Former Vancouver Olympic organizing committee president and CEO John Furlong, now Executive Chair of Major League Soccer's Vancouver Whitecaps, reads a statement in response to allegations of abuse brought forward by former First Nations students in Burns Lake dating back to 1969, during a news conference in Vancouver, B.C., on Thursday September 27, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
October 02, 2012 - 4:46 PM
VANCOUVER - The man who helmed the Vancouver Olympics says the past few days have been the most humiliating and demeaning he and his family have ever experienced.
John Furlong says legal action is now getting underway against the reporter and the Vancouver weekly newspaper that broke the story about allegations against Furlong from his time teaching First Nations students at a Catholic school in northern B.C.
The story cited several former students who claimed Furlong was physically and verbally abusive as a phys-ed teacher at the Immaculata Catholic School in Burns Lake beginning in 1969.
In a statement posted on his website today, Furlong says some of the allegations are so serious he didn't want to wait to respond to the claims while the case made its way through the courts.
The former head of the Olympic organizing committee says the story was a personal attack against him.
The reporter, Laura Robinson, has said she plans a lawsuit of her own over Furlong's comments about her ethics and research.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2012