Historian Laurent Turcot is said to have once again plagiarized content from intellectuals and online creators to produce capsules that were broadcast on his popular YouTube channel, which has more than 440,000 subscribers, and by Radio-Canada.
• Also read: Star historian Laurent Turcot, accused of plagiarism, wants “clarification”
The journal has received about twenty cases in which the history professor at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières (UQTR) appears to be copying the work of others without giving them credit.
Most of these cases are from the capsules posted on his YouTube channel called History will tell us, in which he stars. Another is also from at least one podcast called History Fan. The latter, hosted by Laurent Turcot, will be broadcast on Radio-Canada’s OHdio app.
This is well demonstrated in one of his YouTube videos released in 2020 entitled Tattoo, Myths and History.
At least six passages of the text recited by Laurent Turcot in this sequence are almost identical to another video released six years earlier, in 2014. This one is titled “The History of Tattoos”. It is archived in English on the TED-Ed YouTube channel.
According to our observations and our sources, Turcot’s words are almost identical to the French subtitles of this video broadcast on TED-Ed. He gives them no credit.
Some cases are listed below.
Excerpt 1:
Words by Laurent Turcot :
“First, a mummy from the Chinchorro culture of pre-Inca Peru has a mustache tattooed on its upper lip. Second, Ötzi, the mummified man in the ice of the Alps, has charcoal tattoo designs down his spine, behind his knee, and around his ankles, which could also come from a primitive form of acupuncture. Third example: The mummy Amunet, a priestess of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, has tattoos associated with sexuality and fertility.
French subtitles from TED-Ed on YouTube :
“A mummy from the Chinchorro culture of pre-Inca Peru has a mustache tattooed on its upper lip. Ötzi, the man mummified in the ice of the Alps, has charcoal tattoo designs along his spine, behind his knee and around his ankles, which could also come from a primitive form of acupuncture. The mummy Amunet, a priestess from Egypt’s Middle Kingdom, wears tattoos associated with sexuality and fertility.
Excerpt 2:
Words from Laurent Turcot:
“It would be an English adaptation of the word ‘tatau,’ a Polynesian word used in Tahiti, where English captain James Cook landed in 1769 and met men and women covered in tattoos.”
French subtitles from TED-Ed on YouTube :
“The word is an English adaptation of ‘tatao,’ a Polynesian word used in Tahiti, where English captain James Cook landed in 1769 and encountered men and women covered in tattoos.”
Excerpt 3:
Words from Laurent Turcot:
“For the Maori, these tattoos were a widespread established tradition. If you winced at a painful incision of your moko pattern, your incomplete tattoo was a proof of your cowardice.
French subtitles from TED-Ed on YouTube :
“For the Maori, these tattoos were a widespread established tradition. If you winced at a painful incision of your moko pattern, your incomplete tattoo was a proof of your cowardice.
Also with regard to this 2020 video on the history of tattooing, certain sentences by Laurent Turcot seem to be identical to those in an article by Yvon Larose published in 2002.
Excerpt 4:
Words from Laurent Turcot:
“From the 16th to the 18th centuries, the widespread practice of tattooing among the First Nations impressed the French. The tattoo serves here as a reminder of martial exploits. Snakes, lizards, squirrels and turtles or flowers, leaves, suns and moons are the main tattooed images. Simple strokes were also tattooed. The more tattooed the man was, the more the warrior was recognized as brave.”
excerpt from “Memory on the Skin”Article published by Yvon Larose:
“In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the practice of tattooing, which was very widespread among the Indians, made a strong impression on the French […] The men, on the other hand, used it as a reminder of their martial exploits. Snakes, lizards, squirrels and turtles or flowers, leaves, suns and moons were the main tattooed images. We also tattooed simple lines […] The more tattooed the man was, the more the warrior was recognized as brave.”
“Very involuntary omission”
Note that Yvon Larose’s article and TED-Ed video were not even cited in or under Laurent Turcot’s YouTube capsule. The historian who allegedly plagiarized their content added these two references after being questioned by the Journal on the matter.
“We have just been reminded of a very involuntary omission from these sources,” Mr Turcot’s video read.
Screenshot from the History will tell YouTube channel.
Several passages from TED-Ed’s The History of Tattoos video appear to have been picked up in full by Laurent Turcot on at least one public service podcast.
On August 28, 2021, in the program “Les Tatouages” on Radio-Canada’s OHdio application, texts read by the historian look the same as the French subtitles of this capsule on YouTube. At no point does the professor quote or mention the creators of TED-Ed.
Excerpt 5:
Words of Laurent Turcot, read on the show “Les Tatouages” on OHdio on Radio-Canada:
“One has to think here of the Nazis, who tattooed numbers on the chests or arms of Jews and other prisoners in concentration camps to identify naked corpses. After World War II, we witness the distraction of these compulsory tattoos. For example, Primo Levi, bestselling author and Auschwitz survivor, wore short sleeves in Germany after the war to remind local people of the crimes his tattooed figure represented. Even today, descendants of the Holocaust have the numbers of their loved ones tattooed on their arms.
