After presenting his powerful film in 2005 Childhood thievesPaul Arcand started the documentary series Children’s collector in autumn 2022 on the Vrai Canal. Throughout the three shows that make it up, the host delivers a dark and disturbing portrait of cyber pedophilia, to say the least.
• Also read: Paul Arcand had to take a break from radio for health reasons
“Child collectors” continue to operate and use the Internet and social networks to achieve their goals. Parents who don’t know everything their children do on the Internet or on the websites they visit have reason to worry after watching the three episodes of Paul Arcand’s series. Of course, as we can see in these shows, the police are active in tracking down these predators and the presenter even had the opportunity to witness a police operation. “There is more fall detection than before, but there are techniques and approaches that have changed and were less known at the time we filmed. The new thing about this phenomenon is that it is young boys who are recruited and offered money, whereas previously it was mainly girls. Unfortunately, boys have the reflex to suppress it. People always think that it happens on platforms on the dark web, but that is not the case. Access is very easy via social networks,” says Paul.
“There is surveillance software, reporting and denunciations. The challenge for the police is to know who is behind the computer screen when, for example, four people live in the same house.” According to Paul, some “collectors” do not understand it, see nothing wrong with accumulating these types of photos, and defend themselves by saying that there is nothing illegal there because they are accessible on the Internet. Nor do they think about the impact of their arrest on those around them. “Some people completely trivialize it and say they are just photos. They deny. In the series we see someone we called Jean-Paul, who had thousands and thousands of photos,” he comments.
Field investigation
In the series, Paul Arcand closely follows the work of the police officers, meets victims, conducts an interview with a cyber pedophile and, in the third episode, goes to the Gaspé prison, where sex offenders are held. But who are these image collectors who often try to make contact with children? “It’s really everyone. They are millionaires, lawyers, Ti-Cass, there is not just one social class or income level. They are people who seem to be nothing, people you meet on the street, he explains. The mission of this documentary is to shed light on a phenomenon and crime whose scale is unimaginable.”
“Presenting an issue like this, we are very aware of that, is dark,” he said. “At the same time, we included the statement of a girl and her father. Because she trusted him, she opened up and allowed the arrest of a man who was luring teenagers from France to Quebec. We’re talking about ten girls. This is what we wanted to emphasize: We can’t spy on our children or stop them from going online, but we need parents – or other adults – who they trust to talk about it. I also wanted to show that these images are easily accessible and that child collectors are normal people of all genders. Some even go so far as to gain access to their grandchildren through grandmothers. We also show that there are predators and consumers of all types of pornography, and that includes children.”
Joël Lemay / QMI Agency
A call for vigilance
What message does he want to convey to parents who watch his documentary? “Since you can’t always monitor what kids do, I would say be careful about what you post on social media. For example, very innocent photos of the little one in the pool or the children at a birthday party on the terrace, these people will transplant them to add to their collection. It’s like a crescendo. They leave with pictures of little girls playing and then move on to finding more hardcore stuff. Therefore, managing personal photos and access to our accounts is the first thing we need to monitor.”
He adds: “Yes, we have to make it clear to the young person that maybe he did something, maybe he made a mistake, but that he needs to talk about it.” Tell him: “We will denounce you and support you.” Children and young people need to feel that someone will listen to them if they make a mistake. This is the only way prevention is possible. We are always a little behind technologically and approaches change. These are probably the two most important aspects that parents should consider.” The observation we have after watching the three episodes is that the number of child crime victims continues to rise. “When you meet the police officers who do this, you can’t believe it. Your job is to look at pictures and photos and write them down so they can be used as evidence. A police officer said that when you think you’ve seen the worst images, you’ll eventually find others that are even crazier. There are people working hard on this problem. You can’t catch everyone, but you know it exists and could be near you.
The presenter has other projects, in particular a series about Claude Poirier, who has been one of his radio collaborators for a long time and which we will undoubtedly see next year.
Joël Lemay / QMI Agency
Break indefinitely
Paul Arcand was absent from his show on Thursday November 9th and the following day and took stock last Friday. “I have a health problem and I am very protective of my private life, my private life and even more so my medical records,” he said by telephone to Alain Crête, who represented him on those two days. A health problem that needs to be treated indefinitely. […] It’s a pretty serious infection that requires this treatment.” He made it clear that given the relationship he had built with them over the years, he couldn’t stay away from his show without being accountable to his listeners. It was Louis Lacroix who took over as host of the morning show on 98.5 FM while he waited for the king of the airwaves to return. We wish a speedy recovery to Paul Arcand, who, we remind you, is in his last year of animation at Puisqu’il peut se leva.
Watch Children’s Collectors Wednesdays, November 22 and 29 and December 6, at 9 p.m. on TVA.