Police accused of abuse won’t be charged: Crown
MONTREAL • Citizens protested in the streets of Val d’Or on Friday after Crown prosecutors confirmed none of the six provincial police officers accused of abusing native women in the northwestern Quebec town would be charged.
Recognizing the kind of anger and frustration their decision would trigger, prosecutors told reporters that despite no charges being laid, it didn’t mean the accusers weren’t telling the truth.
“We have to be clear,” said Mathieu Locas, with Quebec’s Crown prosecutor’s office, told a news conference Friday. “The fact that charges are not being laid doesn’t mean the event didn’t take place. The burden of proof on the Crown is very high and we have to show that these suspects are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”
“And in the cases that we received,” he added, “unfortunately we don’t have enough evidence to show that.”
Despite the prosecutor’s words, citizens across the town banged drums in the streets and peacefully protested before and after the afternoon news conference.
Quebec’s Public Security Department mandated the Montreal police force to investigate allegations that aboriginal women in Val d’Or were physically and sexually abused by provincial police.
The allegations came to light following a report by Radio-Canada’s investigative program Enquete in 2015.
There were initially 14 complaints against six officers, who were suspended pending the results of the investigation.
The provincial government expanded the Montreal police’s mandate, however, to include similar complaints against officers from other parts of Quebec.
By April, Montreal police had 38 cases of complaints of police abuse, including rape, sexual assault, harassment, and so-called “starlight tours,” where police would allegedly take people against their will and drive them outside town and abandon them.
Crown prosecutors said they received enough evidence to charge two retired officers for offences allegedly committed over 20 years ago in a town hundreds of kilometres away from Val d’Or.
Retired provincial police officer Alain Juneau was charged with sexual assault and assault, allegedly committed between 1992-94 in Schefferville, a remote northeastern part of the province.
The second officer charged is Jean-Luc Vollant, a retired officer with Schefferville’s native police force. He is charged with three counts including rape and sexual assault, between 1980-86, also in Schefferville.
Both men were released on conditions and are scheduled to appear in court in January.
Quebec’s association of provincial police officers released a statement condemning the investigation.
“We hope that the government won’t cede once again to pressure and won’t create a public inquiry,” the association said, referring to the calls from native groups for an independent investigation.