A former Sûreté du Québec (SQ) police officer convicted of defrauding his employer of $42,000 filed a lawsuit this week for more than $2 million against his former union, which “would not have assumed his defense “.
“My union never supported me as it should,” we read in the lawsuit filed by former police officer Nicolas Landry against the Association of Quebec Provincial Police Officers (APPQ) and its president Jacques Painchaud.
In 2015, Nicolas Landry was found guilty of defrauding the SQ. According to the judge’s decision, he lied to be considered disabled for life and receive his full salary as an SQ police officer until 2026, the year he was due to retire.
Suffering from depression, Mr. Landry had been on sick leave since 2009. At the same time, he managed his wife’s travel agencies full time. His role required him to travel abroad. Mr. Landry was in Mexico during part of the legal proceedings.
Nicolas Landry was sentenced to 6 months in prison in 2015. He then appealed the case, then was rejected all the way to the Supreme Court. He went to prison, but was released a few weeks later in March, a third of his sentence.
Reproaches to the union
In his lawsuit, the ex-police officer alleges that the APPQ never filed the harassment complaints he made against his employer and colleagues. “There were all kinds of shenanigans,” said Mr. Landry, contacted by La Presse.
“If the grievances had been filed […]we might not be there,” he added.
He says if his union had represented him properly, he would still have his job today and would not have had to go to the Supreme Court over the criminal charges.
In his suit, Mr. Landry also mentions that the union “refused to pay doctors’ and lawyers’ fees.” According to him, this is a common practice among other unions.
This is why he is seeking $660,000 in lost wages, $940,000 in pension, $220,000 in attorney fees and $340,000 in damages.
Nicolas Landry also filed another lawsuit worth more than a million dollars against the Quebec police. According to him, the criminal investigation into the fraud case caused him significant physical and psychological damage.
The Sûreté du Québec and the APPQ did not wish to comment on the lawsuit.