It is quite unfortunate that her claim for life insurance benefits could not be paid," said Peter Valera, the Transpo: 'Failure is not an option' Joseph Oscar Doiron was arrested yesterday at his Hull rooming house and charged In connection with two incidents of child exploitation. him.

It wasn't until last May when an investigator in New Brunswick, who was analysing files that identified a suspect in several child-exploitation cases, tried to determine where the suspect was residing. The officer tracked the man to the Ottawa area. Several cases of sexual exploitation in the New Brunswick area had stopped after 1994. The investigator wanted to know why. The RCMP then linked the suspect to alleged offences in Ottawa and told comes at a time of diminishing funds, with Ontario, which at one time used to pay for 75 per cent of transit costs, and now pays nothing.

But Mr. Loney says restructuring is critical to the company's future and the region must bite the bullet now to save a bundle in the future. 'If we fail, the cost of transportation in our region will Mike Sheflin, OC Transpo general manager By the end of the review, the consultants will identify several areas where costs can be reduced and service improved. In the meantime, the company must invest heavily to improve reliability, marketing and increase service. Out of a total of $180.5 million that OC Transpo plans to spend on transit next year, including debt payments and contributions to reserves, $82 million will come from fares.

Another $3.3 million will come from other revenue such as Crime-scene experts testify at murder trial The parade of crime-scene experts continued yesterday at the Robert Stewart and Richard Mallory murder trial. The two men have pleaded not guilty to killing Michel Giroux, a 24-year-old petty drug dealer, and Manon Bourdeau, his 27-year-old common wife, in January 1990. The Crown's theory is that Mr. Giroux owed a drug debt to Mr. Stewart and he and Ms.

Bourdeau were killed by Mr. Stewart and Mr. Mallory after they threatened to go to police. Yesterday, Sgt. Vince Hawkes, an Ontario Provincial Police blood spatter expert, testified that by studying photographs of the crime scene in 1994 four years after the couple was found dead he could determine that they had been shot pretty much where they were found.

The coroner who pronounced the pair dead also testified that he guessed that when he first saw the bodies on Jan. 18, 1990, they had been dead for at least eight hours. The trial is scheduled to continue today but it is expected the jury will not be sitting to hear arguments again until Nov. 2. 'Pk -m.

Veterans plan tomb for unknown soldier ments." He says that the insurance policy was quite specific and excluded any claims during the first 12 months if the primary or secondary cause of death was due to a pre-existing condition. He said that loans under $50,000 don't require the insured to have a medical exam. If your father-in-law had needed one, then the pre-existing condition would have been more clearly drawn to the family's attention. But, he pointed out, the clause was always in existence, contained in the documents provided when the policy was bought. "The provision," he said, "prevents unhealthy individuals from seeking any type of benefit coverage knowing ahead of time that there was a high potential to incur a claim in the near future." The pre-existing clause also helps to keep the cost of group health plans, such as this one, affordable and make them fairer to everyone involved, the claims manager says.

Mr. Varela said he reviewed the file and it was quite evident from the medical records that your father-in-law had not only visited a doctor but had been treated for the lung and heart conditions during the prior 12 months. That, he says, caused the pre-existing clause to kick in. "The insurance claim is not payable," he said. "It is quite unfortunate that the decision could not be more favorable.

However, I can assure you that Canada Life is very sensitive to its customers' feelings and concerns and every attempt is made to ensure that all customers are dealt with in a fair and equitable manner." There you have it. The insurance company says no, a word that it could use because death came two months too soon. Call Tony Cote, 596-3737, 9 am. to noon weekdays, or write: The Ottawa Citizen, Box 5020, Ottawa K2C3M4. Fax: 726-1198.

E-mail: tcotethecitizen.southam.ca. Send photocopies of documents. Letters cannot be acknowledged. The soldier's remains will be escorted from Parliament Hill to his final resting place while flanked by 1,000 war veterans and another 1,000 uniformed officers on June 18. The unknown soldier will be laid to rest in a stone sarcophagus below the War Memorial About 3,700 Canadians perished in the battle of Vimy Ridge.

The battle, the greatest of the First World War, began on April 9, 1917 and ended on April 14 after soldiers, mostly Canadians, captured the strategic ridge. Both French and English forces had tried unsuccessfully to capture Vimy before Canada's offensive. The victory was to shape the respect that Canada would attract for its contribution to the war effort. However, after the battle, the bodies of many of Canada's fallen soldiers could not be identified. Hundred of graves lay under stone crosses marked simply "A Canadian Soldier Known Unto God." Many countries already have a tomb to commemorate their unknown soldiers.

