Uncover - S22 E6: The Demon Inside | "The Band Played On"

Episode Date: August 21, 2023

When the court documents are finally unsealed, they reveal a disturbing portrait of a sex offender who began preying on students in the late 1960s. Authorities, including police, were aware of the teacher's encounters with teens. The fresh details draw sympathy and forgiveness from some survivors, while others hold him responsible for failing to keep his demons in check. Listener discretion is advised.

Bankman Freed's entire house of cards started to crumble as crypto asset prices plummeted in May. This morning, we unsealed an eight-count indictment charging Samuel Bankman Freed. I'm Jacob Silverman, host of the new podcast, The Naked Emperor. I'm going to explain how Sam Bankman Freed built and destroyed a multi-billion dollar crypto empire. Available now on CBC Listen and everywhere you get your podcasts. This is a CBC Podcast. Just a quick note before we begin. You're going to be hearing victims of sexual abuse share some disturbing details. It can be difficult to listen to. This podcast is not intended for young audiences and it contains explicit language. If you find these stories affect you, please reach

out to a mental health professional for help. No one wants me to see it. It's a key piece of evidence about former music teacher Bob Clark. In the spring of 2018, Clark is in prison, a convicted sex offender. But this evidence, a report, was sealed, hidden away. We argue in court that the evidence is in the public's interest. There are three court appearances and months go by. And then, finally, a deal is struck between Clark's lawyer and CBC's lawyer. Some portions of the report are blacked out. The rest is released to me. What remains on its 25 pages is shocking. You know what? I don't get emotional about Pop Clark anymore, but when I read that, that just, the bottom drops out for me.

It's so upsetting to know. What Peter Hamer read is a sexual behaviours assessment, and it's all about his abuser. It's fascinating. It goes as far back as the late 1960s, when Clark already knew there was a problem. Here's a guy, he's a teacher, he's teaching at Ottawa Tech, so it's before he went to Bell High School.

He seeks out psychiatric help because of the comments that he makes in class. 1969, Bob Clark is approaching his students in an awkward way. He's making comments and jokes with teen boys about masturbation. And he knows it's not appropriate. He asks the psychiatrist, you know, just castrate me because of what's going on in his head. Just castrate me. That is a quote from the report. And that's what Clark says he told a psychiatrist in 1969.

To suggest that you want to be castrated means that you've got a lot of bad shit in your head, that you're thinking, OK, there's no way I'm going to get rid of this and I need a permanent solution. So 1969, how old were you then? I was two. I was two years old in 1969. Yeah, it's fascinating. You know, 1969, he was a teacher at Ottawa Tech. He went and sought help for himself.

I was a two-year-old baby living in Bill's Corners. Bob Clark was in his early 20s, new to teaching. It's mind-boggling that, you know, that was his behaviour back in the 60s. It continues to be his behaviour in the 70s, the 80s and the 90s. And he continues to get free reign as a teacher. I'm Julie Ireton. For years, dozens of students, teen boys and girls were abused by three teachers. Bob Clark taught music, directed the band.

But he had a problem, urges he couldn't control. by three teachers. Bob Clark taught music, directed the band, but he had a problem, urges he couldn't control. He went for help. He was ignored. And the court, it was read into court that he was ignored. So who do you blame now? And still he was allowed to be a teacher. How do you knowingly turn sick people over the stewardship of children? There is no justice for that.

The music teacher sought psychiatric treatment. Abuse continued. The band played on. This is a podcast from CBC Ottawa. Episode 6, The Demon Inside. So when we went to court a year ago, we heard tidbits, just a little bit that he had been seen by psychologists and psychiatrists here, but we had no detail.

Peter Hamer and I are just inside the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. Most people around here just call it the Royal. As you said, we heard little bits in court that, you know, he had sought help and weren't really sure about what the timelines were and how much help he had sought. And then when we got access to the sexual behaviour assessment, it was horrifying for me. It was like it took me weeks to absorb it, you know, to get through it. The report was written by a psychiatrist who works here at the Royal.

