The former leader of the far-right group Atalante, who was convicted of breaking into VICE Quebec media premises with masked accomplices, wants an absolution to “progress” in his career as a truck driver. When he is no longer doing “field activism”, Raphaël Lévesque continues to help the white Catholics of the “French Canadians”.
Posted at 3:35pm
The 39-year-old man, who was acquitted by Judge Joëlle Roy in 2020, was finally found guilty of burglary and trespassing by the Quebec Court of Appeals last year. Three years later, the far-right activist finds himself before Judge Roy again over the delivery of his sentence.
The case caused a stir in May 2018. Accompanied by six of Atalante’s masked accomplices, thanks to a ruse, Raphaël Lévesque entered the premises of the Montreal medium VICE Quebec and presented a “humorous” trophy full of cigarette butts to the journalist Simon Coutu, who wrote about their organization. The invaders played music and threw leaflets and clown noses.
The far-right activist reiterated on Friday that he would no longer do “field activism” and would no longer be a member of Atalante. However, he does admit to attending three French Canadian dinner parties with Atalante staff in the last year. A photo posted to Atalante’s Telegram account – which has 400 members – shows Lévesque and a dozen masked activists last May.
PHOTO SUBMITTED AS PROOF
Activists from the Atalante group gathered for a food distribution in May 2022. Raphaël Lévesque is the masked man in the center with a white sweater.
Questioned by Crown Prosecutor Me Geneviève Boutet about her definition of “French-Canadians”, Raphaël Lévesque joked about “white bastards” and urged Judge Roy to intervene. “I, Monsieur’s ideas don’t interest me,” she said.
In a monologue lasting several minutes, the judge claimed “to have had the impression that this morning he was dealing with one morality against another”. In 2020, the magistrate returned to the course of the process. According to her, there was “violence between two groups” at the time.
At the trial, the judge very harshly criticized the prosecution for having been “aggressive” and “aggressive” towards them, citing the similarity of the Atalanta logo to the SS sign of the Nazi regime.
“At that time I advised the prosecutor not to enter areas because the room was crowded with journalists, people of different political or cultural views. It was unnecessary in the sense that it could only create problems. It’s just to avoid some sort of escalation that’s useless,” Judge Roy said.
The judge insisted that Raphaël Lévesque did not commit a hate crime, but only presented a journalist with a garbage trophy. Her crime had “no political idea,” she said.
In addition, Judge Roy refused to order the prosecutor to order the defendant to disclose the name of his employer, as he felt a non-disclosure order was insufficient to protect him. “I’ve seen it, people calling the employer and getting the person to lose the job. Monsieur is a family man,” the judge explained.
“It’s not very chivalrous”
Without expressing any real remorse, Raphaël Lévesque said he was “sorry” for “scaring” a VICE journalist who was shaken by the events. “That’s not very chivalrous,” he admitted.
He says he never intended to intimidate or prevent a journalist from writing. “Freedom of the press is important to me,” he said. So he pledged to donate $1,000 to Reporters Without Borders.
Raphaël Lévesque has been a trucker for five years and claims he works 70 hours a week, sleeping in his truck during the week and going to the fair on Sundays. This would make it difficult for him to do much extra work.
“There is a maximum number of strenuous hours a man can do to remain sane,” he explained.
The defense is asking for a parole and the imposition of 50 to 75 hours of community service (TC), while the Crown is asking for a suspended sentence and 150 hours TC. Note that Raphaël Lévesque already has a criminal record for drug trafficking. A suspended sentence would thus delay his pardon by several years.
According to the defense, Raphaël Lévesque may never get a better job if he’s not fired. In the trucking industry, a breach and a conviction, in the defendant’s view, is akin to a “thief.”
The defense assumes that the crime committed by Raphaël Lévesque is only a “technical misdemeanor”. Me Mathieu Corbo therefore summarized the event as a simple presentation of a “humorous prize” of one minute fifteen. “It’s not even on the first rung of the ladder on the gravity scale,” he pleaded.
Me Corbo also underlined the “painful” legal process for his client.
Judge Roy will render a verdict in the coming weeks.