I Fouques raise the Bar in the case Aubut

News 11 October, 2017
  • Photo courtesy
    I Amélia S. Fouques

    Pierre-Paul Biron

    Tuesday, 10 October 2017 22:45

    UPDATE
    Tuesday, 10 October 2017 21:29

    Look at this article

    Lawyer Amelia S. Fouques returned to the charge in the case of Marcel Aubut by summing the syndic of the Barreau du Québec to take a fresh look at the allegations of sexual harassment as a charge to the one who has been named lawyer emeritus by the institution.

    I Fouques had filed the first complaint in 2015, arguing that Aubut had harassed her on three occasions in the previous years.

    The folder had been abandoned by counsel after the trustee has refused to bring the case before the council of the law society. His son of 15 years old, who had been interviewed in the process, asked him in particular to put an end to proceedings because of the pressure on the family.

    Before the council

    “My son has aged and I do not loose the bone easily. I ask today that it will go before the council. This is not for the liquidator to decide if there is a fault or not, it is the board,” says the lawyer who has been a part of its requests to the agency by e-mail in the last few days, “without response for the moment”.

    In this post, it “requires the Bar to some serious work”. She regrets that the organization has “closed the file saying :”move along, there’s nothing to see”” and wants to see Aubut punished for the acts alleged.

    “He does not deserve to be a lawyer and even less of being a lawyer emeritus. If he is emeritus, I no longer want anything to know to be a lawyer. It will be a shame for all lawyers”, calm Me Fouques, adding that if nothing is done, the Bar will show that it is basically evil”. “I invite the minister and even the prime minister to have to look into”.

    History repeats itself

    Invited to comment on the story from the producer of american cinema Harvey Weinstein, who is accused by actresses of harassment and sexual assault, Amélia S. Fouques was disappointed to see history repeating itself.

    “It shows the people’s fear of denouncing these acts and it is a shame. People should be more supportive for about this kind of behaviour. In my battle, some have supported me in private, but never in public, it’s not like it’s going forward”, believes the lawyer.

    This last draws several parallels between the history of Weinstein and the allegations about Marcel Aubut in Quebec. According to her, there are two powerful men who use the threat to get their way.

    “These are people uncomfortable in their skin who use their power to obtain what they would not normally be in a non-threatening to destroy careers.”