A6 QUEBEC OTHEGLOBEANDMAIL | SATURDAY,FEBRUARY22,
Chancesoflandingthisgrind?50-
PeterCerulorideshissnowboardoverarailatLaFontaineParkinMontrealonFriday.
KAYLENEIS/THEGLOBEANDMAILFormer Quebec media star Éric
Salvail categorically denied the
accusations against him Thurs-
day, testifying that the claims he
harassed, confined and sexually
assaulted a onetime co-worker
were simply “bizarre.”
On his second day on the wit-
ness stand, the fallen television
star told the court he wasn’t even
working at Radio-Canada in 1993
when he is alleged to have sex-
ually assaulted Donald Duguay
in a bathroom in the public
broadcaster’s Montreal head-
quarters.
He also showed the court pho-
tos taken of him that year to il-
lustrate his physique at the time,
in an attempt to convince a judge
that he wasn’t the intimidating
predator he is accused of being.
“I visibly didn’t have either the
stature or the imposing manner
that [Duguay] described, as if I
was six feet tall and I could dom-
inate and hold someone down
and at the same time undo his
belt,” Mr. Salvail said.
He said he was no longer
working at Radio-Canada at the
time of the alleged assault in Oc-
tober, 1993, and that when the
harassment is alleged to have be-
gun the previous spring, he was
not working in the mailroom
with Mr. Duguay, as Mr. Duguay
has testified.
“I never grabbed the buttocks
of Mr. Duguay in April or May or
June of 1993,” he said. “I didn’t
work in the mailroom.”
Mr. Salvail said he was just be-
ginning his career at the time
and wouldn’t have taken such a
risk. He said the first time he
heard the name Donald Duguay
was when he received an e-mail
from the prosecutor outlining
Mr. Duguay’s accusations.Mr. Duguay alleges Mr. Salvail
repeatedly harassed him over a
period of several weeks in 1993,
and also cornered him in the
bathroom, exposed himself and
tried to force him into perform-
ing a sex act. He has had the
standard publication ban on the
identity of alleged victims in sex-
ual assault cases waived.
Mr. Salvail told the court he
doesn’t remember making lewd
comments about Mr. Duguay’s
rear end.
During his cross-examination,
Mr. Salvail admitted he used to
make those kind of commentsoften. “That’s the kind of guy I
am,” he said. “I make comments
like that: ‘Your dress looks good
on you, it makes your breasts
nice.’ It’s possible I said things
like that.”
But the ex-TV host said if
those comments are unaccept-
able in more traditional work-
places, they are more common in
the media industry. Mr. Salvail
said, however, that he “never
crossed the line.”
Prosecutor Amélie Rivard con-
fronted Mr. Salvail about a Face-
book post he made shortly after
Montreal’s La Presse published
an article in 2017 containing alle-
gations against him by several
people. In it he said he was
shocked and was taking stock of
the consequences of his actions
and how they affected people.
Ms. Rivard suggestesd to him
that the Facebook post was an
admission he had problematic
behaviour.
Mr. Salvail responded that the
post was written for him by a
public relations agency. “I had
lost everything, professionally.
Personally, it’s extremely difficult
to live with,” he said.
The case is adjourned until
March 11, when the Crown will
declare whether it intends to pro-
vide a rebuttal to the defence
case. Closing arguments have
been scheduled for April 30.THE CANADIAN PRESSFormermediapersonalityÉricSalvailarrivesatacourthouseinMontrealonWednesday.Mr.Salvailisalleged
tohavesexuallyassaultedDonaldDuguayinabathroominRadio-Canada’sMontrealheadquarters.
PAULCHIASSON/THECANADIANPRESS
Formertalkshowhosttestifiesattrial,
denyingsexual-assaultaccusations
MONTREAL
Inevergrabbedthe
buttocksofMr.Duguay
inAprilorMayorJune
of1993.ÉRICSALVAIL
FORMERTVHOSTTensions were mounting on Friday as more than two dozen
protesters maintained a railway blockade south of Montreal
and Quebec’s Premier called for rapid enforcement of an in-
junction ordering that the site be cleared.
Four municipal police officers met with the protesters Fri-
day afternoon at their encampment next to Canadian Na-
tional Railway tracks in Saint-Lambert, Que., but they would
not disclose what was discussed.
The protesters say they are blocking the rail lines in soli-
darity with Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs in British Colum-
bia. Their actions have interrupted freight traffic as well as
passenger service for suburban commuters and for Via Rail
travellers between Montreal and Quebec City.
The Wet’suwet’en’s hereditary chiefs oppose the Coastal
GasLink pipeline project that would carry natural gas to the
B.C. coast. But others in the community support the project,
including 20 First Nations bands along the route that have
signed agreements with the company.
Countrywide protests and blockades have followed a
move by the RCMP to enforce a court injunction this month
against the hereditary chiefs and their supporters, who had
been obstructing an access road to a Coastal GasLink work
site.
Jean-Yves Lessard, a man decked out in high-visibility ap-
parel who joined the protesters on Friday morning, blamed
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberalgovernment.
“If they had done what they needed to at the beginning,
people wouldn’t be here,” he fumed to reporters.
“Sadly, it’s bad for the economy and business, but it’s not
them you should be angry with. Tell Trudeau to go and sit
down with the hereditary chiefs.”
Premier François Legault told reporters he will leave it to
police to enforce the injunction, but he hopes the blockade
will be removed “rapidly.”
“We need these tracks for transporting cargo, to avoid job
losses, to avoid losses for companies,” he said. “The law has to
be respected and obviously, I hope it is done in an orderly
fashion.”
The Premier estimated the losses to the provincial econo-
my because of the rail blockades are up to $100-million a day.
Denis Bisson, who owns a company north of Montreal sell-
ing slate flooring and countertops, said he depends on the
rail line to supply his business with raw materials from a
quarry in Nova Scotia. Switching to flatbed trucks would qua-
druple the cost per load, he said.
“I’m afraid it’s going to last two or three weeks and I’m
beginning to be out of stock in my yard,” he said, holding a
sign that read in French, “hostage for one day or every day?!”
A protester told him they were standing up for Indigenous
rights and the environment.
“But they are hitting people that have nothing to do with
that,” Mr. Bisson said. “They’re making people pay for some-
thing that we’re not involved in.”
The Saint-Lambert protesters have said they will continue
to block the railway until the RCMP leave the Wet’suwet’en
territory. But their motivations to camp out in the freezing
cold are also tied to the fight against climate change.
“Natural gas isn’t a transition energy,” one protester said.
The injunction granted to CN on Thursday by Superior
Court Justice France Dulude authorizes “any police services
or peace officers” to assist the company in executing the or-
der in Saint-Lambert.
But with a barrel fire going Friday and supporters bringing
coffee and muffins, the protesters didn’t seem ready to leave.
Instead, they reinforced mounds of snow with wooden slats
and were involved in scuffles with one rowdy counter-
protester unhappy with the blockade.WithareportfromStephaneBlaisTensionsmountasQuebec
protestersmaintainrail
blockadedespiteinjunction
SIDHARTHABANERJEESAINT-LAMBERT,QUE.[WINTERRECREATION]