Lives & Legacy

As the Town of St. Lazare gets set to begin work on a new $9.3-million park to provide a variety of recreational and sports facilities, municipal officials are asking residents to help choose a name for the planned public space.

Mounting pushback by car owners in the Montreal region against the tripling of vehicle registration fees received a boost last week when a petition was launched in the National Assembly by Vaudreuil MNA Marie-Claude Nichols.

The Sûreté du Québec is urging local residents not to fall victim to scammers posing as bank employees who call to claim that they are investigating fraudulent activities related to their bank accounts.

Mourners packed a Senneville funeral home last weekend to bid farewell to 15-year-old Eva De Wit-Blades, who died tragically March 20 when she was struck by two cars while trying to cross a busy street in Vaudreuil-Dorion.

The opening of this year’s Hudson Film Festival promises to be sweet!

When times are tough, when rising prices add to the financial pressures people struggle with, neighbours help neighbours. It is with that thought in mind that team who publishes The 1019 Report and The 1510 West have decided to host a food drive. In fact, we — along with our sponsors — are hosting two food drives. The first will be on Saturday, March 28, in the West Island to benefit West Island Mission. Please drop by McKibbin’s in Pointe Claire, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., to drop off any non-perishable food items or toiletries. Then, we turn our attention to helping Le Pont Bridging in Hudson and La Source d’Entraide in St. Lazare. On April 11, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., the newspapers’ representatives will be at Cardinal Brewing in Hudson, McKibbins’ Vaudreuil and Duke & Divines in Vaudreuil-Dorion to collect food items. Hope you can join us. Let’s generate a few positive headlines together.

JOSHUA ALLAN
The 1019 Report A bylaw aimed to prevent property owners in St. Lazare from letting buildings fall into disrepair has been narrowed in scope. Originally planned to apply to all buildings in town – including sheds, barns and detached garages – this legislation will now only apply to heritage buildings, commercial and industrial buildings, multi-residential buildings and buildings that have been vacant for more than three months. “The main complaint was that people were worried about how this would be applied and how it would affect them,” Mayor Geneviève Lachance said in an interview. “Now that we’ve removed all that, I think it will reassure people.” The bylaw, which was adopted at the March 10 council meeting, aims to ensure the structural maintenance of these buildings. The legislation gives the town the power to inspect the buildings and require the owners to repair any damage or deteriorating features of the structure. Owners who fail to comply risk facing thousands of dollars in fines. The original version of this bylaw, which had been tabled in February, had aimed to apply this standard to all buildings in St. Lazare, including single-family houses and any structures on private properties. Even old backyard sheds could have subjected to the requirements under this bylaw. The Quebec government requires municipalities adopt a bylaw on maintenance of local heritage buildings by April 1, but municipal councils have the option to expand this regulation beyond maintaining purely heritage structures.District 6 Councillor Lorraine Caron had denounced the broad scope of the initial version of the bylaw, being the only member on council to vote against it in February. “I thought there would be a social acceptability problem to subject all buildings” to this bylaw, said Caron, who voted in favour of the revised version last week. While she said she doesn’t perceive this issue as being especially pronounced in her district, Caron pointed to the fact that the town does not have an inventory of all buildings in the town. This, she said, would have presented an obstacle for municipal inspectors, who would have needed to investigate, verify and keep running tabs on each complaint they receive about any derelict building or structure. “Not to mention the hassle of having an inspector come to your home and tell you, ‘Well, you need to repair your roof, you need to repair your balcony, you need to repair your walls,’ and so on,” Caron added. A public consultation Feb. 24 saw several residents voice the same concerns as Caron. Some asked about a timeline for repairs, how low-income residents would be able to afford these repairs, and how it would be determined what qualifies as being dilapidated. This response from residents pushed the city to amend this bylaw, Lachance said.“We had a lot of debates internally about this to find the right solution. But I think it’s a good compromise for now.” Local Journalism Initiative

