Quebec government lawyers finally provided the court Monday with details of six threats made against Pauline Marois on the day of the 2012 general election.
These threats had been mentioned by witnesses in the civil lawsuit brought in Superior Court by four stage technicians who worked at the Metropolis the evening when the leader of the Parti Québécois came to deliver her victory speech on September 4, 2012.
A gunman shot dead lighting technician Denis Blanchette that evening, outside the performance hall. The same bullet also injured another stage technician, David Courage.
The plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit are work colleagues of the two victims; they are suing the City of Montreal and the Attorney General of Quebec for more than $600,000. They allege that the police failed to properly secure the scene and assess the risks associated with this political event. They claim that this shooting caused them post-traumatic stress and other psychological damage.
At trial, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) defended the measures it had taken for this election night, and police witnesses described the attack as an undetectable and unpredictable act.
Details of the threats against Ms. Marois were provided by the Sûreté du Québec, in an affidavit, after an exhaustive search ordered by Judge Philippe Bélanger. The magistrate told lawyers on Monday that he was now satisfied.
According to Judge Bélanger, four of the six threats against the former prime minister had been made on social networks and two threats involved 14-year-olds.
Details of the threats were not discussed in a brief hearing on Monday, and the document will not be filed in court until later this month.
The threats against the leader of the PQ had been revealed in an internal and confidential assessment of the SQ on the police operations and the events of the evening. This assessment had never been made public until it was filed in the civil trial.
Judge Bélanger had requested this information since the witnesses who appeared before him were unable to provide specific details on the threats. In particular, the police officers in charge of Ms. Marois’ security were not made aware of the threats until after the incident.
The court had already learned that none of the six threats was linked to the perpetrator of the September 4, 2012 attack.
The trial will resume at the end of May, with closing arguments.