“ Someone who is super dynamic .”
“ Friendly, smiling. He had a good character. »
“ A good person, pleasant to be with. »
“ Everyone liked Marcel. »
The reports about him are laudatory.
Marcel is Marcel Auclair. From 2002 to 2019, he was a leisure technician and administrative technician at the De Rochebelle secondary school in the Sainte-Foy sector in Quebec. His job was to coordinate all extracurricular sports, bringing together more than 500 young athletes from all disciplines.
Marcel Auclair met Martin Dubé through basketball when he hired him as a laser trainer in 2012.
He made us want to get involved and work with him because we felt we could make a difference, and he made us feel that, remembers Martin Dubé. He immediately appreciated the unifying side of Marcel Auclair.
Open in full screen mode
Martin Dubé discovered that false invoices were being issued in the name of a fictitious organization.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Sébastien Gauvin Blanchet
Despite his busy schedule, the father of four and business owner has been training young people in Rochebelle for a dozen years. It is one of the three largest basketball programs in Quebec […] “We’ve hung some champion banners over the years,” he says proudly. A feeling shared by Marcel Auclair, who was really committed to sporting development in Rochebelle, remembers Martin Dubé.
The players come from all backgrounds: from more or less wealthy families as well as from immigrant families. You benefit from a renowned sports program, but have limited financial resources. Martin Dubé remembers asking Marcel Auclair for more resources several times without much success. Trainers like him have to make do with few resources and equipment.
That's why they have to wear faded bibs from the 1990s, often make do with balloons that already have a long lifespan, or even forego the hoped-for purchase of a machine to return the balloons.
Marcel always said: Oh, the school has no money, the school has no money, the school has no money, he remembers.
But both men have the Rochebelle laser tattooed on their hearts and have a common goal.
“Marcel always said that we try to make good people out of these young people through sport,” says Martin Dubé.
Except Marcel Auclair wouldn't have set a good example.
Open in full screen mode
Marcel Auclair was a leisure technician and administrative technician at the De Rochebelle secondary school from 2002 to 2019.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Courtesy
Stolen $155,000 and a series of false invoices
May 2019. The school management entrusts Marcel Auclair with another mandate. In addition to the sports activities, he also has to manage the money earmarked for final activities: cocktail, album and final show.
September 2019. Amazed at the return of classes. When Marcel Auclair's colleagues and management sought money from the small funds for year-end activities that were his responsibility, they discovered that $13,000 was missing.
In the following days, management sent a brief email to employees. We would like to thank Marcel Auclair for his many years of work and [on] wishes him good luck with the new challenges that await him.
Concussions among school staff. His colleagues can hardly believe that Marcel Auclair could have done anything wrong.
But Marcel Auclair is gone and he has to be replaced. The management then asked Martin Dubé to take over his position in extracurricular sports. Martin Dubé wants to make sure the department's finances are in order.
On the first day, I discovered invoices from a company called Codeq in the basketball accounts. Codeq for the Quebec Hope Committee. A name that Martin Dubé has never heard before.
I called three other recreational techs near Basketball to see if they knew this company, but no one knew Codeq.
On Google: nothing about this organization
To the commercial registrar: no results.
I found the phone number (from Codeq), called and the person who answered was Marcel Auclair's aunt.
The surprise is total.
“Nobody has ever seen anything,” says Martin Dubé indignantly.
The Découvreurs School Service Center (CSSDD) refused to answer our questions due to ongoing legal proceedings.
The CSSDD first sent a formal notice to Marcel Auclair in January 2020, in which he claimed that the operation took place from 2007 to 2019.
The CSSDD and its insurer then filed a civil lawsuit.
According to a lawsuit, he is ordered to pay $155,000 for embezzling funds generated by year-end activities and creating false invoices on behalf of Codeq.
In an email to Radio-Canada, the CSSDD said it regretted the events.
Lawsuit for employee fraud and dishonesty
Open in full screen mode
Simon Gauthier.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Sébastien Gauvin Blanchet
Simon Gauthier played basketball for the Laser de Rochebelle. And he also worked as a trainer. That's why he sided with Marcel Auclair.
The extent of the alleged embezzlement surprises him. $155,000 in twelve years or more than $10,000 per year. It can make a big difference for a basketball program, emphasizes Simon Gauthier.
According to sources in the field of extracurricular sports, the money is usually paid by parents, who finance these activities through an amount paid out at the beginning of each season.
Marcel Auclair did not want to grant us an interview at the request of his lawyer. We reached him by phone.
- Maude Montembeault – Where is the $150,000?
- Marcel Auclair – I can’t answer that for you, madam. I would like that, but I can't answer you. All I can tell you is that I don't have it. That's the only thing I can tell you.
He adds that his aunt has nothing to do with this matter. No criminal charges were brought against Marcel Auclair. Quebec City police declined to comment on the matter.
Simon Gauthier and the other people close to Marcel Auclair that we spoke to cannot explain the situation. They all admit that the former leisure technician lived modestly.
