A PANEL OF HIS FELLOW JUDGES HAS CALLED FOR THE REMOVAL FROM THE BAR OF QUEBEC SUPERIOR COURT JUSTICE MICHEL GIROUARD FOR, AMONG OTHER THINGS, LYING ABOUT HIS PAST USE OF COCAINE.
MONTREAL • A Canadian Judicial Council inquiry committee is recommending the removal of Quebec Superior Court Justice Michel Girouard for, among other things, lying about his past cocaine use.
In a report made public Monday, the committee accepted the evidence of a woman who said Girouard and her former partner frequently took cocaine together.
The woman, known only by her initials, L.C., testified that she had observed Girouard under the influence of cocaine on a number of occasions in the early 1990s, including during an outing in Montreal when Girouard, his wife and L.C.s’ partner went into a hotel bathroom together. “We were going for dinner, and basically they all went to go do a line,” she said.
Testifying in his defence, Girouard denied the woman’s allegations, acknowledging only that he had experimented with drugs before he began practicing law.
But the inquiry committee had harsh words for the judge, describing him as “an uncooperative and obstinate witness.”
The testimony of L.C., on the other hand, left the fivemember committee convinced “she told the truth when she described the circumstances that led her, logically and reasonably, to deduce Mr. Girouard used cocaine.”
This was the second time Girouard has had to answer the cocaine allegations before a committee of the council, which is chaired by Supreme Court Justice Beverley McLachlin and which reviews the conduct of federally appointed judges. A first committee also recommended that he be removed, but the council deemed him fit to remain a judge. In an unprecedented move, the federal and Quebec justice ministers intervened last year to request a second inquiry.
This time the allegations had to do not with the actual
THAT DEMEANOUR BUTTRESSED OUR FINDING THAT HIS EXPLANATIONS ARE NOT CREDIBLE.
alleged drug use but whether he had been truthful about it and other matters during his testimony.
“In connection with each controversy, Judge Girouard would have us park our incredulity to accept his version of the facts,” wrote the committee, chaired by New Brunswick Chief Justice Ernest Drapeau. “At any rate, this essentially intellectual process of evaluating the objective plausibility of Judge Girouard’s explanations is supplemented by our observation of his demeanour while testifying. That demeanour buttressed our finding that his explanations are not credible.”
Girouard, who was appointed to the bench in 2010, resumed hearing cases after the judicial council rejected the committee’s recommendation of removal in 2016. Since the ministers requested a new review, he has stopped sitting.
Allegations of Girouard’s drug use came to light when police arrested one of Girouard’s clients, a major dealer in Val d’Or, Que. They discovered securitycamera footage of a suspicious transaction between Girouard and the dealer in the back of the dealer’s video store.
Girouard will be given an opportunity to respond in writing to the committee report before the council submits a final recommendation to federal justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould.