(Montreal) The legal scene will rarely have left such a deep mark in the news as in 2021 with the outcome, at the very end of the year, of the case of the little martyrdom of Granby. In quick succession, the 38-year-old mother-in-law was convicted of her unpremeditated murder and of having her kidnapped, while the 32-year-old father, a few days later, avoided a trial by pleading guilty to a charge of forcible confinement.
The mother-in-law, found guilty in an exceptionally short time of five hours by the jury, will have to spend at least 13 years behind bars, according to what judge Louis Dionne decided last Friday at the Trois-Rivières courthouse. The father, while pleading guilty to the lesser charge of forcible confinement, sees the count of criminal negligence causing death fall. He would have been liable to life imprisonment for this charge, but the penalty for forcible confinement can still be up to 10 years in prison.
Although he avoided a trial, that of his wife still allowed to show the atrocious circumstances in which the child, wrapped in adhesive tape, lived his last moments. The affair had shaken Quebec to the point where the Legault government had set up a commission to review the entire youth protection system and, in May, the report of the Laurent Commission on the rights of the child gave the Legault government a broad mandate including the adoption of a charter of the rights of the child, better funding for several community organizations and a lightening of the workload of youth workers.
Mike Ward: the right not to be offended does not exist
Another cause that will have marked the year 2021 will have been that of Mike Ward, to whom the highest court in the country has ruled, but in an extremely close majority decision of five to four. Although she herself described as “repulsive” the comments of the comedian about Jérémy Gabriel, the Supreme Court ruled that they were not discriminatory comments. At the same time, the decision issued an opinion that is likely to be invoked in abundance in the years to come, namely that the right not to be offended does not exist.
The Supreme Court also accepted in May to hear the Crown’s appeal in the case of Alexandre Bissonnette, who is trying to obtain a cumulative sentence for the multiple murders he committed at the Great Mosque of Quebec in January 2017. Initially sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 40 years, the Court of Appeal overturned this decision, reducing the minimum to 25 years.
However, this possible Supreme Court decision will have an impact on another case resolved at the beginning of 2021, that of Ugo Fredette, convicted of the premeditated murders of his ex-wife Véronique Barbe and Yvon Lacasse committed in 2017. In due to the decision of the Court of Appeal, he was also sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years, but the Crown also wants a cumulative sentence in his case and is awaiting the decision of the Supreme Court , scheduled for 2022. Ugo Fredette’s attempt to obtain a new trial also failed in December before the Court of Appeal.
Spectacular assassinations
Other trials also caught the public’s attention, notably that of the couple Marie-Josée Viau and Guy Dion, accused of conspiracy and the murder of the brothers Vincenzo and Giuseppe Falduto, killed in the couple’s garage in Saint-Jude, near de Saint-Hyacinthe, June 30, 2016. Mr.me Viau was convicted in November, while her spouse was acquitted.
In November, in a rarely seen case, hitman Frederick Silva admitted that the evidence against him in the case of three murders and the attempted murder of mafia boss Salvatore Scoppa was probative, which would earn him a conviction by Judge Mark David next January, but without admitting his guilt. This unusual way of doing things allows him to retain his right of appeal.
Overabundance of sex crimes
A case of child sexual exploitation sent shockwaves in August when a former psychoeducator from Montreal, Sylvain Villemaire, received an exemplary 18-year prison sentence for buying an 8-year-old girl in Africa. He had made her his sex slave for three years, from 2015 to 2018. This is the heaviest sentence ever imposed in Quebec for a crime of a sexual nature involving a child.
Cases of a sexual nature that have captured the attention of the public have multiplied in 2021. We note the arrest and indictment of producer Luc Wiseman, for acts of a sexual nature against a minor; the arrest and sexual assault charges in two separate cases against former Parti Québécois leader André Boisclair; the six-month prison sentence of the founder and former director of the Institut du Nouveau Monde and former columnist at the Duty Michel Venne, convicted of sexual assault and sexual contact by a person in a position of authority or of trust towards the documentary filmmaker Léa Clermont-Dion. Six months in prison were also imposed on Edgar Fruitier, found guilty of two charges of indecent assault committed against a teenager more than 46 years earlier.
Rozon, Salvail and the Catholic Church
Some other high profile cases have seen the opposite outcome, in particular the acquittals of ex-humor mogul Gilbert Rozon and host Éric Salvail, acquittals that the Crown decided in January not to bring in. call. In the case of Gilbert Rozon, however, he was to learn in May that the actress Patricia Tulasne was suing him for 1.6 million for having “brutally raped” her in 1994, that the director Lyne Charlebois, who accuses him of having raped in 1982, sued him for 1.7 million and, in April, it was the turn of the plaintiff in the criminal case, Annick Charette, to sue him for 1.3 million.
The Catholic Church has also been placed in the sights of the courts for multiple cases of allegations of sexual assault and abuse of all kinds involving priests and nuns committed in the past. Thus, in May, an application for authorization of collective action was filed in the Superior Court of Quebec alleging that nuns of the Community of the Sisters of Charity of Providence and of the Sisters of Providence had abused young deaf girls for several years. years.
Also in May, an agreement of 60 million was reached to compensate dozens of victims of sexual assault in connection with the class actions brought against the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. In November, the Superior Court of Quebec authorized a collective action against the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate for sexual assaults which allegedly occurred from 1940 to the present day. In December, finally, it was the turn of the diocese and the diocese of Amos to be the subject of a request for authorization of collective action for sexual abuse committed by priests on children in the 1960s.
Resounding failures
The year 2021 will also have been the scene of spectacular legal failures. In February, the former gymnastics trainer Michel Arsenault, accused of sexual assault and assault on five young underage athletes, sees the DPCP requesting a stay of proceedings due to errors made by the principal investigator at the case. The next day, the Sûreté du Québec announced the opening of an internal investigation in order to shed light on the investigation process that led to this failure.
In July, ex-entrepreneur Tony Accurso and four co-defendants in a corruption case at Revenue Canada, namely entrepreneur Francesco Bruno, accountant Francesco Fiorino and two former tax officials, Adriano Furgiuele and Antonio Girardi, had their files closed. after nine years of stagnation in court. The Crown had to realize that it was impossible for it to classify, index and scan the hundreds of thousands of pages of evidence in 802 boxes of documents within a reasonable timeframe.
Then in October, the former mayor of Terrebonne, Jean-Marc Robitaille, saw Judge Nancy McKenna order a stay of proceedings in her corruption case and that of her three co-defendants – her former chief of staff Daniel Bélec, the former Deputy Director General of Terrebonne, Luc Papillon, and entrepreneur Normand Trudel – again for reasons of irregularities in the disclosure of evidence. The DPCP, however, indicated in November that it will appeal the decision.
Sanitary measures endorsed by the courts
Finally, it should be noted that all attempts to have the courts invalidate decisions surrounding the health measures imposed by the Legault government have failed. Thus, for example, on September 2, the Superior Court authorized a mother to have her 12-year-old child vaccinated against COVID-19, despite the father’s opposition; the next day, the same body rejected the request of three Quebecers who wanted the obligation to wear a face covering to be immediately suspended; in November, finally, even though the Legault government had already backed down on the issue of compulsory vaccination for health workers, the Superior Court rejected the request to suspend the decree obliging it. Opponents of compulsory vaccination in the health sector wanted a suspension of the decree until the hearing on the merits, but judge Michel Yergeau told them no. Everything indicates, moreover, that the basic question on the legality of this decree will never be heard.
To these decisions are added all those which have led to the convictions of opponents of health measures, none of whom has been able to evade justice for having carried out illegal acts.