One of the victims of former Parti Québécois leader André Boisclair is taking him back to court, demanding the sum of $270,000 for damages suffered following a sexual assault.
In an initiating application filed before the Superior Court on Wednesday, the complainant, who was 21 years old at the time of the events in January 2014, claims that the sexual and physical assault caused serious consequences for him, including in particular a loss of confidence, depressive episodes and suicidal ideation.
He also cites “a considerable impact on his sex life”, social anxiety “which gives rise to episodes of panic” and says he “developed a problem with drug and alcohol consumption”.
“Had it not been for the sexual and physical assaults orchestrated and committed by the Defendant against the Plaintiff, the latter would not have experienced the descent into hell of recent years and all the damage resulting from it,” we can read in the text of the pursuit.
The request describes the sexual assault and other abuse of which the complainant was the victim, despite his explicit and repeated refusal, during events involving two other people. One of these two other people allegedly raped him while André Boisclair and another person held him back.
André Boisclair pleaded guilty, in June 2022, to two charges of sexual assault on two young men during two separate incidents. He was then sentenced to two years less a day in prison before being released on parole after a third of his sentence in March 2023.
He had failed in a first attempt to obtain provisional release at the sixth of his sentence, in November 2022, the Parole Board ruling that he presented an “unacceptable risk” of reoffending, citing in particular his refusal to follow a therapy and his arrogant attitude. A request for review of this decision did not allow him to have it overturned.
According to the text of the lawsuit, the victim had put him on notice to compensate her last October, but Mr. Boisclair had not followed up on this request.
The plaintiff is now seeking $200,000 in property damages, $20,000 in monetary damages for the therapies he has been following continuously for three years and $50,000 in punitive damages.
