The columnist who revealed the identity of Catherine Fournier as the victim of Harold LeBel on television in December 2020, Stéphane Bédard, apologizes for his gesture and affirms that he initially wanted to “support the victims”. He will donate $10,000 to the Quebec Regrouping of Centers for Help and the Fight against Sexual Assault (CALACS).
This was announced by M.me Fournier on Sunday evening, on the set of Everybody talks about it, confirming that an agreement had been reached on Sunday morning. “Mr. Bédard has agreed to donate $10,000 to the Quebec Regrouping of Sexual Assault Centers (CALACS). I salute him. I think it makes amends,” explained the mayoress of Longueuil.
Former PQ member, Stéphane Bédard commented on the news on the show The Jousting, on prime-time TVA, when he publicly revealed the identity of Catherine Fournier as the victim of Harold LeBel, while a publication ban was in effect. Mr. LeBel had just been arrested by the police on December 15, 2020.
“We are hot, we are live. There is no filter,” he argued in an interview with The Press, a few days ago. “My goal was to remind people of the importance of supporting victims,” he added.
It is with this intention that he says he let slip the name of his ex-colleague while he was on the air. “I was told in my ear: there is a prescription, there is a prescription,” he recalls. The lawyer claims to have apologized “through an intermediary” to Catherine Fournier shortly after his blunder. At the end of the line, however, he reiterates his sincere apologies “without any nuance”.
The law not enforced
Mme Fournier, she says above all that she “found that the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions does not enforce the law”. “I intend to have my rights respected. It is for this reason that I turned to a civil lawyer who served a formal notice on Mr. Bédard. I have to say he was very proactive in his response. He sent me a letter of sincere apology,” she said on Sunday evening.
“I probably wouldn’t be in front of you if the order had been followed the way I wanted it to be. They didn’t let me decide, they decided for me. My right to privacy has been violated. I decide today to reclaim my story, ”she insisted.
Catherine Fournier was a PQ member from 2016 to 2019, then independent until her election as mayor of Longueuil in 2021. She was 25 at the time of the events. Harold LeBel was 55. In an interview with The Presslast week, she denounced the lack of support and “solidarity” she received in the National Assembly in the wake of this affair.
His release sparked several reactions in the National Assembly, elected officials recognizing the need to carry out a broader reflection on the protocols in the event of criminal charges against deputies.
With Isabelle Hachey, The Press