The victim of the sexual assault committed by former MP Harold LeBel in 2017 has lifted the veil on his identity: it is the former PQ member and mayor of Longueuil, Catherine Fournier.
At the request of the victim, the Court on Tuesday morning withdrew the ban on publication which protected the name of Ms. Fournier. She had won her criminal case in November.
In a sworn statement sent last month, the former MP for Marie-Victorin, who has held the post of mayor of Longueuil since 2021, said that she “wishes[ait] be able to discuss publicly and openly [son] experience through the justice system”.
Ms. Fournier has also participated in a documentary on her experience of the justice network, which is scheduled for release on Wednesday. The decision, she says, is “well thought out, informed and voluntary.”
Former Rimouski MP Harold LeBel, who served for more than six years under the Parti Québécois banner, was released from prison earlier this month after being granted parole after serving a quarter of his eight-month sentence for sexual assault. .
He and his victim rubbed shoulders for three years in the PQ caucus at the National Assembly. The assault took place less than a year after Ms. Fournier was elected as Member of Parliament for Marie-Victorin at the age of 24.
During her testimony last year, the current mayor of Longueuil said she was taken aback by the unwanted approaches of her fellow MP, whom she saw as a “mentor” and even a “father figure”. “There was no figure more consensual than that,” she said during her testimony, anonymous so far.
October 2017
She blamed her attacker for having kissed her by force, one evening in October 2017, when she and a friend were staying at Mr. LeBel’s apartment, on the sidelines of a political activity in Rimouski. During her testimony last year, Ms. Fournier recounted having received an unexpected visit from her attacker that evening, in addition to being subjected to unwanted touching of her buttocks and anus throughout the night.
“I’ve never done that in my life,” retorted Mr. LeBel during his testimony before judge and jurors.
When learning of the guilty verdict in November, the defense said it was “shocked”. “It comes to me to be seen as someone who is an aggressor,” said his client two months later, learning that he would be sentenced to eight months in prison and would be registered for 20 years in the national register of offenders. sexual.
“The only positive point is that it allows me to turn the page. […] But that does not erase the pain or the pain, ”said Ms. Fournier for her part.
Elected in 2014, Harold LeBel held the position of PQ MP for Rimouski until last October, but had been excluded from his party’s caucus in December 2020, at the time of his arrest. He then sat as an independent.
As a member of the PQ, Mr. LeBel had notably occupied the role of whip. This is responsible, according to tradition, for maintaining cohesion and attendance in a parliamentary group.