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Our Little Secret: Confronting Child Sexual Child Abuse in Canada
A powerful and moving book exposing one of Canada's most traumatic crimes--child sexual abuse.
Award-winning journalist Judy Steed confronts the painful and controversial subject of child sexual abuse. Verified incidents of sexual assaults against children increase every year, yet the issue remains largely a hidden problem. Reporting from the frontlines , in an accessible, anecdotal style, Judy Steed brings all aspects of this complex subject to light.
Our Little Secret is a book for parents, alerting them to the dangers posed by child abusers; for professionals, offering insight into how the most experienced police detectives, doctors, teachers, Crown attorneys, social workers and lawyers across the county deal with the issues and problems surrounding child sexual abuse; and for victims themselves, whose voices come through loud and clear, sharing their experiences and hard-earned wisdom on how they have managed to survive.
Their stories are instructive, unforgettable--and imperative reading for anyone who cars about children.
Award-winning journalist Judy Steed confronts the painful and controversial subject of child sexual abuse. Verified incidents of sexual assaults against children increase every year, yet the issue remains largely a hidden problem. Reporting from the frontlines , in an accessible, anecdotal style, Judy Steed brings all aspects of this complex subject to light.
Our Little Secret is a book for parents, alerting them to the dangers posed by child abusers; for professionals, offering insight into how the most experienced police detectives, doctors, teachers, Crown attorneys, social workers and lawyers across the county deal with the issues and problems surrounding child sexual abuse; and for victims themselves, whose voices come through loud and clear, sharing their experiences and hard-earned wisdom on how they have managed to survive.
Their stories are instructive, unforgettable--and imperative reading for anyone who cars about children.
239 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
About the author
Judy Steed
4 books1 followerJudy Steed is an award-winning journalist and author. A former feature writer
at the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star, she is the recipient of four National
Newspaper Award citations and one National Magazine Award.
She received the Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy, which enabled her to study
aging, the impact of demographics and the breakthroughs in neuroscience that are
transforming our understanding of the human brain. Her 2008 Atkinson series,
BOOMER TSUNAMI, published in the Toronto Star, inspired Sarah Saso, executive
director of the Green Shield Canada Foundation, to launch the Health Innovation
Collaborative, focusing on seniors’ health issues, with Judy working to document the
process.
She is the author of five non-fiction books and a pilot for a TV series. She is a moderator
at Ryerson University’s Life Institute, where she shares techniques to enhance
memory and cognition, and reduce stress, in her course, LIGHT UP YOUR LIFE
AND YOUR BRAIN. She speaks regularly to a wide range of groups on these topics.
at the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star, she is the recipient of four National
Newspaper Award citations and one National Magazine Award.
She received the Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy, which enabled her to study
aging, the impact of demographics and the breakthroughs in neuroscience that are
transforming our understanding of the human brain. Her 2008 Atkinson series,
BOOMER TSUNAMI, published in the Toronto Star, inspired Sarah Saso, executive
director of the Green Shield Canada Foundation, to launch the Health Innovation
Collaborative, focusing on seniors’ health issues, with Judy working to document the
process.
She is the author of five non-fiction books and a pilot for a TV series. She is a moderator
at Ryerson University’s Life Institute, where she shares techniques to enhance
memory and cognition, and reduce stress, in her course, LIGHT UP YOUR LIFE
AND YOUR BRAIN. She speaks regularly to a wide range of groups on these topics.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 26, 2017
A very tough book to read. Hard to explain, but there was so much that I didn't know about this topic. Judy Steed did a good job in putting names to the perpetrators and describing the evil done by them. Very well written.
January 27, 2025
I know the original 7 years old who is now an adult survivors from Prescott. Judy's reporting on this is as accurate as it gets. I understand that the body of Joshua has recently been located. I have not seen anything in the news yet. Hopefully it breaks.
September 12, 2017
Very tough read. The second part of the book dealing with the processing and the court cases was interestig but the first few chapters were very upsetting.
October 25, 2013
Our Little Secret is an incredible work of investigative journalism by Judy Steed, a long time journalist and retired feature writer with The Toronto Star (a major Canadian newspaper. It should be a must read for anyone interested in keeping children protected and safe.
I purchased an autographed copy in 1994 when the book was first published. The author had been part of an organized discussion group on childhood sexual abuse and had done some readings there from her new book. Even though I had some knowledge on the subject matter, the book definitely opened up my eyes to how easy and possible it is for an organized childhood sex ring to happen in anyone’s neighbourhood and in anyone’s community.
