By Canadian Press

Montreal-area mayor discloses being sex assault victim of ex-PQ member Harold LeBel

Apr 18, 2023 | 8:19 AM

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.

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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.

The Canadian Press