Without fanfare, the University of Quebec in Montreal lifted, in the fall of 2021, the temporary ban on access to the archives of Claude Jutra, a measure instituted in February 2016 following revelations about alleged acts of pedophilia.
The Press made this observation by chance from a consultation on the website of the UQAM archives and document management service for another subject. The institution did not issue a notice or press release announcing the lifting of the ban.
“As is the case for all of our fund processing, we have not announced its reopening,” said Caroline Tessier, director of the Communications Department, in an email exchange with The Press.
In February 2016, author Yves Lever published a biography of Claude Jutra in which he indicated that the filmmaker, who died in 1986, had committed acts of pedophilia in his life.
Two testimonies, collected by The Press and published in the following days, also go in this direction.
Suddenly, a storm is rising in the cultural world of Quebec. The name of Claude Jutra is erased from the Quebec cinema gala and from the main projection room of the Cinémathèque québécoise. Streets, squares and parks paying homage to him change their names. A sculpture in his memory signed Charles Daudelin is vandalized and removed from a Montreal park.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The vandalized statue in Claude-Jutra Park, at the corner of Clark and Prince-Arthur streets, in February 2016
At the same time, UQAM suspended access to the fund “for the sake of not infringing the privacy of third parties or their reputation,” it was said. There was talk of doing a full content evaluation.
Five years later, in March 2021, The Press publishes an article indicating that the entire collection is still inaccessible. We are then told that the archives service is not subsidized for the preservation of private archives, that its resources are limited and that the COVID-19 pandemic explains the long processing time.
Eventually, the ban was lifted in the following months.
New assessment in 2040
The in-depth examination of the archives did not result in “the elimination of pieces”, indicates Caroline Tessier. On the other hand, as originally planned, certain elements of the fund are under seal for a period of 50 years, until 1er June 2040. Because these documents, including a personal diary, could contain information on third parties.
From 1er June 2040, this restriction may be reconsidered through a new assessment of the documents based on the laws in force.
Caroline Tessier, Director of Communications Services at UQAM
Quebec director and actor, Claude Jutra has signed, among other things, the works My uncle Anthony, Kamouraska And All things Considered. Remember that the Cinémathèque québécoise also owns a smaller part of Claude Jutra’s archives.