He beat foreman in his office ?

Matthew Payen

Saturday, 17 February, 2018 01:00

UPDATE
Saturday, 17 February, 2018 01:00

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The blue collar Christian Allard has-t-he struck a foreman about twenty times, because his hours were cut ? The victim, as well as a judge, the president of the union and the administrative tribunal of the job say yes. The Court of appeal of Quebec, and Mr. Allard stated the opposite. Who is right ?

1. A man comes to the head low

Screenshots

2. Striking the victim

Photo courtesy

Karl Saulnier

3. And ran out the door

Screenshots

Colossus at 6 ‘ 2 ” and 275 lbs, Christian Allard weeps when he speaks about his two children that he can not help financially or of his spouse who left him recently.

After seven years trying to prove his innocence, the ex-blue-collar is said to end.

“I am the good in this story,” he says immediately.

Christian Allard knows that his case is like that of a thug.

In 23 years as an employee at the City of Montreal, he was accused of having used a vehicle for personal use, he threatened a blue-collar and hit — already — a foreman. It has also been laid off for the first time in 2006 after a foreman had complained of having been threatened.

“This is harassment against me. I won all my cases, ” he says.

But everything shifts for him when he is again accused, in 2010, of assault on a foreman.

Sentenced in the first instance, and then bleached in the call, he sees his dismissal confirmed by the City due to the testimony against the president of the union of blue-collar workers of the era, Michel Parent.

For Christian Allard, this is the beginning of a slow descent into hell. “I lost everything, I don’t have a more permanent home,” he said. Psychologically, I’m destroyed. “

Photo Martin Alarie

The Journal has met with Christian Allard on several occasions. It knows it has ” the air of a thug “, but he wishes to give his version of the facts.

Aggression

On the evening of July 16, 2010, the foreman Karl Saulnier was working in the garage of highways of the Town, on Brennan street. Then he was talking with his wife on the phone, an individual came into his office, went right up to him and has beaten twenty punches in the face.

“For me [the assault] lasted 10-15 minutes, but it has not lasted such a long time that it may be a minute or two,” testified the victim in the court.

On the surveillance video, you see the assailant run away 10 seconds after entering the office.

The victim injured in the right eye and to the head and was transported to the hospital and had to take two weeks off of work.

Mr. Saulnier has claimed to have recognized Christian Allard, whom he had met four or five times before.

Mr. Allard, welder training, working in the City as a manual labourer at the time of the facts, but he was not in a position this evening.

Three days after the assault, he was fired, and then accused of assault causing bodily harm.

Before the tribunal, Mr. Saulnier has hesitated about the reason of the assault, before discussing a problem of overtime hours that would have affected Mr. Allard.

“I had to call the employees in extra time if I judged that there were needs,” he said. Then I significantly reduced the numbers of additional time. “

Screenshot

The images of the surveillance cameras taken in the evening of the assault, on July 16, 2010, shows a man enter and quickly get out of the garage and road in the rue Brennan, Montreal. Even if the individual is face to face, the quality of the images does not recognize it.

To support the evidence against Mr. Allard, videos captured by the surveillance cameras showed a massive man dressed in dark clothing, rush into the office of Karl Saulnier, and then out into the current. The attacker was wearing a tuque black, but her face was uncovered.

The quality of the images, however, does not identify it for sure, and no cameras filming this as it happened in the office.

May 29, 2012, Christian Allard is guilty of assault in the first instance.

Justice Louise Villemure of the Court of Quebec noted in its decision : “The body [of the aggressor] is compatible with the stoutness of Mr. Allard in his testimony, namely that he is big, not puny. “

The union no longer pays

The sentence was a shock for the ex-blue-collar, who decided to go to appeal.

“I was guilty of being big,” he said. The judge had not taken account of the fact that I was shot in the shoulder three weeks before. I couldn’t hit someone like that. “

But new blow for him, the union of blue-collar workers refuse to pay attorneys ‘ fees. “I am a true trade unionist, I was a union representative and there, my union let me down “, laments Mr. Allard.

He responded by filing a complaint against the union before the labour relations Commission.

A decision which cost him dear, as, to defend themselves, the union president Michel Parent has testified against him, recounting a discussion they would have had shortly after the assault.

“[Mr. Allard] said to me that there was no evidence against him because he had cut off the wires of the surveillance cameras on the eve of the assault. He was very proud of his stroke, ” recalls Mr. Parent.

However, according to the latter, Mr. Allard didn’t know was that the cameras had been repaired very quickly, and that they were working at the time of the assault.

This testimony has allowed the City to confirm the dismissal of an employee before the administrative tribunal of work.

“Michel Parent sold me to the employer not to pay my attorney fees and he lied saying that I had cut the wires of cameras,” says Mr. Allard.

The only consolation for him, the testimony of Mr. Parent, who has been filed after the judgment of first instance, it does not therefore appear in his file at the criminal.

Paid

And in fact, on march 28, 2014, the former blue-collar is milled on appeal of the criminal charges leveled against him.

To justify their decision, two of the three judges rely on the shoulder injury, Mr. Allard. They also feel that the problem of identifying the attacker is in favour of the ex-blue-collar.

“The video tape and the testimony [of Mr. Saulnier] confirm that [the perpetrator] acted with their faces uncovered, which makes it even less likely the involvement [Mr. Allard], since it was well known in this place where he went regularly for his work, and that, to his knowledge, there was surveillance cameras,” they say.

The acquittal was a surprise to Mr. Parent. “I was convinced that he would be sentenced criminal. It can feel very lucky, ” said the ex-union leader.

It maintains its version about Mr. Allard. “By viewing the video tapes, we know very well,” he said. A big strong guy like him, you can not go wrong. “

Reached by telephone, the foreman Karl Saulnier said to be aware of the acquittal, but does not wish to comment on the case.

Victorious in court, Mr. Allard said, yet always the victim of an injustice that cost him a paying job. The ex-blue collar, was earning $ 50,000 in base salary, and up to $ 80,000 with overtime.

“I dérangeais to the union, because as I told on the contracts that were given to the private sector. I have a big voice, I needed, so I was dismissed “, he believes.

Since then, he attempts to challenge his dismissal, but the attorney fees are an obstacle. “I’ve tried legal aid, but my folder is too complex, I need experts; otherwise, the lawyer will fail “, he believes.

On the social assistance

The ex-blue-collar, paid up in 2013 by the former Commission of health and safety in the workplace (CSST) due to his shoulder injury, now lives on social assistance.

“I don’t have a criminal record, but I’m ruined and in the end,” he says.

Christian Allard agrees that it has obtained a fund of the union in 2015 and 2016 repayments of nearly $24,000.

Michel Parent, who no longer lead the union since 2015, denounces these payments.

“[Mr. Allard] has lost his lawsuit against the union, so it cannot be considered as blue-collar, ” he said. He ought never to receive money from the union. “

Conversely, Christian Allard, judge these amounts to be insufficient and wants to be compensated for the past seven years. In October, he filed a complaint with the union against Michel Parent.

Separation

Recently, he separated from his wife, she’s also blue collar.

“I have 52 years old, I should be thinking about my retirement,” he said. Instead, I have a debt of $ 33,000 and I’m on antidepressants. “

But the most difficult to live for him is the look that her children between the ages of 19 and 21 years old. In referring to the subject, his eyes fill with water.

“I’m not even able to help my daughter pay for his studies in criminology, he said, throat tight. The other day, my son asked me to endorse it, to buy his first car. I told him that I couldn’t. It really hurt me, I cried. “