The psychiatrist interviewed Bob Clark on two occasions in 2017 before writing the report. Clark's own lawyer requested this report. This was after Peter Hamer had gone to the police and after the first charges were laid against the former teacher. You know, there's nothing in this report that states that he's mentally ill. And yet it's evident Clark knew something was wrong a long time ago. Sometimes Clark was an outpatient at the Royal

so notes from his hospital chart are included in this report. Over the years he saw more than a dozen different psychologists and psychiatrists. Many of them over a short period of time in the mid-1970s. How do you do that and not say, hey, this guy's a teacher? We should do something about this. And there's no indication anywhere that anybody did anything about him having constant contact with teenage boys. We don't know exactly what information Clark gave his therapists.

His many visits to psychiatrists are chronicled throughout the 25 pages of the report. Clark's trips to the Royal's emergency department and the urges that drove him towards teen boys are documented. him towards teen boys are documented. But it was horrifying to know what had happened you know in the decades while he was a teacher and actively accessing treatment for his very deviant behaviour. This report shows he did reach out for help. And he also continued to teach for decades. It's so upsetting to know that in 1975, if people had done their job properly, I wouldn't have been a victim. And Peter Hamer isn't the only former Bell High student to feel that way. The abuse John Myers endured

happened before Peter. We heard from him in the last episode. It repulsed me at the time, but you know, we carried on. I stayed in the band until grade 13. Myers is now 58. He has a round face and a gray goatee. I think your brain just sort of, when you're in that situation, just ignores it. John Myers read the psychiatric report front to back. I really had a hard time reading it, and it was very emotional for me to read it. And he could almost hear Bob Clark's voice in his head as he read it. The worst part of it for me was that it rang true like it sounded like Bob Clark it sounded like he was telling the truth. Several victims including

John Myers are mentioned by name in the psych report. The first time I read it I sort of caught my name in it and read my parts and then I showed it to my daughter and she sort of went through it in some more detail. And it was really hard to look at. Bob Clark told the psychiatrist about subjecting teenager John Myers to abuse on that chairlift some 40 years ago. I remember being on a chairlift some 40 years ago. I remember being on a chairlift with him. The band was sightseeing in the Rocky Mountains. And we're you know hundreds of meters off the ground and I've got nowhere to go and he masturbated there.

In this part of the report Clark described himself to the psychiatrist as impulsive with a high sex drive. You know, like I said, I look back and I'll never forget that. You can't escape. No, no. In 2017, Clark told the doctor back then he had wanted to be part of the Mile High Club and masturbate in an unusual place. On reflection, he told the doctor, quote, I felt disgusted with myself. I thought you're a sick puppy.

And the image of it was, and I still to this day, I've not been on a chairlift since that time. And it's part of my panic disorder that I can't address some of those things in my life. And I panic. I tried to get out of chairlift and I panicked right away. So there's a direct connection there. John Myers comes across as a gentle soul, but someone who's constantly chasing away the darkness. He had numerous encounters with the music teacher. I was able to work for a bit, but I've always had the panic attacks, and I've had anxiety and suffered with depression, and it hasn't been any fun. And the doctors directly relate all of my problems back to the Bob Clark days

and the Bob Clark issues, and it really has robbed me of my life. John Myers has suffered from mental health problems since his 20s. He and his former music teacher even went to the same hospital, the Royal, to get help. I was a patient, not a patient, but was seeing doctors at the Royal Ottawa in the early 80s for the panic disorder. So they were doing behaviour modification and biofeedback therapy and I even did hypnosis there to try to get rid of the panic disorders and to hear that Clark was seeking help at the same time or before is, I don't know, it's mind-boggling. It's the guy that caused my problems, you know, went to the same place that I did. It makes me not want to go back there.

Like Peter Hamer, John Myers wonders if doctors or mental health workers ever reported Clark to school board authorities. The assessment doesn't answer that question. We just know he kept teaching, leading bands. You know, I'm totally confused why if somebody had reported it either to the school board, I hope, or the police, for sure, then I wouldn't have had my life altered so much. And it's hurt me in immeasurable ways. Like, it's every relationship I've had with a woman, every relationship that I've had with men in power, on top of the panic disorder, which has limited my ability to do so much.

