Dozens of people demonstrated in front of the Montreal courthouse to demand a reform of the judicial system in Quebec in the wake of the conditional discharge of engineer Simon Houle for a sexual assault.
Posted at 1:34 p.m.
Updated at 1:43 p.m.
In an interview, the organizers of the event denounced the inability of the justice system to deal adequately with sexual crimes.
” [Le jugement Houle]it is the tree that hides the forest, the case law is filled with comparable decisions, and this is the very reason why [le juge Matthieu Poliquin] came to this conclusion, he was inspired by what was decided in the past, ”explained one of them, Mélanie Lemay.
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, THE PRESS
Mélanie Lemay, co-organizer of the event
It has been years since the Minister of Justice [Simon Jolin-Barrette] talks to us about a specialized court, but you have to live in the land of unicorns to think that it will be possible to incarcerate all sexual aggressors. It only demonstrates the importance of going beyond the same old system.
Mélanie Lemay, co-organizer of the event
Mme Lemay pleads for easier access to therapy and “cure” for victims of sexual crimes, as well as for more awareness, from an early age, “because many aggressors will never be brought to justice” .
Recall that Judge Matthieu Poliquin, in a decision handed down in June, granted conditional discharge to Simon Houle, an engineer from Trois-Rivières found guilty of sexual assault. The 27-year-old man at the time stripped the victim naked while she was impaired and asleep before inserting his fingers into her vagina and taking pictures of her body.
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, THE PRESS
“I’m not afraid of you anymore”, “justice is shit” and “rapists everywhere, justice nowhere” were just some of the messages written on the many placards held up by the participants.
Arousing significant media coverage, the judgment sparked outrage on social media, and the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions announced that he would seek permission to appeal the judgment.
The inadequacy of the law
The demonstrators therefore denounced more than a simple decision, they also demanded a complete revision of the way of handling cases of sexual assault.
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, THE PRESS
The demonstrators gathered Sunday in Montreal demanded in particular a complete revision of the way of handling cases of sexual assault.
“It has been said for years that the criminal law is not adapted [pour juger des crimes de nature sexuelle]. We were brought to the Specialized Tribunal as if it was going to change things, but that is not the case at all, ”lamented another organizer of the event, Alexandra Dupuis.
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, THE PRESS
Alexandra Dupuis, co-organizer of the event
The protest itself is not against the decision, but rather against the inadequacy of the field of criminal law when it comes to sex crimes.
Alexandra Dupuis, co-organizer of the event
The project for a court specializing in sexual and domestic violence in Quebec, developed in the wake of the tabling of the report rebuild trust, provides, among other things, that victims can be accompanied throughout the process by specialized workers from the Crime Victims Assistance Centre. It will also be the same prosecutor throughout the legal process.
“Our traumas are not taken seriously”
Several people present at the demonstration on Sunday, shocked by the Houle judgment, wanted to express their support for the victim.
“The judgment, I found it really disrespectful for the victims, and more particularly for the victim in this case”, explained a protester, Loïz Poissant-Ross.
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, THE PRESS
Loiz Poissant-Ross
“This is yet another proof that our traumas are not taken seriously. […] It shows that there is no point in filing a complaint because even when there are confessions, evidence, there will be no consequences, ”she added.
Another participant in the event, Catherine, was keen to show her support for the cause, in the context of the decline in women’s rights in the United States following the invalidation of the Roe v. Wade.
“It’s time to demonstrate, then to stand up against injustices to try to protect the rights we have acquired,” she said.