The first victims are expected to take the stand Wednesday at the second phase of the Project Truth public inquiry in Cornwall, Ont.

Project Truth was a four-year Ontario Provincial Police investigation that laid 114 criminal sex-related charges against 15 area men between 1997 and 2001. The investigation resulted in just one conviction.

In his opening remarks on Tuesday, a judge said residents of this eastern Ontario city have endured considerable pain and should now be allowed to begin the healing process.

"Some will say [the inquiry] will only serve to open old wounds," Commissioner Normand Glaude said Tuesday. "But a wound allowed to fester for so long needs to be tended."

Glaude was the first to speak during opening statements at the inquiry into the institutional response to child sexual abuse, which happened over a 50-year period in the Cornwall area, and the police investigations of the matter.

Some community members hope the inquiry will not only provide answers for sexual abuse victims, but also quash rumours and conspiracy theories.

"The Cornwall Police Service welcomes this inquiry," said John Callaghan, who is serving as counsel for the city police. "We look forward to having an opportunity to have the swirl of innuendo and rumours that has gripped this community put to rest."

Callaghan said the inquiry will show there was no collusion between members of the city police force and any other party to cover up any aspect of an abuse investigation.

Some believe there was a tendency among investigators to side with complainants rather than approach allegations from an objective point of view.

"[There were] incomplete investigations which resulted in wrongfully charged individuals," said Marie Henein, an attorney representing city lawyer Jacques Leduc, who was charged with sex-related crimes in 1998.

Those charges were stayed in 2004 after a judge determined it had taken too long for the matter to go to trial. "To this day, [Leduc] is subjected to accusations on websites which label him as a member of a group of pedophiles."

Henein also argued that former city police officer Perry Dunlop should be made to testify at the inquiry.

Henein alleges that Dunlop's actions impeded the investigation into sexual abuse allegations, while others praise him for bringing the claims to light in the first place.

Dunlop lives in Vancouver and is not scheduled to testify.