25 years ago, Gaétan Girouard took his own life. To commemorate this sad event which shook all of Quebec, TVA will present a documentary on its former headliner on January 11. The opportunity to reflect on the media treatment of the affair, which had caused a wave of suicides. But this documentary is above all a tribute to a man who seemed to succeed in everything, but who was filled with deep distress.
“Gaétan was a giant with feet of clay,” sums up quite aptly in this documentary Jocelyne Cazin, who co-hosted the popular show with him I for six years.
The journalist, now retired, remembers noticing signs of depression in her colleague. For a long time, she blamed herself for not having been able to avoid the tragedy. Today, she especially wants to send a message to dissuade others from committing the irreparable. “I want to send a message to men who don’t express their emotions enough. It’s important to talk,” said M.me Cazin at the end of the press viewing of Gaétan Girouard: shock wave.
Gaétan Girouard has experienced a meteoric rise in the Quebec media landscape. Ambitious and competitive, he was one of those journalists obsessed with the desire to see their reports featured in the news. He quickly gained ground in the TVA news room. He wasn’t even 30 when he was offered to co-host Ithe show that made him a star.
He and Jocelyne Cazin, often equipped with a hidden camera, tracked down crooks throughout Quebec. They stopped at nothing, even going so far as to break down doors or pursue thugs in the middle of the street to put their microphone in their face.
But this very American style of journalism has generated a lot of lawsuits, not to mention threats. Enough to fuel a great feeling of anxiety in Gaétan Girouard. “The danger of investigative journalism is to take yourself for a vigilante. At some point, it ends up weighing on you,” said Alain Gravel after the viewing, who also felt this pressure when he left hosting the show. Investigation.
Review medical confidentiality?
Alain Gravel is one of the people who testify in this documentary about Gaétan Girouard, who worked with him at the start of his career at TVA. Gravel, today at Radio-Canada, remembers being struck by Girouard’s weight loss when he met him a few months before his death.
Gaétan Girouard, who had experienced a suicidal episode as a teenager, then suffered from severe depression. He had already consulted a family doctor twice, who prescribed antidepressants. At the time of his death, he was scheduled to see this doctor again two weeks later.
“If I have one reproach to make, it is towards this doctor whom I do not know,” says Jocelyne Cazin in the documentary. The former co-host of I is of the opinion that Gaétan Girouard’s wife should have been warned of the seriousness of her husband’s state of health. Even if it means relaxing, in this type of very specific situation, the very rigid rules surrounding medical confidentiality in Quebec, maintains the retired journalist.
Gaétan Girouard’s widow, Nathalie Préfontaine, also participates in this documentary which is particularly poignant at times. The couple’s two daughters, who were six and eight years old at the time of the tragedy, also spoke out to raise awareness among viewers about suicide. For one of them, suicide is a selfish gesture, given the hurt it causes within those around her.
The “Gaétan Girouard effect”
Everything is presented with great tact. Jean-Philippe Dion, who produced and directed this documentary, never indulges in sensationalism or unhealthy curiosity. The media learned from their mistakes, one must believe, after the death of Gaétan Girouard.
At the time, the suicide of the 33-year-old star journalist was covered at length, in great detail, in the press and on television news. In the days following the tragedy, call centers were overwhelmed. The number of suicides recorded a disturbing increase during 1999 in Quebec. The Sainte-Foy sector, where Gaétan Girouard killed himself, is the place in Quebec which saw the largest increase.
The “Gaétan Girouard effect” has since forced the media to change their practices when discussing suicide. We no longer disclose, for example, the manner in which a person killed themselves, for fear of encouraging fragile people to commit the irreparable.
Need help ? Do not hesitate to call the Quebec Suicide Prevention Line: 1 866 APPELLE (1 866 277-3553).