JOSHUA ALLAN
 The 1019 Report After setting the issue aside last month amid pushback from residents, Ste. Justine de Newton town council last week adopted the updated MRC-wide nuisance bylaw, a move that comes after a month of voiceful opposition from many residents and a few councillors in the small village to a bylaw they claim does not reflect realities of a rural community. “I think the residents were afraid of not being free on their properties or in their homes, but that’s not the case,” Mayor Shawn Campbell said in an interview with The 1019 Report. Some residents in Ste. Justine have taken issue with several articles within the harmonized bylaw, which has been adopted by town councils across the Vaudreuil-Soulanges region over the past month. Their worries mainly centre on articles banning the display of “erotic” or “hateful” content “in or on any public or private area;” a requirement to “immediately” remove all animal excrement from their property; prohibiting residents from having one or more inoperable vehicles on their property; and the ability for a municipal inspector or SQ officer to “visit and examine” properties in order to ensure compliance with the bylaw. As a small farming town, some locals have expressed concern that this bylaw does not match their rural reality and could leave them vulnerable to fines. The law exempts agricultural workers from some of the nuisances, but this exemption is only applied “in the course of their agricultural activities.” The legislation sets a harmonized standard on what is considered a nuisance across the 23 municipalities in Vaudreuil-Soulanges, facilitating operations for SQ officers. The bylaw is drafted by a committee of clerks and other representatives from all towns in the region. Town councils are free to choose not to adopt the legislation, though most do. Campbell took a moment during the March 10 council meeting to attempt to allay the concerns of his residents. This bylaw, he pointed out, has been in place across the region since 2009, and has had minor updates made over the years. The latest version of this bylaw is nearly identical to its previous version, which had been adopted in 2019. Campbell also wanted to make it clear that fines for nuisances — which range from $200 to $1,000 for a first offence — are rarely issued by SQ officers upon an initial visit. “Every time that an inspector or a police officer intervenes concerning a nuisance, there’s always an educational component,” he explained. “For example, you’re having a party, the music is loud (and) there’s a resident who complains because the music is loud. When the Sûreté du Québec shows up at your house, there will be an educational component where the police will explain that the noise is excessive.” “It’s very rare that a police officer or an inspector will issue a fine on the first visit,” Campbell continued. “There is always the educational component first; explain what happened, explain why it’s a nuisance, and if it’s recurring, after four, five times, for example, there can be a fine.” What’s more, he pointed out that instances of fines for nuisances in Ste. Justine have been few and far between since 2019. Since that time, there had been 13 fines for nuisances issued in the town. These have included instances of animals roaming free, excessive noise and one instance of a dog biting someone. Councillor Stéphane Lapointe has been outspoken in his criticism of this bylaw. To him, the fact that there have not been fines issued for the articles in the bylaw that residents take issue with reinforces the question of why these items are included in the legislation at all. “If there are so few complaints, then why do we need these regulations?” he said. Lapointe added that just because there haven’t been fines issued for things like the display of erotic content, uncollected animal excrement or residents keeping inoperable vehicles, does not mean they couldn’t be issued in the future. “Depending on the police officer who comes when there’s a complaint, depending on the neighbours that we have, people will see it like a Sword of Damocles,” he said, referencing the ancient Greek metaphor for an ever-looming threat. Lapointe had proposed amendments to the bylaw at the March 10 meeting, which would either remove or change parts. These proposed amendments were voted down by the council. Only District 3 councillor Jean Giroux-Gagné voted in favour. The council then proceeded with a vote to adopt the bylaw as-is, with only Lapointe and Giroux-Gagné voting against.Campbell does not believe fines for nuisances will be issued carelessly, explaining residents can contest unfair treatment. “If, for example, there’s an inspector that abuses (their power), the residents always have the means to issue a complaint to the municipality,” Campbell said. Local Journalism Initiative

