Quebec Independent member of the legislature Catherine Fournier rises during question period, Wednesday, April 3, 2019, at the legislature in Quebec City. Fournier, the mayor of Longueuil, Que., has made her identity public as the sexual assault victim of ex-PQ legislator Harold LeBel. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
MONTREAL – The mayor of a Montreal suburb has revealed herself as the sexual assault victim of ex-Parti Québécois legislator Harold LeBel.
Catherine Fournier had asked Quebec Superior Court Justice Serge Francoeur during a hearing last month to remove the publication ban on her identity.
Francoeur on April 6 approved the request, which enters into effect today – coinciding with the broadcast of a documentary about Fournier’s case.
Fournier was with the PQ from December 2016 to March 2019, when she quit the party to sit as an Independent; she was elected mayor of Longueuil, Que., in November 2021.
A judge in January sentenced LeBel, 60, to eight months in prison after a jury found him guilty of sexual assaulting Fournier at his condo in 2017.
He will also serve two years probation, is prohibited from contacting the victim and will be registered as a sex offender for 20 years.
LeBel, who was granted parole this week, is a former member of the legislature between 2014 and 2022.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 18, 2023.
