Quebec pro-pedophile group loses status
A non-profit organization whose website openly offers services to pedophiles should not legally be allowed to operate in the province, a Quebec superior court judge has ruled.
The company, called Les Amis de Toutes les Minorités Sexuelles (LATMS), was registered as a nonprofit company with Quebec’s business registry, Le Registraire des entreprises, in 2011.
Its president, André Faivre, was arrested last month along with 13 other suspected members of a pedophile ring, making registry officials take a closer look at its website.
The registrar argued in court on Wednesday that the company should have its letters patent revoked because its actions go against public interest. In a judgment delivered Thursday morning, Quebec Superior Court Justice David Collier agreed.
“It is undeniable that the protection of children is one of the core and constant values of our society,” Collier said. “It is evident that by inviting its collaborators to consult together, undertake private discussions about their sexual predilections, and to publish writings about pedophilia, that the defendant is banalizing and encouraging pedophilia.”
For those reasons, Collier ruled, it’s “in the public interest to cancel (the company’s) letters patent.”
When it requested registration, the company described itself as a kind of social club which also offered computer services, the lawyer representing the registrar had explained on Wednesday.
But the LATMS website, which is public, states openly that the company “was created with and for our pedophile and pederast friends and we are ready to offer the same attentive and respectful ear to all taboo sexual minorities.”
The lawyer representing Les Amis de Toutes Les Minorités Sexuelles, Melissa Podilchuk, had argued that there is no evidence the company promotes pedophilia, positioning the website instead as a place where pedophiles could seek help among each other.
Collier countered that argument in his judgment.
“It is clear that the main mission of the defendant is to defend the interests of pedophiles and other sexual deviants,” he said, “As well as promoting the idea that their sexual orientation is normal and worthy of respect.”
Faivre, 67, is facing 11 criminal charges, including some related to juvenile pornography and encouraging others to have sexual contact with children.
He was arrested Jan. 27 during Operation Malaise, an investigation by a special unit led by the Sûreté du Québec.
Police believe he is the ringleader of a highly organized pedophile network. His bail hearing on those charges is ongoing.
It is clear that the main mission of the defendant is to defend the interests of pedophiles and other sexual deviants.