In Westminster Abbey, even the coronation procession detours around the tomb inset into the floor of the centre aisle. tween Daly Avenue (Ottawa Congress Centre) and DND Road (access road linking Nicholas Street to Colonel By Drive) from 1 to 4 p.m. The north and southbound lanes will both be closed between DND Road and Main Street from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. North and southbound lanes will both be closed between Carleton University and Branson Place from 7 to 10 a.m.

help in shooting tawa man was shot in the head, and the vehicle may have been involved. The man recovered, but police need some help to solve the case. Call 236-1222 Ext. 5441 if you saw the vehicle in that area or know anything about the crime. Continued from page Di "Failure is not an option," said acting OC Transpo general manager Mike Sheflin.

"If we fail, the cost of transportation in our region will soar." After operating in neutral for years, OC Transpo has raised the ire of regional council, which doubles as the transit commission. Impatient with the lack of progress, the transit commission hired consultants KPMG-IBI Group for a sweeping review. The consultants' preliminary report, a biting indictment of OC Transpo, drew a picture of a rudderless company where costs were out of control and worker morale was low. The consultants were particularly critical of OC Transpo maintenance costs that were 33 per cent higher than comparable transit companies and on-street service costs that were eight per cent higher. In the effort to clean house, four senior officials general manager Ian Stacey, finance commissioner Simon Mincoff, transportation operations manager Mary Whelan and equipment manager Peter Newgard were fired.

The total cost of severance pay: $900,000, to be paid from reserves. The restructuring of OC Transpo Oli iDiMWoIoIol 0101 From Left To Right: Elmwood Graduates, ELMWOOD An Independent Day School IP Royal Canadian Legion proj ect would bring remains to Canada By Joanne Laucius A Royal Canadian Legion-initiated -millennium project would see Canada get its own tomb for an unknown soldier. "This is a major, major project. Probably the biggest since the Second World War," said the Legion's Dominion Secretary Duane Daly. is one of the only countries that doesn't have a tomb of the unknown soldier." According to the plan, which still has to be approved by the millennium bureau of Canada, the remains of an unknown soldier would be exhumed from Vimy, France on May 13, 2000.

The remains will be transported back to Canada, where the soldier will lie in state in every provincial and territorial capital The remains will then be brought back to Ottawa to lie in state in the Hall of Honour in the Parliament Buildings. 1 A I 7 NCC to close section of Colonel By Drive today Kate Erin McCloskey currently in their Sophomore year at Queen's University In 1 997, twin sisters Kate and Erin McCloskey graduated from Dm wood School. Like 1 00 of their graduating class, they both went on to their University of choice. But while Kate and Erin are clearly special women, they are just two examples of the kind of attitude towards life and commitment to excellence, found at Elmwood School. Two years later, Kate and Erin comment about life at Elmwood and how Elmwood helped prepare them for University.

The National Capital Commission advises that sections of Colonel By Drive will be temporarily closed to traffic today to carry out the installation of Rideau Canal Skateway chalets. During these closings, motorists and other users should use Queen Elizabeth Driveway. The following sections will be affected: The southbound lane will be closed (northbound lane remains open) be Police seek public's Ottawa-Carleton police are asking -anyone who saw a white vehicle with tinted windows and a loud muffler in the Pleasant Park-area between 10 pjn. nd 1 aja on the night of Sept 2223 t0 give them a calL During that period, a 31-year-old Ot "I think Elmwood gave me a real advantage, when it came to getting into University. First of all, Elmwood definitely helped me improve my marks.

Secondly I was able to list all my activities on my application. When I first started at Elmwood I was really shy, but I gained so much confidence there, I ended up being involved in everything." Kate McCloskey. Sophomore student in Arts at Queen's Universify "At Queens, a lot of my friends have commented about how they had trouble adjusting to University life. But I think the reason that I didn't have trouble adjusting, was because of the study habits that I developed at Elmwood." Erin McCloskey. Sophomore student in Sciences at Queen's University Jr.

Kindergarten Grade 3. Co-ed Grade 4 OAC. All Girls Meet the Headmistress and tour the school with student ambassadors Meet with teachers, current parents, students and alumni Refreshments will be served..