Senior figures at the Court of Quebec yesterday attempted to quell speculation and rumour swirling around the judges -- Marc Grimard, a magistrate at Rouyn-Noranda provincial court in the north-west of the province, and Superior Court Justice Michel Girouard, who sits in the same region.

Police informant

The main court issued a statement saying that no new files would be assigned to Judge Grimard, acknowledging that he and Justice Girouard were the subjects of current police investigations. National figures also weighed into the issue, according to a report in the Canadian Lawyer magazine, with the Canadian Judicial Council issuing a statement saying that it would launch a review Justice Girouard’s case.
‘The review concerns his conduct prior to his appointment to the bench,’ read the statement, ‘and includes an allegation that the judge would have participated in a transaction to purchase an illicit substance from a police informant.’ The statement went on to emphasise that ‘this is only an allegation – no facts have been established in this matter’.

Drugs trafficking

The allegations regarding both judges emanate from a police anti-drugs trafficking operation two years ago focussing on the wild terrain of the Abitibi region on the Quebec-Ontario border.
The magazine points out that it has not been a good couple of years for the Quebec judiciary, which has faced a flurry of recent allegations of what the report describes as influence peddling over nominations to the bench. Then, last June, a retired judge took the dubious honour of becoming the first in Canada to be found guilty of first-degree murder when he was convicted of the shooting of his handicapped wife.