And I could have been so much more than I am. And, you know, I haven't had a terrible life, but I could have been so much more. I could have been so much more. There's another entry in Bob Clark's report that bothers John Myers, and it leaves me with some big questions. There was an incident involving Bob Clark and the police in the summer of 1975. It was summer holidays, and Bob Clark drove a yellow Europa Lotus, a sports car. And that yellow Lotus was an attraction for all of us.

It was a cool car, and Clark liked to show it off and ended up with having a lot of boys in that car, I think. It's the same car that Franz Glauss had stories about. Now, this 1975 story happened a couple years before John Myers was in Clark's band, and it predates John Myers' own abuse. From information I've read in the Psych Report, along with an eyewitness account, I've been able to piece together what happened in the summer of 1975. Clark offered two boys a ride in the Lotus. Clark asked one of the boys in the car if he was horny.

Then he leaned over and touched the boy's penis. Not long after the car ride, police were called. Clark went on his own to the Royal and that's how the incident ended up in the report. And to think that they knew back in 75 that the Royal Ottawa knew what was going on and that would be before my incidences and most of the incidences that have happened that they failed us.

So it does make me angry, yeah. The psych report notes that Clark showed up at the Royal on August 1st, 1975. And a handwritten note in his chart reads, quote, Mr. Clark recently touched a 15-year-old and may have charges laid against him. recently touched a 15-year-old and may have charges laid against him. A forensic report was produced about this 1975 incident, but it's not included in the file I received. In 1975, no charges were laid against Clark. And police tell me there's no longer any record of any complaint. It's hard not to feel a little bit of anger

back towards the police back then. But Clark was referred to the hospital's sexual behaviours clinic, and still, he kept teaching. If he was trying to get help, the system failed us. And it failed him as well as me and the other victims, and that I do, in a way, feel sorry for him. Can you find a place to forgive him at this point? Is that asking too much? I think I do.

I think the Royal Ottawa report makes me more forgiving, because he did seek help, and he did try not to hurt us and and you know he was sick he was mentally ill and he didn't get the the care that he should have gotten. John Myers isn't the only survivor to now feel more forgiveness than hate. It goes back and forth, you know? I feel sympathy. Maybe I should write him a letter in prison, help make him feel better.

But why? Why? in prison help make him feel better but why why so you know david martin was an early clark victim back in 1973. it's like montaigne says uh we taste nothing pure he always he says that it's like there's always a fly in the ointment somewhere, you know. There's always something. It might be because Martin feels he owes something to his former music teacher. That's what I said. I would say that Mr. Clark, here I'm doing it again, was a wonderful music teacher, and he was a fine, inspiring leader, eager to share his knowledge with us. But the experience was for me to pull it mildly mixed. Yeah.

But the experience was for me to pull it mildly mixed. Yeah. David Martin now lives in Montreal. Notre Dame de Grasse. But he grew up in Ottawa. It was a good place to grow up. I had lots of space to play when I was a kid. Martin truly was a virtuoso at a young age. And it was Bob Clark who recognized David Martin's musical talents.

But by grade 8 I'd been playing trombone and then I found out at Bell High School they needed trombone players. Still in grade 8 and he was recruited to play in the Bell High band. So I was 12 and there were 19-year-olds in the band. That must have been weird. I guess, but it was also pretty great because to play in a good band at the age of 12 was tremendous. David Martin remembers things in Bob Clark's band were different. Like I said, you could say the boundaries were pretty blurred.

Yeah. So the problems he had with the law were, you know, touching us inappropriately. Like I got touched, you know, like when he would rub your leg and stuff and say, you're a bad boy, I like bad boys and stuff like that. I don't know if I was 12 when he did that. He said some crazy, filthy things.

I remember when I was on the first band trip I took, I think I was still in public school. I think I was 12 still when we went to Nova Scotia. He would bunk with the boys. I remember one time we were bunking with the boys all together. And he said, I wish I had a dildo so I could stick it up my ass. He said that in front of all the kids, and I remember saying, wow, I guess I'm all grown up now.

