Trials and Tribulations From caring for victims of abuse at Mount Cashel Orphanage to fighting human trafficking, Dolly Sweetapple leaves a legacy for corrections in Newfoundland and Labrador
Photo: Kristin Ostensen
BY KRISTIN OSTENSEN, STAFF WRITER
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Dolly Sweetapple, pictured here at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary in St. John’s, N.L., retires in June after 30 years in corrections services
hirty years ago there were no corrections services in Newfoundland and Labrador. No visitation programs to offer hope to inmates or transition assistance after their release. No victims services to help those affected by crime move forward with their lives. Today, the Newfoundland and Labrador Division offers a host of services, ranging from chaplaincy to support for victims of human trafficking. These programs are the legacy of Dolly Sweetapple, director of the Army’s correctional and justice services in St. John’s, who marks 30 years of service this month and will retire in June. “It doesn’t matter how old I get, I’m still very enthused about corrections,” says Sweetapple, now 70, “because we have so many people in the world and in this province who need to know that 18 • February 2015 • Salvationist
somebody cares about them. “I’ve never, in my 30 years, got up in the morning and dreaded going to work,” she continues. “I look in the mirror and say, ‘Thank you, God, for another day—who am I going to help today?’ ” Supporting Victims A lifelong Salvationist, Sweetapple first became involved in corrections in 1985 when she was asked to help establish the division’s first corrections office as an office administrator. It wasn’t long before she was asked to get involved in actual corrections work. “What happened after that is history,” she says. “I went from half days to full days and then to university to study criminology.” In those early years, Sweetapple gave much of her time to victims services, particularly after allegations of
sexual abuse surfaced at Mount Cashel Orphanage, a Catholic Church-affiliated orphanage in St. John’s, where she was a volunteer. “The director felt the boys needed a mother image, because they were lacking that so much,” she recalls. “I went there every Thursday night. We’d bake cookies and do crafts, and I’d help the little ones with their pyjamas and tuck them in and kiss them goodnight.” Sweetapple had been volunteering there for 18 months when the scandal broke, becoming the largest sexual abuse scandal in Canadian history. “All those victims became my clients. That year, I gave 500 volunteer hours to support the victims.” Sweetapple’s training and experience working with victims of child sexual abuse resulted in her work as a consultant on the final report of the Winter