A Lanaudière man was sentenced to nine months in prison for threatening death on social media to Prime Ministers Justin Trudeau and François Legault last year. With his threats, of incredible violence, André Tisseur also incited others to violence, while he kept a loaded firearm under his bed.
The 58-year-old’s writings and videos were released in March and April 2022. Several refer to the health measures taken to stem COVID-19. He particularly attacks the vaccine and “5G”.
The threats — which will not be repeated here in their entirety — are vulgar and marked by great violence. He said in particular to “the CAQ gang, you are all [sic] dead” and he urged the citizens “to take out their weapons”. He speaks of electric chair, guillotine and heads that will roll in blood: “I feel like killing the whole government”.
Man pleaded guilty to uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm to the Prime Ministers of Canada and Quebec and other members of government, as well as possessing a weapon loaded firearms and other weapons while prohibited by court order. His lawyer pleaded that he was intoxicated when he made the videos.
Rarely, Judge Normand Bonin of the Court of Quebec refused the two joint sentencing suggestions from defense and Crown lawyers, deeming the first “considerably inappropriate” and believing that the second “brings the administration of justice into disrepute”. “. The first suggested a sentence to be served at home with 100 hours of community service and the second a prison sentence equivalent to the time already spent by the man behind bars.
The magistrate rebuffs the lawyers in passing: they had not made any checks to ensure that the accused was able to carry out community work. But the man is disabled. Moreover, the defense lawyer had not even listened to the videos and the two lawyers had only given him a very brief summary of the facts.
The judge therefore asked to listen to them and commented on them as follows: “Not only in the words, but also in the tone used, there emerged a level of violence highlighting a danger for the public”.
He thus refused the prison sentence to be served at home: “The recommendation of the parties on the sentence is so dissociated from the circumstances of the offense and the situation of the accused that its acceptance by the Court would lead the persons informed and reasonable, aware of all the relevant circumstances, to believe that the justice system has ceased to function well. »
Judge Bonin therefore orders a pre-sentence report, then invites the prosecutors to make a second joint suggestion – also refused.
The accused has a long criminal record — 27 priors to his credit, including for assault and threats — and he has disregarded court orders in the past, having in his possession prohibited weapons and a loaded one under his bed when he had no right to own one, wrote the judge. Despite six months of drug therapy since his arrest, the pre-sentence report notes a “present risk of recidivism” and expresses concern about the accused’s potential for violence. The judge notes that André Tisseur has “worked on his sobriety”, but not really on his violent behavior.
Judge Bonin recalled that magistrates must attach great importance to negotiations between prosecutors about sentences, but that he finds himself in one of those “exceptional and unusual” circumstances where he must set them aside.
The magistrate thus chose to impose a prison sentence of nine months — less the time already served — in a detention facility and supervised probation for two years. The man will no longer be able to refer to the two prime ministers and members of their government on social networks for a year.
“In view of the crimes committed, there is nothing trivial about threatening people who devote themselves to the public good. There is nothing trivial about encouraging many listeners to take up arms and to sleep with a loaded weapon under their bed and other weapons including a prohibited weapon”. This is an attack on democracy itself, writes the magistrate, recalling that Prime Minister Pauline Marois was the victim of an attack in 2012.