When Martin heard about the initial charges against Clark in 2016, he wasn't surprised. He went to police. I contacted the police, and I was like, well, I have some information. I wasn't, like, my motivation wasn't to get someone to pay for their sins or send them to jail. I just wanted to sort of stand up and be counted, finally. But he's still not sure how he feels about it all. All right, I'm ready.

You're ready? Wow, that didn't take long. Just go ahead. Okay. The instrument he first learned to play in Clark's band has become a big feature in his life. Martin now plays trombone professionally, often with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He's been a conductor, and he currently heads the music department at the University of Montreal.

David Martin's experiences with Bob Clark didn't extinguish his love for music, and he's conflicted about Clark ending up in jail. Honestly, what does it do? I think this is something we haven't addressed. The modern society has not come up with intelligent answers to these questions for those people who are outside the realms of normal behavior. There has to be a way where people that have this urge can deal with it somehow.

You know, I don't know what the answer is. It looks like no one had the answer for decades. It looks like no one had the answer for decades. The psychiatric report details Clark's attempts to get help back in the 1960s. It notes he saw several therapists in the mid-1970s. Some of the report is blacked out, so we can't be sure what went on in the 1980s. Then it jumps ahead to June 1992. At that point, Clark was teaching at Sir Robert Borden High School. But something had happened at the school. And in June 1992, he went back to the Royal for help. It's the same year Clark was pushed out of teaching for good. I've never known exactly why and the report doesn't

say. For months, it's a mystery I've been trying to solve. Hello? Hi there, it's Julie Arton calling. Is this Mike? It is. Gotcha. You are a pretty good investigative journalist. You've tracked down the tater. Had you heard about the stories that I've been working on? No, but I'm pretty sure I know what it's about. Okay. Well, what do you think it's about? I think it's about the sexual assaults at Sir Robert Borden High School. Everybody knew.

I can tell you right now, like all the way through, like every, it was just one giant cover up. I think we better back up a bit. Sure. So my name is Mike Wood. This name didn't come up in any of the court documents or the psych report. It was actually a tip from a former teacher that led me to Mike Wood. He's a professional musician, another former music student taught by Bob Clark. I toured in a rock and roll band as a guitar player

and piano player all across North America. And it was a crazy time. And I'm just surprised I'm alive here to actually do this with you guys, you know? It was a tough go. Is this going on the air? It might, it might. That's what tape recorders generally do.

We sit in his office. The leather furniture is worn. Music posters are on the walls. It's late in the evening, but he's a night owl. It's a byproduct of his wild touring days. Wood performed with members of Motley Crue, Buckcherry, and Kansas. And so when I was like 15, I desperately wanted to be Axl Rose.

I still want to be Axl Rose. 1994 Axl Rose, or 92 Axl Rose. He wrote songs, including this one with the band Circuit. Wood is currently a voting member for the Grammy Awards and he teaches music at a local college. And I'm a prophet Algonquin. But I'm here to talk about those days in the early 1990s. That's when he attended Sir Robert Borden High School, the last school where Bob Clark worked. So I was in the music program. I was in band and I was actually, man, this is going to kill my cool cred. I was a band president. And in 1992, Bob Clark was band leader. Anyways,

he was a weird dude. And there was like some weird things that happened. And, you know, And there was like some weird things that happened. And, you know, when you're like 14 or 15, you're just like half of it is you kind of laugh it off. Like this is ridiculous. And then, you know, the other half of you is like, this is too weird. Like you don't know who you are when you're 15 years old. You don't know what's going on. So anyways, the fire alarm rings one day and then i didn't see him do it but he jerked off on a window and then brought all the guys by to see, yeah, his DNA running down this window. You know, like, it's just a lot to kind of figure out, you know?

