Quebec village goes on legal offensive against residents questioning hiring of new manager
CBC
Days after reporter and editor-in-chief Marc Cochrane attended a municipal council meeting in Île d'Orléans, his paper, Autour de L''île, was threatened with legal notice and his article scrapped.
The warning came from a lawyer representing the village of Sainte-Pétronille, Que., located east of Quebec City.
Cochrane had attended a meeting Dec. 11 with plans to report on a letter from residents demanding an investigation into the town's new general manager, Nathalie Paquet.
Residents say they learned through an access-to-information request that she had been accused of serious offences in her previous role in the municipality of Val-des-Lacs — located near Mont-Tremblant, Que. — and wanted to know if the municipality was aware.
"A few days later, the lawyer called us," said Cochrane. The lawyer, he said, told the paper it would be sued if it published the article.
"So the president [of the paper] decided that my article would not be published to protect the financial security of our newspaper."
The municipality told them it was unacceptable for the paper, which receives some funding from the village, to write articles that could be libellous to municipal employees.
"It is the first time [in] the history of the paper that something like this happened," said Cochrane. "It's not a good thing for the liberty of the press."
Nine days later, 97 residents were also issued formal legal notices and told they need to stop sharing information and documents concerning Paquet.
In the letter, obtained by CBC, Guillaume Renauld of the law firm Therrien Couture Joli-Cœur in Quebec City said the citizens' letter attacks Paquet's reputation and private life.
Now, the public relations firm representing the municipality says the town is standing by Paquet and that the legal notices issued to citizens and the newspaper were necessary "to put an end to a campaign that is unjustifiably damaging her reputation."
In a statement, the public relations firm said the town "respects journalistic work" but felt it needed to act quickly to "protect its personnel."
"For Mayor Jean Côté, intimidation and defamation are unacceptable," read the statement, which also said no one else from the municipality would comment on the case.
"The mayor is worried about democracy in his municipality, when a small group decided to create an unhealthy climate."
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