After the knife attack at the Longueuil courthouseall the other “concerned” actors in the justice system joined their voices to those of the judges to demand from Quebec for security arches in all judicial buildings.
“The signatories of this letter formally ask the competent authorities, and ultimately, the government, to very quickly put in place the necessary security measures in order to protect all citizens who have to attend courthouses throughout the territory, as well as all the actors and staff who work there ardently on a daily basis”, ask around ten co-signatory unions, associations and professional orders, in a joint letter sent to the office of Prime Minister François Legault, and to those of the Minister of Public Security, François Bonnardel, and the Minister of Justice, Mr.e Simon Jolin-Barrette.
In this missive, we include the voices of Crown prosecutors, defense and legal aid lawyers, translators and interpreters, special constables and professionals from the Quebec government.
These are in addition to that of the chief judges who got the ball rolling at the start of the week by demanding the security arches.
One of the entrances to the Montreal courthouse equipped with security arches to detect metals and X-ray search machines to see inside bags.
Archive photo, QMI Agency
“It therefore appears essential to us that each courthouse be equipped with permanent security arches and that a sufficient number of special constables be assigned. “The safety of everyone is at stake,” they continue, regarding these means of protection which are currently found at the Montreal courthouse and at the Court of Appeal only.
Attempted murder
These requests follow the violent and gratuitous knife attack suffered by an interpreter in the Longueuil courthouse on January 9.
After fearing for his life for several days, Hai Tach is now in stable condition in hospital, according to our information.
Since then, his assailant, Alexandre Garcés, 44, has been accused of attempted murder, aggravated assault, armed assault and carrying weapons.
Alexandre Garcés, accused.
Photo taken from the Facebook account of Alexandre Garcés
In progress
For its part, the office of the Minister of Justice, Me Simon Jolin-Barrette quickly reacted to the letter from the co-signatories.
“We want to reiterate that we take security in courthouses very seriously. Our thoughts are with the victim and their family. Although this is an isolated case, any act of violence is one too many and has no place in our society,” denounces the firm, in an email sent to Newspaper.
“We should also point out that analysis work is already underway to add security arches in certain courthouses, notably that of Longueuil,” he writes. This is something we were already looking at and work is continuing in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Safety.”
Alexandre Garcés’ case must return to court in mid-February.
–With Michaël Nguyen and Valérie Gonthier