So it was, and I remember, like, him in, like, his office. Like, I still remember where the office was. I'm trying to get, like, the guys to come sit on his lap and shit, and it was just really fucked. Sorry. Sorry, I keep swearing like a sailor over here. Mike's mom, Gail Wood, was a teacher at the same school. I think he pulled it out to quote Elaine Bennis from Seinfeld,

which is terrible for my poor mother, you know, to hear all this stuff. It included the all-too- too familiar stories bob clark masturbating in front of students propositioning them it's all stuff mike wood never even considered telling his mom but she caught wind of it at school my mom intercepted me uh and she's like do you know what do you know what happened with bob clark and I guess I just looked at her or something. And then my mom starts bawling her eyes out. I knew that she knew and she knew that I knew. And then she's like, oh, my God, he's involved.

Mike Wood and a friend went to a guidance counselor. His mom went to her union, the teacher's union. Next, she and Mike's dad went to the school board what did your dad want to see in 1992 oh how do i say this so my dad doesn't go to jail like my dad wanted to kill him you know what i mean but but you know i might i think he wanted to see a him never be in another school and around kids any longer i think my dad wanted to see him in jail um because of all of these things that they had heard and i think but police tell me there was no record they were called mike wood doesn't think it was a small or isolated group that had knowledge of bob clark's behavior 1992. He said a lot of people, teachers, students, administrators,

all knew what was going on with Clark. Yeah, so anyways, you know, they all knew for sure. And my mom had the gift of the gab. And yet, you know, I talked to so many teachers. I reached out to so many teachers from Borden and nobody knew a thing about what happened in 1992. That's bullshit. That's bullshit.

They all knew. But I have no evidence that they all knew. In fact, I've talked to a lot of teachers. Few had much information to share. Mike Wood's mom died in 2010. His dad recently confirmed the story with Mike but didn't want to do an interview. Mike Wood thinks back to how his mom reacted back in 1992. Right I think that my mom and that lady she was hell on wheels some days is that I think my mom probably melted down and had a freak out and just like freaked.

And then a short time later in June 1992, Bob Clark was suddenly absent from school. That's exactly when Clark turned up at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre at the emergency department. I go back to that psychiatric assessment I got from the court. I look at those June 1992 references. June 3rd, 1992. The Royal.

Clark receives an emergency assessment. Clark is seen by a doctor following a, quote, reprimand at school for inappropriate conversation. He's told to contact the sexual dysfunctions clinic. Two weeks later, Clark goes to that clinic. The chart says he undergoes tests. Clark was eventually diagnosed as having generally sexually disinhibited conduct. The doctors at the Royals Clinic say, quote, he was forced out of his

job as a teacher because of verbal sexual misconduct directed towards mainly male students. There were no criminal charges involved in those allegations, but he was asked to leave his job as a teacher, unquote. As far as I know, the police were never involved. And then they sent me to counselling with Andrea. Mike Wood and a friend got one session each. However that was arranged, I have a feeling that our parents, like our mothers made that happen. Then Bob's gone. Was it the fact that Bob Clark's victim in this case

was the son of a teacher? Is that what made the difference? Was that why this teacher was finally removed from the classroom? And then, so she's teaching there. She's part of the union. Wood didn't really talk about it with anyone back then.

And he never heard that any other students were offered an appointment with a therapist. But for Mike Wood, what he experienced with Bob Clark had been discussed. It had been validated. And so anyways, I really hope these people that had it

a lot worse than me really find that, you know, they can be good, you know. The experience didn't stay with him like older victims that didn't get that. I think that the people that have been able to live through this and deal with it, they're the ones that should get the accolades. and deal with it. They're the ones that should get the accolades. In 2017, it felt like drugs were everywhere in the news. So I started a podcast called On Drugs. We covered a lot of ground over two seasons, but there are still so many more stories to tell. I'm Jeff Turner, and I'm back with season three of On Drugs. And this time, it's going to get personal.

I don't know who Sober Jeff is. I don't even know if I like that guy. On Drugs is available now wherever you get your podcasts. I meet up with Peter Hamer for a coffee, and I fill him in on what Mike Wood has told me. They sent Mike Wood for counselling? Yeah. I can't believe that. That makes me shake. That's just, like, what's...