After his departure, Marcel Auclair broke off communication with almost everyone around him. His ex-comrades feel betrayed.
For me it's a bit strange and very annoying. My wish is really to shed light on the darkness, hopes Simon Gauthier.
Meanwhile, CSSDD was able to receive nearly $150,000 in compensation from its insurer, we learned during our investigation. Reason for complaint: Fraud and dishonesty of employees.
Open in full screen mode
A basketball.
Photo: iStock
Martin Dubé knew nothing about it. He is offended that the school and the CSSDD get their money back, but not the parents of the young people.
That's unfair. It's just the school board […] Who gets the money and that’s all we need to talk about. Except that all the families who paid too much money and didn't use all the services will not know about it.
In his email to Radio-Canada, the CSSDD director general reiterated that the affair had no consequences for the students or their parents.
Martin Dubé does not share this opinion.
Up to $145 overage per player for a season
When examining the budgets prepared by Marcel Auclair, Martin Dubé discovered that parents had overpaid for their child's basketball season.
Quebec Student Sports Network (RSEQ) membership fees charged to parents were higher than what the network actually charged.
For the 2016-2017 basketball season, players in Junior Divisions 2 and 3, coached by Martin Dubé, overpaid up to $145 per player.
Start of the widget. Skip widget?
End of widget. Return to the top of the widget?
“I am sad for these young people,” admits Martin Dubé. Every young person was able to play basketball on a team under good supervision. But we could have had more material.
The school did not have the means to pay for more things to enable young people and coaches to improve the experience, improve supervision and have better equipment to do so, Simon believes. Gauthier.
The two coaches think of less fortunate families for whom this money would have made a difference.
Too much confidence
Open in full screen mode
Lise Robitaille has been working in the education sector for more than 35 years.
Photo: Radio-Canada / François Genest
How to avoid such a situation?
Lise Robitaille was a secondary school principal for nine years and had to oversee the finances of extracurricular sports at another school service center in Centre-du-Québec.
You can't ask someone to take over management without someone looking at you. The person cannot do what he wants, she warns.
We also forwarded Rochebelle's file to Annie Lecompte, Professor in the Department of Accounting Sciences at UQAM. His specialty is fraud. Like Lise Robitaille, she believes that close supervision avoids many worries.
“We see that there are elements that could have easily been implemented, or that there were controls that we simply did not carry out,” explains the professor.
The two women believe that it is usually possible to check the GST/QST number or the business number on the invoice. If it is a non-profit organization, a check of the actual origin is required.
How could this deception last from 2007 to 2019? That is the question that all our witnesses ask themselves.
For Annie Lecompte, the fake supplier tactic is a classic trick.
The person, if they have access [au catalogue des fournisseurs]can create new ones, send false invoices and get paid by the company for services that were never provided, explains the anti-fraud expert.
Open in full screen mode
Professor Annie Lecompte's research focus is particularly on fraud.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Martin Brunette
She adds that these malicious people often start with small amounts to test their method. As a rule, they enjoy great trust in those around them.
Maybe they simply stopped checking everything carefully and said to themselves: It's right, Marcel will take care of it, we have trust, Martin suspects. This is not intentional negligence […] He concludes that negligence and excessive self-confidence are certain, for example.
It is also a criticism of the De Rochebelle school that Professor Lecompte makes. There is too much trust in people, especially people who have been there for a long time and are very committed. We tend to trust more and I would tell you that they are guilty in that sense.
Transparency required
In December, Radio-Canada had to go to court to obtain a forensic accounting report after several unsuccessful attempts with the CSSDD. This report was prepared in June 2022 by an accounting expert on behalf of CSSDD and its insurer. The aim is to quantify the extent of financial losses.
CSSDD lawyers and Marcel Auclair refused to let Radio-Canada get its hands on the report. They won their case.
In 2018, the CSSDD adopted a Student Fees Policy, advocating for an open and transparent administrative approach to fees collected from parents.
Open in full screen mode
The city of Quebec plans to relocate the tram line on the grounds of De Rochebelle secondary school.
Photo: Radio-Canada
There is no victim there who knows that he is a victim. For them it's not honest. You have the right to know, protests Martin Dubé on behalf of the parents.
Simon Gauthier would also have liked more transparency from the school and the CSSDD. I also think it's a shame that they didn't use this opportunity to make people understand what measures were taken to prevent something like this from happening again.
We learned that payment for registrations for extracurricular sports is now processed online via a recognized platform.
Martin Dubé and Simon Gauthier feel betrayed, but don't want to do anything bad to Marcel Auclair. They hope he can extricate himself by giving his version of the facts.
In his defense, Marcel Auclair rejects the alleged facts and points out that the amounts are exaggerated. His civil trial is scheduled for February 6 and 7, 2025. It will therefore require a lot of patience from his former colleagues, students and friends until they know Marcel Auclair's version.
In collaboration with Claude Laflamme and Bernard Leduc.