A story stuck in the snow

Valérie Plante was quite proud to say that the Montreal police have seized 300 weapons since the beginning of the year. Nice work indeed.

But last year, a strange guy was arrested with 248 handguns imported from the United States alone. A year later, he was released from prison.

You may remember William Rainville, who called himself a “dynamic young entrepreneur” and claimed to make a fortune in real estate. In March 2021, the police arrested him near the American border with his cargo.

Four months later, he pleaded guilty. After a joint suggestion from the defense and the prosecution, judge Bertrand St-Arnaud condemns him to 60 months in prison. Understand that these “deals” always allow for a reduced sentence, since charges are dropped in exchange for the certainty of a conviction.

Due to the difficult conditions of detention due to the pandemic, the judge credited him with ten months for the four purged on remand. So there were 50 months left from July 2021.

Barely a year later, our man finds himself before the parole board, to obtain a “semi-freedom”, that is to say a stay in a halfway house. After less than a quarter of his sentence. A sentence which, itself, takes into account the fact that this “good citizen” has no criminal record, has studied, is unique to his person and will certainly be an asset for society, as they say.

So here is this young man of 25 years before the Parole Board of Canada last week. The story he told the commissioners is quite astounding.

He says he had no idea what cargo he was carrying when he was arrested.

“I didn’t know they were weapons, I didn’t know the quantity. When I opened the bags, I said, “Wow !” I then questioned myself. »

Too late, the police arrived before the end of this healthy introspection.

I note that Rainville himself used toboggans to transport the cargo across the border, in the snow, in the middle of the night, with lamps attached to his ankles.

What a surprise ! The hockey bags contained the “carcasses” of 248 illegal weapons (to be assembled). A value of 1.6 million.

“You must have suspected that it was illegal merchandise, asked a commissioner, to whom we do not pass.

“Yes, but money has predominated over my happiness,” replied the young man.

The answer is cryptic and suggests that, contrary to what he said on social media, his happiness was not on the money side.

Stranger still, Rainville explains that it was to repay a debt of $7,000 that he embarked on this incredible adventure.

But it was a debt… to him. A “friend” owed him $7,000 and, unable to get his money back, offered to give him a pass carrying bags at night across the US border. Funny deal. Funny friend.

Because usually, it is the one who owes money who takes risks and turns around the corners of the criminal law. But no, in this case, the debtor says to Rainville: I owe you money. To pay yourself back, you could smuggle across borders.

And the other says: cool, thank you!

Of course, all of this doesn’t add up. But the commissioners were convinced — a written decision is forthcoming.

Let’s be clear, I’m not one of those who doesn’t believe in parole or rehabilitation. But what is a sentence worth if it is divided by four?

We will of course be told that he is not a “violent criminal”.

As a policeman said to me yesterday, “it’s not guys with a tattooed tarantula on their forehead who smuggle guns across borders.”

These are just people above suspicion who want to make a quick buck.

Is it really, the first time, we entrust as many weapons to the first graduate come? A guy who, pure chance, has just bought a house near the lines. If it’s not well organized, it’s a real bad luck…

Weapons that end up in the hands of gangs follow this type of path. They need this kind of deceptively “innocent” citizens, with their stories stuck in the snow.

Already, Rainville was relatively lucky to get away with five years – minus the discounts. But a release even before the third of his sentence? With all crooked justifications?

This is not serious. Nor a rehabilitation index.

You will tell me: he is not a “bum”, he has a baccalaureate in finance. He will be a carpenter, as he says. Hey, so much the better if that’s the plan!

In the meantime, I answer you: it is quite a bum, suit and more. It’s just that it looks better in front of the stewards. If it is, it is aggravating: he does not have the excuse of marginality.

That’s a lot, 248 guns, for a single man…

A direct, essential thread connects these “innocents” to the bullets that are fired in our streets. They have blood on their hands. They are responsible.

They should be treated as such.