This one fellow, obviously, you know, and appropriately so, I mean, that's good, they offered him some sort of counselling, but what about all of the others? They didn't even bother going back and saying, you know, who are the other victims? Are there other victims? Because there'd been other complaints about him. So it's not like this was, like, the first complaint about Bob Clark. And they don't go looking. That's the thing that ticks me off the most, and certainly for Mark Leach.

He's a student at the time. They wouldn't have had to look too far. That's crazy. That's irresponsible and that's immoral. I can't believe that. That's a huge letdown. They should have made sure we were okay, you know. He was in contact with hundreds of kids daily. Mark Leach was at high school around the same time as Mike Wood. In June 1992, all Mark Leach knew was Bob Clark was gone. You fire a teacher for sexual misconduct, you don't think of making sure the kids are okay. You know, he only did to one person, I don't think, so. Leach had been sexually assaulted in the music room the year

before. Do you know why he left Sir Robert Borden? I don't know the reasons why at the time there was rumors that he touched a girl or something. The school board Clark's former employer will only say it started an investigation in 1992 but then Clark resigned. But no one ever talked to Mark Leach about an investigation. No one mentioned counselling to him. And like I said before, if someone had come into the music room after he left and said you know, we understand he left because of inappropriate behaviour does anybody have anything else to say? I would have, of course, said something.

I was just glad he was gone. to say, I would have, of course, said something. I was just glad he was gone. Mark Leach now wishes he'd been able to deal with what happened when it happened, not some 30 years later. Even to this day, I can't give affection, really. I don't like people touching me, even in stores. People hand me change, they've got to drop it in my hand sort of thing. It's weird.

I don't know if I can trace it back to that. It may have been like the first thing that started it. Mark Leach wonders about all those psychiatrists and psychologists Clark saw in the 1970s. And still he was allowed to be a teacher. So you had the police interviewing him for sexual misconduct. You had a psychiatrist interviewing for sexual deviancy and misconduct. You had the school board and officials knowing about it, and they all let it continue. You know, I'm more upset about

the authority figures than him. You know, for him, maybe I can write it off as a... I don't know. Maybe I had to forgive him in my own mind just to move past it. Now I'm focusing on my anger on the authority part of it. But, I mean, it's changed over time. I mean, it's... It may also be because he's been punished.

Has he, though? I don't know. Mark Leach wants to know what Bob Clark did after he left teaching. I'm not a vindictive person or anything, but I want answers. The report notes that after he left Mark's school, Clark worked at a stereo store. He later moved to a small town and he delivered pizzas. And by this time, he was divorced and cut off from his own grown children. In September 2016, he was back at the Royal.

This was after Peter Hamer and others went to police. Clark had been charged with historic sex crimes and he was thinking of harming himself. Police have charged 72-year-old Robert Clark with sexual assault. The Royal Ottawa's Mental Health Centre is a big shiny new building. There's a steady stream of patients, staff and visitors traveling in and out of the main doors. For decades, a mental health hospital has been on this site. Hello, I'm Dr. Paul Federoff. I'm the director of the sexual behaviours clinic at the Royal... There's still a sexual behaviours clinic here.

And I am head of the Division of Forensic Psychiatry with the University of Ottawa. For privacy reasons, no one here will talk to me about Bob Clark's case or the psychiatric report that was produced here. But Dr Federoff will talk to me generally about his profession's legal duty to report if a doctor suspects a patient is harming or has the potential to harm a child.

The principles of the duty to report have always been first to harm a child. The principles of the duty report have always been, you know, first protect the child. At his sexual behaviors clinic, he treats people who are sexually attracted to children. They use counseling, peer support and medication. People often come in and they say, you know, I have this problem. And they think that because they have this problem, that there's nothing that can be done about it. So we tell them right away, first of all, you can stop offending or stop the pathway today. You don't need to taper off something or whatever.

