Four more people have come forward in the file of Dominic Blanchette, this teacher at Adélard-Desrosiers elementary school already accused of sexual assault on an 11-year-old girl, learned The Press. The professor now faces 16 new charges.
Posted at 6:00 a.m.
The teacher, whose certificate has already been revoked by the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, at the end of May, appeared on 1er last July. His case was then adjourned to July 4, at the stage of his bail hearing. Dominic Blanchette must also appear again this Wednesday, at the Montreal courthouse.
In the past few days, charges from four new people – who are only identified by their initials – have been filed against the 27-year-old. It is not known whether these people, mostly minors, are students of the Adélard-Desrosiers school.
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, THE PRESS
Adélard-Desrosiers elementary school, in the borough of Montréal-Nord
In addition to sexual assault, Blanchette was already charged with possession of child pornography, sharing sexually explicit material and invitation to sexual touching. According to the documents consulted by The Press Tuesday, 16 new counts are added to this list.
These new counts include three of possession of child pornography, three of sexual assault, three of invitation to sexual touching and three of sexual touching. The teacher is also accused three times of having “communicated by a means of telecommunication” with one of his alleged victims, “with a view to facilitating the commission of an offense against him” probably sexual. He is also suspected of having “made accessible, transmitted, distributed or sold” “sexually explicit” material.
These facts would have occurred between 1er September 2017 and May 28, 2022, almost five years, a much longer period of time than that covered by the first charge. In this first case, the authorities had indicated that the facts had occurred between December 24 and May 27, so over a period of about five months.
“Weaving your web”
For Marwah Rizqy, Liberal MP for Saint-Laurent and her party’s spokesperson for education, these revelations are major. “It shows how capable a predator is of weaving its web over several years, and on different victims. [alléguées]. It’s about children, students! “, declared, scandalized, the deputy, joined on the telephone.
Currently, Blanchette “remains detained pending the outcome of the legal proceedings”, confirmed to The Press the spokesperson for the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP), Ms.e Audrey Roy-Cloutier.
“An order prohibiting the publication of any information identifying the victims [alléguées] has been rendered by the court and the proceedings will continue [mercredi]at the stage of the investigation on release”, also specified the lawyer.
At the end of May, the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, announced that Dominic Blanchette could no longer practice his profession, since his patent was going to be revoked by the government. “I confirm to you that it is. These behaviors are unacceptable, ”said Mr. Roberge on Tuesday.
On the revocation of teaching certificates
With the arrival of the National Student Ombudsman – a result of legislation passed at the end of May (Bill 9) – the minister says handling complaints will be “faster, more efficient and more independent” .
Training is now mandatory for all school workers in order to prevent and counter sexual violence. We are putting everything in place to ensure that students and staff are safe in our schools.
Jean-François Roberge, Minister of Education
According to Mr. Roberge, a dozen teaching certificates are revoked each year “for situations that are unfortunately similar”. “Between eight and ten times a year, it goes to the minister’s office,” for actions that “question the health and safety of students,” he said earlier this year.
The reality is that, however, it is very little compared to Ontario, as demonstrated The Press at the end of June. In Ontario, where a college of teachers exists, 28 teachers had their certificates revoked in 2020 alone, 25 of them for sexual abuse. In Quebec, it took five years to revoke so many patents. In five years, only 26 patents have been revoked in Quebec due to “a judicial record”, 2 having been revoked following a complaint.
In recent weeks, the Montreal Police Service (SPVM) had indicated that Mr. Blanchette “would have held jobs in more than one school”, and said he was looking for other of his “potential victims”. The authorities invite anyone who has relevant information in connection with this file or who would like to file a complaint against the accused to contact the anonymous and confidential center of Info-Crime Montreal.