Inspector Patrick Lavallée is a senior police officer with the Montreal City Police Service (SPVM). He once thought it would be a good idea to support the trucker convoy that occupied Ottawa at the beginning of the winter of 2022.
Posted at 5:36 p.m.
Mr. Lavallée paid $20 to the crowdfunding website, which raised $8 million for the protesters in early February 2022.
Then, in mid-February, a leak revealed the names and contact information of nearly 100,000 donors to the “Freedom” convoy. Mr. Lavallée's name was written there.
The SPVM's reaction was swift: two weeks after this revelation, which identified him as a donor to the convoy, he was fired from the position he had just received as head of the integrity department. He was appointed as support advisor to the Gendarmerie in the Southwest Sector.
It was a demotion, although police officer Lavallée retained his rank and salary.
And Mr. Lavallée, despite his demotion, submitted his candidacy to succeed retiring chairman Sylvain Caron at the end of 2022.
As my comrade Philippe Teisceira-Lessard reported on Monday in La Presse1, Patrick Lavallée filed a lawsuit arguing that this demotion was in fact a disguised dismissal.
The Administrative Labor Court did not rule on the matter and returned the ball to the Quebec court. This is where the debate will take place. Mr Lavallée can of course assert his rights. Was he the victim of constructive dismissal even though he did not lose his salary or rank? I won't speculate, the court will decide.
However, I would like to make a few comments to the court of public opinion.
By the end of January 2022, the people and organizations who drove this convoy of heavy trucks towards Ottawa were known2. The most visible among them were right-wing conspiracy theorists and agitators. Like the small group Canada Unity, which even considered dismissing the elected government: it had set out its ambitions in writing3.
When I wrote about the convoy leaders on January 28, 20224, their affiliations were already known and commented on in English Canada.
That a private citizen decided to fund health deniers who had within their ranks elements seeking to establish an authoritarian regime in Canada is one thing.
That a high-ranking officer of a police force responsible for enforcing the law decided with heart and soul that it was a good idea to fund these crazy people is a completely different matter…
Which raises the question of the quality of Patrick Lavallée's judgment.
I don't know when Inspector Lavallée made his donation to the Truckers crowdfunding campaign. If he knew who the organizers of the convoy were and decided to donate anyway, that would be disturbing…
If he hasn't figured it out, it's just as disturbing.
But what is extremely ironic is to see Mr. Lavallée invoking the rule of law to challenge his demotion… While the protesters who paralyzed Ottawa and the Canada-US border crossings didn't mind at all. Endorsing a coup violates the rule of law.
In short, I don't know if there is a crack in the police law that will allow police officer Lavallée to pass off his demotion as a hidden dismissal. But as a Montrealer, I am reassured to see that he has been ostracized by the SPVM's top decision-making bodies.
I also note that Patrick Lavallée, after his demotion, decided to run for chief of the Montreal police…
That he could have believed that the elected officials of the city of Montreal would elect as leader a man who supported health objectors who have so often been a nuisance to public safety again raises questions about Mr. Lavallée's judgment…
Or maybe Mr. Lavallée acted like a troll when applying.
What is a troll?
I quote Le Robert's dictionary: “A person who wants to cause controversy in a discussion forum or on social networks.” »
Trolls are also sometimes rampant in real life. And that explains why we better understand why Officer Lavallée decided to support the Ottawa Trolls: Birds of a feather flock together.