With three sexual abuse cases against him either abandoned or dismissed, former Vancouver Olympics CEO John Furlong says he feels vindicated and ready to move on with his life.
At a press conference Tuesday, one day after the last of the claims was thrown out by a B.C. Supreme Court judge, Furlong said the allegations have had a profound impact on his life and his family, but he feels grateful that “innocence has prevailed.”
“It is extraordinary and unacceptable that anyone can make ruinous, toxic allegations against a citizen, put them on the public records via the courts, and then abandon them with impunity, seemingly without consequences, and leaving untold damage and pain behind,” Furlong said.
The former VANOC head also announced he’s dropping his own defamation suit against Laura Robinson, the reporter behind a 2012 Georgia Straight article that first publicly raised concerns about his conduct as a teacher in northern B.C. during the 1960s and 1970s.
“Given these three positive court outcomes, the lawsuit is no longer necessary for me to achieve vindication or innocence. I finally achieved that yesterday and my name is cleared. I wish to get on with rebuilding my life, as does my family. Canadians now know what took place and what is true,” Furlong said.
Robinson’s Straight article did not level allegations of sexual abuse, only of physical and verbal abuse during Furlong’s time at Immaculata Roman Catholic Elementary School in Burns Lake.
The report did not include either of the plaintiffs whose sexual abuse lawsuits were thrown out of court either. The third accuser, Beverly Abraham, said she decided to withdraw her claim following the deaths of three family members because she couldn’t deal with the stress.
The RCMP had also twice investigated Abraham’s decades-old allegations and couldn’t find evidence to support them.
Robinson has her own defamation suit against Furlong, who publicly accused her of trying to destroy his reputation and questioned her journalistic integrity, and on Tuesday announced that she would see it through.
“My story was based on serious allegations made by numerous individuals, including allegations contained in eight sworn affidavits and I stand by the work I did,” Robinson said in an email statement.
“I feel that the dropping of Mr. Furlong’s lawsuit against me today is recognition that my reporting on the serious allegations was responsible and appropriate. My suit is about an attack on my integrity and professional conduct as a journalist. It has never been about these three cases.”
Robinson said she’s looking forward to appearing in court on June 15.