All sexual behaviors are under voluntary control. But if a patient is known or suspected of abusing a child under 17, Fedorov says there are rules. Because you know all professionals if they learn about any child who's suffering neglect, emotional, physical or sexual problems, of course we're going to want to save that that child as quickly as possible. Since the 1960s, professionals have been obligated to report concerns to child welfare authorities for follow-up. I haven't found any evidence that shows any therapist ever reported Bob Clark. I want to give Bob Clark a chance to tell his own story.

So I send him a letter in prison asking if he'll speak to me. After two weeks, I get a response. A plain white envelope arrives from the federal penitentiary, and my name and address are neatly printed in pencil. The letter is written on a piece of lined paper, and it's brief. Dear Julie, re your written request to me asking for an interview and to answer questions by correspondence. My lawyer has advised me to decline your request. Sincerely, Robert E. Clark. In the psych report written for the court, Clark did talk to the psychiatrist about how he

felt about the boys he had hurt. He said, quote, I've made mistakes. I'm so sorry for having hurt them. My own analysis is that I'm a demon inside and my subconscious sometimes overrides my conscious mind. Clark said he had little control of his actions. He was impulsive. So I have no sympathy for him. Reading these words in the report just makes Peter Hamer more angry. So I think he's a highly deceitful man. And I know I've talked to some of the other victims who say that, you know, they can see where he tried to get help.

I have no place in my mind or my heart that I feel sympathetic to him. I believe we are all responsible for the actions we take no matter what the demons you may have rolling around in your head. In the report, Clark said he remembered Peter Hamer and he thought Peter was his buddy. I wondered when the police went to arrest him whether he would remember me and because I always thought I was a pretty forgettable person I only thought maybe he'll remember me because I'm the only person but obviously we know that's not the truth and and it it says here Mr. Clark said that he had a close relationship with a Mr. Hamer. And he, in quotations, felt we were good buddies. And that is, one, horrifying and disgusting,

and two, suggests that he remembers me well. So every time there's more information, it just gets worse. Where does it stop? Peter flips to the last page of the psych report, the conclusion. He specifically says, unfortunately, treatment in the 70s and the 80s was not effective at helping Mr. Clark cease his problematic behavior. It's nice how they, it's problematic. It's abuse is what it is. Behavior towards adolescent males. By the time he was assessed by Dr. Bradford in 1992 and the behavior was more specifically addressed,

he was already out of his teaching position and the damage was done. The damage was done. The damage was done. That is the conclusion in 2017. Because it's done now. He's not a teacher anymore. So any number of kids that he may have victimized, it's done if he's not going to do it again. 48 years after Clark first tried to get help,

a psychiatrist determines Bob Clark is low risk to re-offend. You know, somebody's got to answer to this. Things went wrong. I get the laws may have been interpreted differently. I completely understand morality stands for something. It's the cornerstone of what we have in our, we hope, in our society. have in our, we hope, in our society. It's been said the true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable. We know that one in ten children in Canada will experience child sexual abuse before they turn 18 and that's a contact offence. That's an epidemic.

That's an epidemic. Coming up. This story was never about just one teacher or one school. Survivors still want accountability. And they want the abuse of children to end. To come together as survivors and go, okay, so we weren't the only ones. We know that now. I want back at them now. I want them to say their story.

I want to hear why they let this happen. And I want to hear that they're not going to let it happen again. You know, it's not just my brother, right? We've all been affected by it, right? My parents had to find this out. Like, it's not, it reverberates. The band Played On is reported and hosted by me, Julie Ireton. The podcast is written by me and Kristen Nelson. Kristen is also the series producer and sound editor. Chris Oak is our story editor. Jennifer Chevalier is our investigative producer. Cecil Rosner is director of CBC Regional Investigations.

And the managing editor of CBC Ottawa is Ruth Zodu. If you like this podcast, please subscribe for free wherever you get your podcasts. And please help us spread the word by rating, reviewing, or simply telling a friend. If you or someone you know has been sexually abused, community resources can help. Reach out to a trusted person, a sexual assault centre or a rape crisis centre in your area. There are also resources available for people at risk of suicide, such as the Canadian Suicide Prevention Service or the US-based National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Check online for information.