French subtitles from TED-Ed on YouTube :
“The Nazis notoriously tattooed numbers on the chests or arms of Jews and other prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp to identify naked corpses. But we can redefine forced tattoos on inmates and outcasts as people appropriate that status or their past. Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi wore short sleeves in Germany after the war to remind people of the crimes his character embodied. Today, descendants of Holocaust survivors have the numbers of their loved ones tattooed on their arms.
Radio-Canada spokesman Marc Pichette responded to OhDio’s allegations of plagiarism in an email.
“In the world of audio and podcasts, adding references to text is not common, as footnotes can be in the publishing world, so as not to burden the subject and disrupt listening. Such references are made when audio snippets of radio or television broadcasts are included,” he wrote.
Mr. Pichette adds that “Radio-Canada has every reason to believe in the good faith of Laurent Turcot and to continue working with him”.
Note that Radio-Canada’s Journalism Standards and Practices (NPJ) are clear on this subject.
“We recognize the scope of our work and our duty of honesty to the audience. […] We don’t plagiarize,” the public broadcaster guarantees in its NPJ.
Another capsule on Mr Turcot’s YouTube channel would appear to contain plagiarized passages, again according to our sources and our observations.
This time it’s the video released on March 15, 2020 entitled “Spanish flu in Quebec (1918-1920)”.
Portions of the text recited by the UQTR teacher are almost identical to paragraphs from a 2018 article published by author and journalist Monique T. Giroux.
At no point in this roughly 12-minute sequence does the historian give him credit.
Excerpt 6:
Words from Laurent Turcot:
“In Victoriaville, between August 1 and December 31, 1918, 2.1% of the population died; Imagine a city of 40,000 people losing 840 of its citizens in ten weeks!”.
Article by Monique T. Giroux, “Victoriaville: epicenter of the Spanish flu pandemic in America» :
“2.1% of the population of Victoriaville and Arthabaska died between August 1 and December 31, 1918. […] Imagine a city of 40,000 losing 840 of its citizens in ten weeks!”
Excerpt 7:
Words from Laurent Turcot:
“All in all, people in Victoriaville are suffering twice as many deaths as in Montreal and Quebec. In some villages it is even worse. In Laurierville, 8% of the population is decimated! The Parish of Inverness is quadrupling its death rate!”
Article by Monique T. Giroux, “Victoriaville: epicenter of the Spanish flu pandemic in America» :
“All things considered, the people of Victoriaville and Arthabaska are suffering twice as many deaths as those in Montreal and Quebec (…) Saint-Louis-de-Blandford and Sainte-Élisabeth-de-Warwick have almost tripled theirs and Inverness has quadrupled its ! In Laurierville nearly 8% of the population is decimated.
Excerpt 8:
Words from Laurent Turcot:
“This disaster showed the need to organize to deal with other scourges of this kind (…) It was the origin of the creation of the Bureau Municipal de Santé de Montréal in 1918, as well as the Asbestos Hospital and the one that became operational in 1919 Federal Ministry of Health”.
Article by Monique T. Giroux, “Victoriaville: epicenter of the Spanish flu pandemic in America» :
“This catastrophe has shown that we need to organize to deal with other such scourges. It was the origin of the establishment of the Bureau Municipal de Santé de Montréal in 1918, and the Asbestos Hospital and the Federal Ministry of Health, which became operational in 1919″.
Once again, Laurent Turcot listed Monique T. Giroux’s article as a source after being contacted by the Journal. “We have just been made aware of an accidental omission of these sources,” he added below his video.
Screenshot from the History will tell YouTube channel.
On December 30, 2022, the Journal sent Mr Turcot a lengthy email asking him to respond to new information suggesting that certain passages from his videos had been plagiarized.
The historian never responded to this first request.
This week, Laurent Turcot came out of his silence in a video posted to his Facebook page. He specifically apologized for his “unintentional errors” that crept into his book Sport and Leisure: A History from the Origins to the Present.
The journal revealed in April 2022 that the professor was under investigation for 13 passages that would have been plagiarized in that book.
The historian declined to comment Thursday on the cases, which can be found on his YouTube channel and on at least one Radio-Canada podcast.
“Everything is already explained in my video of March 7, 2023,” he wrote briefly in an email.
However, in this Facebook post, the historian tries to explain himself through his book and not through his videos.
It should be noted that the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières (UQTR) confirms that the professor is still employed but refuses to specify whether the second plagiarism investigation of which he is the subject was an investigation that was initiated almost a year ago, year is over. The UQTR also declined to comment on the plagiarism allegations outlined above.
Do you have any information about this story that you would like to share with us?
Do you have a scoop that might be of interest to our readers?
Write to us or call us directly at 1-800-63SCOOP.