A crowd gathered on Thursday to chant “Poliquin, Poliquin, Good-for-nothing Judge!” and “Sexism everywhere, justice nowhere”, in front of the Quebec City courthouse. The recent decision of magistrate Matthieu Poliquin to absolve a sexual aggressor is “annoying”, protesters deplore.
Under the midday sun, the “lightning” action was attended by people of all ages. “Without yes, it’s no! “Launched one of the organizers, Alice Marcoux, into the microphone, taken up in chorus by the crowd. At the foot of the steps of the Palais de Justice, protesters held up the banner “Poliquin, Jolin-Barrette, building trust”. The slogan refers to the report rebuild trusttabled last December by the committee of experts on support for victims of sexual violence and domestic violence.
Simon Houle has been absolved after sexually assaulting a woman in 2019 while she was asleep. The engineer gets away with no criminal record, because Judge Poliquin considers in particular that this would have “negative and disproportionate consequences” on his career.
For Valérie Laflamme, a protester, it is necessary to highlight “the lack of training” of judges in the issues of sexual assault. “It’s very upsetting, especially after all the awareness campaigns that there have been for several years,” she says, holding her one-year-old daughter in her arms.
In his judgment, Magistrate Poliquin writes that “there is one victim and one event, which after all takes place quickly”. For Ms. Laflamme, this sentence is “the tip of the iceberg”. “It highlights a larger system,” she says, holding a sign that reads: “18 months in prison, it passes” all in all quickly “”. This is the sentence that had been requested by the Crown.
A few steps away, Marjolaine Turcotte says she got up early this morning to be able to “do her chores” and come and take part in the demonstration. “If one day my niece or my friend had to be a victim in a cause like this, I would not want the acts she suffered to be minimized in this way,” argues the Island farmer. from Orleans.
The conditional discharge of Simon Houle, reported by the media on Monday, provoked the ire of groups of citizens and politicians. On Wednesday, Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said he was “deeply shocked” by the court’s judgment. The Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions decided to appeal the decision.
Recently, Mr. Jolin-Barrette announced seven pilot projects for specialized courts for sexual violence and domestic violence. This is one of the key recommendations of the Rebuilding Trust report.
With Alexandre Robillard
Further details will follow.