The book almost read like a fantasy. A fantasy because it showed that all the signs were there for parents and others to “know” what was happening but it still continued for many years. It was the “acceptance and disbelief in the possibility of something so horrible” that allowed it to continue.
In short, it was power left unchecked – with absolutely no checks and balances in place to support and protect children. The book also illustrated many people’s tendency to bury their heads in the sand, to turn the other way rather than to confront or even think about or explore such a negative possibility. In that regard, the book almost read like a horror story.
The book however is based on a true story and is well researched and documented. Kudos to Judy Steed for her ferocity and feistiness in writing the book and naming names!!! At the time her book was written, many still were still in disbelief and denial about really happened in Kingston. Steed’s use of the media in her newspaper features and finally in the culmination of this book kept this terrible truth in the public’s attention – where it belonged. She held the perpetrators accountable and shone a bright enough light on the horrors that the courts, the government and the church were finally forced to deal with the criminals and the devastation they’d left behind.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject matter but I especially recommend it to those not interested in reading about childhood sexual abuse or anyone who has ever said or even thought “it’s impossible that so and so is a pedophile….he’s too nice, too upstanding….a pillar in the community…. married…has children….so committed….loves children etcetera.”
You will have your eyes opened as Steed dispels the myths about who child sexual predators might be. She does it by having done an incredible about of research and investigative work into a child sex ring (involving about 300 plus men) in Kingston, Ontario. She followed the trails and carnage the predators left behind – suicides, anguish, relationship issues etcetera. The damage from abuse lasts several generations a child’s ability to trust has been damaged, especially if the first adult they try to talk to about it doesn’t believe them or blames the child for what happened.
.
Steed interviewed many survivors, their families and others in the community.
The research, legwork and documentation are phenomenal. The book is based on a true story of a long running child sex ring in Ontario known about and sanctioned by many of Kingston’s most powerful citizens. Steed has written and brave book and was a forerunner in bringing the rarely talked about topic to the forefront where it needs to be. Even though it is 20 years old, what she writes about and advises still holds true today. A difficult but very important 5 star read.
I purchased an autographed copy in 1994 when the book was first published. The author had been part of an organized discussion group on childhood sexual abuse and had done some readings there from her new book. Even though I had some knowledge on the subject matter, the book definitely opened up my eyes to how easy and possible it is for an organized childhood sex ring to happen in anyone’s neighbourhood and in anyone’s community.
The book almost read like a fantasy. A fantasy because it showed that all the signs were there for parents and others to “know” what was happening but it still continued for many years. It was the “acceptance and disbelief in the possibility of something so horrible” that allowed it to continue.
In short, it was power left unchecked – with absolutely no checks and balances in place to support and protect children. The book also illustrated many people’s tendency to bury their heads in the sand, to turn the other way rather than to confront or even think about or explore such a negative possibility. In that regard, the book almost read like a horror story.
The book however is based on a true story and is well researched and documented. Kudos to Judy Steed for her ferocity and feistiness in writing the book and naming names!!! At the time her book was written, many still were still in disbelief and denial about really happened in Kingston. Steed’s use of the media in her newspaper features and finally in the culmination of this book kept this terrible truth in the public’s attention – where it belonged. She held the perpetrators accountable and shone a bright enough light on the horrors that the courts, the government and the church were finally forced to deal with the criminals and the devastation they’d left behind.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject matter but I especially recommend it to those not interested in reading about childhood sexual abuse or anyone who has ever said or even thought “it’s impossible that so and so is a pedophile….he’s too nice, too upstanding….a pillar in the community…. married…has children….so committed….loves children etcetera.”
You will have your eyes opened as Steed dispels the myths about who child sexual predators might be. She does it by having done an incredible about of research and investigative work into a child sex ring (involving about 300 plus men) in Kingston, Ontario. She followed the trails and carnage the predators left behind – suicides, anguish, relationship issues etcetera. The damage from abuse lasts several generations a child’s ability to trust has been damaged, especially if the first adult they try to talk to about it doesn’t believe them or blames the child for what happened.
.
Steed interviewed many survivors, their families and others in the community.
The research, legwork and documentation are phenomenal. The book is based on a true story of a long running child sex ring in Ontario known about and sanctioned by many of Kingston’s most powerful citizens. Steed has written and brave book and was a forerunner in bringing the rarely talked about topic to the forefront where it needs to be. Even though it is 20 years old, what she writes about and advises still holds true today. A difficult but very important 5 star read.
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June 20, 2010this is a good read
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews