Woman sexually assaulted by small town Quebec mayor says she is moving away
CBC News | Posted: July 11, 2017 12:31 PM | Last Updated: July 11, 2017
Caroline Lamarre says it's no longer safe for her children to live in Baie-Trinité, northeast of Quebec City
Six years after she was first sexually assaulted by the mayor of her coastal village, a Quebec woman says she is leaving town.
In May, Caroline Lamarre publicly called on the province to remove Mayor Denis Lejeune from office.
The mayor was found guilty in July 2015 of sexually assaulting Lamarre on two occasions in 2011 and 2012, but Lejeune is still in office.
But instead of Lejeune being forced out, Lamarre has decided to leave town. She says it's no longer safe for her children, who she says are being harassed regularly. Lamarre, a mother of five, stopped working for the municipality in 2013.
"I think for our entire family, it's time. It's time that we be able to breathe," she said in an interview with Radio-Canada.
Last month, Lamarre signed a confidential agreement with the town. In exchange for financial compensation, she agreed to abandon her efforts to return to work.
A Quebec law on municipal elections and referendums allows for an elected official convicted of such a crime to stay on if the sentence is less than 30 days in prison.
Lejeune was sentenced to 120 hours of community work, two years probation and ordered to pay $4,000 to victim support services. His request to appeal the decision was denied.
Lejeune has until August to appeal the latest ruling on his case. If he does not appeal, a citizen can alert Quebec's municipal commission, which could then start the removal process under new law.
New law means mayor may lose job
Quebec passed a law last year tightening the ethics rules for municipal officials, which states that mayors convicted of an offence in the Criminal Code of Canada can be removed from their duties.
In May, Lamarre successfully fought against a publication ban on her identity. Her lawyer Steve Bargone said Lamarre wanted to break the usual silence protecting victims of sexual assault because she wanted her job back.
Lamarre said she has had little, or no support from people in the tiny village of 467 people, about 500 kilometres northeast of Quebec City.
But Lamarre said she felt like the rest of the province was behind her, which gave her the confidence to push forward.
She said it was important to reach out to police about sexual assault, no matter how small the community.