The Judicial Council has indeed begun examining a complaint against Judge Matthieu Poliquin.
Matthieu Poliquin is the young judge who granted a conditional discharge to engineer Simon Houle last June after he admitted his guilt to charges of sexual assault and voyeurism for actions taken in 2019.
In a missive to the authors of a petition calling for the revocation of Justice Poliquin’s appointment, of which The Canadian Press obtained a copy, the Conseil de la magistrature acknowledges receipt of the complaint and confirms that “in accordance with the applicable procedure, the members of the Board will review it at a future meeting.
The note adds that, initially, the members of the Council “will examine whether the alleged facts are likely, or not, to constitute a breach of the Code of ethics of the judiciary and, if necessary, whether there is reason to investigate the complaint”.
A decision at the end of August
The Judicial Council itself refuses to confirm the review, complaints being confidential at this stage. The Secretary of the Council, Annie-Claude Bergeron, however recognized, when joined by The Canadian Press, that “we cannot prevent people from reproducing the answer which could be sent to them”. The next meeting of Council members is due to take place at the end of August and it is at this time that a decision should be made.
The petition, posted on July 7, collected more than 4,600 signatures in one week, which pleasantly surprised its initiator, Kareen Emery.
“People got on board super fast. I was surprised myself because we agree that we do not always see a craze for petitions, ”she said in a telephone interview.
“I had more than 3,000 signatures when I contacted the Judicial Council, telling them that the petition was still young and that it was going to increase and it did. »
citizen power
Ms. Emery did not hide her satisfaction with the result obtained. “What I was asking was to assess whether this person should go under investigation and that is exactly what they will do. So I’m satisfied. »
“I think that’s where we could go the furthest. We showed that we were dissatisfied and I tell myself that if this kind of action is taken up again in the future and that each time there are judges who show decisions that are not right depending on who we want to be as a nation, at some point, they’re going to think about it a little bit more before they give it back,” she added with a laugh.
The judge’s decision raised an outcry, not only because of the discharge itself, but especially because of the reasons given by the judge to grant it. Matthieu Poliquin thus considered, in support of the absolution, that the sexual assault had taken place “all in all quickly”, that the accused had been drinking and that he was “a person of good character”.
The magistrate also pointed out that a conviction “would have particularly negative and disproportionate consequences for him, as he would have difficulty traveling outside the country, which could possibly hamper his career as an engineer”.
Reasons “so weak”
Like many others, Kareen Emery did not digest the magistrate’s remarks.
“I was completely frustrated to see an inexperienced judge come to such conclusions in 2022. I thought to myself that it did not make good sense. The reasons given are so weak. »
“I put myself in the shoes of a victim or an alleged victim and to hear this kind of thing in the verdict at the end of the trial, it was unacceptable in my head. I saw that there was the same frustration in my entourage, ”she added to explain her decision to launch the petition.
A short research told him that the Judicial Council is the only one with disciplinary power over judges. “I wondered what I could do as a citizen to have an impact on this and I saw what it took to have a formal complaint, so I launched the petition. »
Appeal of the DCPP
The Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP), who was demanding 18 months’ imprisonment, has already indicated that he will appeal this decision.
Contrary to the usual discretion displayed by a Minister of Justice, the holder of the post, Simon Jolin-Barrette, left his reserve, saying he was “deeply shocked by the decision”. It was he who appointed Justice Poliquin in September 2021.
The decision also sparked a protest outside the Montreal courthouse on Sunday, and an open letter signed by nearly 40 engineers, published on Tuesday, aimed to denounce the fact that the attacker’s profession could have served to mitigate his sentence.
Engineer Simon Houle, who lost his job following the media coverage of his case, had also admitted during his trial to have committed another act of sexual assault in 2015 which had not been brought to justice. What’s more, another woman has just filed a complaint against him for touching of a sexual nature which allegedly occurred very recently during a trip to Cuba.