FREDERIC SERRE The 1019 Report A LaSalle man has been sentenced to 12 years behind bars for sexually abusing six children, ages 5 to 11 in various regions of the province, including St. Polycarpe, St. Clet and Île Perrot. Forty-two-year-old Michael Michaud was also sentenced for being in possession of more than 45,000 photos and 11,000 videos of boys between the ages of 2 months and 8 years old being sexually assaulted — many of them by Michaud. With time already served in pre-trial detention, Michaud will be a free man in nine and a half years. A Quebec Court judge rendered his decision last Friday at the Montreal courthouse as the parents of two of the victims looked on, and after the Crown outlined the grisly details of Michaud’s crimes. Michaud appeared by videoconferencing from prison, where he has been held since his arrest in July 2024. Almost exactly a year ago, Michaud pleaded guilty to sexual assault, invitation to sexual touching, voyeurism and producing and distributing child pornography. Michaud’s crimes occurred between 2011 and 2024 in various municipalities in the Greater Montreal area, after he befriended families with young children, offering them babysitting or mentoring services. It was when he was alone with the children that he sexually assaulted them and filmed his attacks. Michaud confessed to police last year to having sexually assaulted a 7-year-old boy. Police found videos of the sexual acts on Michaud’s phone. “My son is also serving a sentence: one of fear and memories he never deserved,” the victim’s mother told the court last Friday. The child was “more withdrawn and less cheerful” after the day of the crime, his father told authorities. Even today, he “is suffering terribly,” according to his mother, who added that she finds it “unbearable to know that this is not an isolated case.”Michaud admitted to engaging in sexual contact with four other children between 2011 and 2023 and to voyeurism involving a fifth. Details of how exactly Michaud came into contact with his victims, including those who lived in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges area, were not released to protect the identity of the minors involved. The accused, who is HIV-positive, gained the parents’ trust to spend time alone with the boys. He slept with them or even took baths with them. “My son was stolen from me,” the mother of another victim told the court. “He’s distrustful, sometimes lost in his thoughts. He’s not the same child any more.” In addition, police found more than 46,000 photos and 11,600 videos of child pornography on the accused’s devices.According to a report presented to the court by the Crown, Michaud poses an above-average risk to society. The accused has “intellectual limitations” and “neurodevelopmental issues,” the report states.“He still has a lot of work to do to understand the harm he has caused,” said Crown prosecutor Karine Lagacé-Paquette. Michaud addressed the court by videoconferencing, saying he feels a great deal of “sadness and regret” over his crimes. “I never want to destroy anyone else’s life again.” That is why both parties recommended Michaud serve 12 years in prison. This is a “significant sentence that reflects the extreme objective gravity” of the crimes, said his attorney, Diane Chartier. For two decades, he will be prohibited from communicating with children, visiting parks or schools, or holding a job involving minors under the age of 16. He will also be required to refrain from using social media. Local Journalism Initiative

FREDERIC SERRE The 1019 Report The driver of a car that rolled over several times after veering off westbound Highway 40 on March 10 in Vaudreuil-Dorion managed to crawl out of the wreckage with only a few scratches, according to the Sûreté du Québec – something that surprised responding officers and firefighters when they reached the scene. The accident happened around noon when, for an unknown reason, the driver lost control of his Toyota Yaris, which then drove into the centre median and rolled several times before landing on its roof. The investigation into the cause of the accident is under way, but according to the SQ, the pavement was dry and it was a sunny day, which rules out risky driving conditions. The crash occurred at the same spot – kilometre 29 – where, on Aug. 30, 2024, a westbound truck carrying thousands of chickens lost control, crashed into the centre median and overturned, resulting in scores of chickens scattered all over the highway. The accident caused the closure of the highway as work crews cleaned up the mess. Rig hits ditch in Pointe Fortune In another crash reported last week, the driver of a transport truck travelling along on eastbound Highway 40 lost control, jackknifed the rig, sending the vehicle into the ditch in Pointe Fortune. The accident happened on March 11and ended up in the ditch. The driver was not injured. Police blocked off one lane to traffic to allow the truck to be towed away.