Denis Lortie
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Denis Lortie | |
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Born | Joseph Laurent Paul Denis Lortie March 10, 1959[1] Quebec, Canada |
Occupation | Military supply technician |
Criminal status | Full parole in 1996 |
Spouses |
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Motive | Anger over the Parti Québécois's advocating of a Second-degree murder in 1987 |
Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment with no parole for ten years |
Details | |
Date | May 8, 1984 |
Location(s) | Parliament Building, Quebec City, Canada |
Target(s) | Premier René Lévesque, and other members of the governing Parti Québécois |
Killed | 3 |
Injured | 13 |
Weapons |
|
Military career | |
Allegiance | CFS Carp |
Relations | Two children |
Other work | Convenience store clerk (after release) |
Denis Lortie (born March 10, 1959) is a former
After a 1985 conviction of
Life
Denis Lortie was born in Quebec on March 10, 1959, as the youngest son of eight children. His exact birthplace within Quebec is not publicly known. Lortie and all his siblings were physically and sexually abused by their father for many years.[2] Lortie's father reportedly fathered a child with one of his daughters.[2] One of the Lortie siblings finally informed the police of the abuses in the late 1960s. In 1969, Lortie's father was sent to federal prison for three years.[2] In 1972, Lortie's father finished incarceration but never returned to his family.[2]
Lortie joined the Canadian Forces in the late 1970s after finishing high school in Quebec. Lortie served in the
Lortie was bilingual in French and English. But even while speaking French, his native language, he encountered pronunciation difficulties. This resulted in irregular and halting speech.[2] Lortie blamed his social and professional failures on his inability to speak English flawlessly,[3] and was keenly aware that his poor English reinforced negative stereotypes of Francophones and Québécois.[2] After the birth of his daughter, Lortie worried that he would become abusive in the manner of his father,[3] and contemplated killing himself and his family before placing blame on the governing pro-sovereignty Parti Québécois for his problems, disliking the party's advocacy of a "Francophone identity" for Quebec.[3] Lortie planned the killing spree as a means of broadcasting his discontent.[3]
Events
Before the shooting
On May 7, 1984, Lortie left the CFS Carp military base, pretending that he needed time off to arrange a divorce with his wife.[3] Lortie had previously attempted to secure leave from his base, but was refused. It was during this encounter that Lortie later claimed he saw the face of his father on the face of the officer that denied his request.[1] He rented a car, drove to Quebec City and took a guided tour of the Parliament Building.[3] He then rented a room in a motel for the night.[3]
The next day, May 8, 1984, at 9:30 a.m., Lortie walked into CJRP radio station in Quebec City, identified himself as "Mr. D", and dropped off a sealed envelope containing an audiotape for one of the station's hosts, André Arthur. He instructed the radio staff not to open the envelope until 10:30 a.m., but they opened it anyway, discovering that it was a statement of Lortie's plans, in which he declared, "The government now in power is going to be destroyed."[This quote needs a citation] By the time CJRP staff contacted police, Lortie's plan was already under way.
Shooting
At 9:45 a.m., Lortie entered the Parliament Building through a side door located on Grande-Allée. He was dressed in combat uniform and armed with two
Based on later testimony, it is clear that he intended to assassinate Premier René Lévesque and other members of the governing Parti Québécois. His plan was to enter the Assembly Chamber during the parliamentary committee meeting, which was starting at 10:00 a.m. that morning. Instead of watching a watch, Lortie timed his attack by listening to CJRP and waited for host André Arthur to end his segment. On that day, Arthur ended his broadcast 20 minutes early, leading Lortie to enter the building and make his way to the Assembly Chamber while it was mostly empty. He opened fire on the government employees still inside, killing one and wounding eleven.
Lortie's surrender
The National Assembly's
Jalbert told him that he too had been a soldier, with the Royal 22nd Régiment, and that if Lortie would allow it, he would show him his discharge card. Lortie agreed, after which Jalbert persuaded him to show his own identification.
After this exchange, Jalbert persuaded Lortie to come into his office to discuss the matter, and release the other civilians in the Assembly Chamber. Jalbert talked to Lortie for more than four hours, ultimately promising him that he would be able to surrender to military police (since he was unwilling to surrender to civilian police). At 2:15 p.m., Lortie surrendered to officers of the SQ, Quebec City Police, and the National Assembly security.[5]
For his actions, which likely prevented further death, Jalbert was awarded the Cross of Valour several months later, in the same National Assembly chamber that Lortie had burst into.
Victims
The following were killed in the shooting:
- Georges Boyer
- Camille Lepage (not to be confused with the French photojournalist Camille Lepage, who was also a victim of homicide)
- Roger Lefrançois
Aftermath
One of the contributing factors to the shooting, allegedly, was the easy access that Lortie had to both weapons and ammunition. Unlike other non-combat Canadian Forces Bases, CFS Carp, the base at which he was stationed, apparently did not have an
According to psychiatrist
Lortie pleaded guilty to reduced charges of second-degree murder in 1987.[6]
In 1995, Lortie was released on day parole to a halfway house in Hull, Quebec, after being released from a minimum security correctional facility north of Montreal where he had been undergoing psychiatric treatment, classes to deal with aggression, and serving a life sentence with no eligibility for parole for 10 years. According to the Parole Board of Canada, Lortie no longer posed a threat to society, and "patched his life together despite being responsible for one of the most notorious events in Quebec history."[citation needed]
Under the release terms, Lortie was required to spend every night at the halfway house between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. He was also required to let parole board supervisors know where he was at all times, and was restricted to a 40-kilometre (25 mi) radius from the house. The relatives of some of Lortie's victims believed he was not punished severely enough, with some believing he should have been
Granted full parole in July 1996 (the same year Jalbert died of cancer), Lortie has since kept a low profile.[citation needed] He is last known to have worked at a convenience store in the Hull—Aylmer district of Quebec,[8] and is now married, with a steady job and a house, and has reportedly been forthcoming with "the people who monitor his case".[6]
See also
- Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, a 2014 shooter who attacked the Canadian Parliament Buildings Centre Block
- Paul Joseph Chartier, who attempted to bomb the Canadian Parliament Building in Ottawa in 1966
- List of rampage killers in the Americas
- List of attacks on legislatures
References
- ^ a b "Denis Lortie Assemblée National, le 8 mai 1984 #2". Archived from the original on June 14, 2021. Retrieved Jun 14, 2021 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ a b c d e f "The Père-version of the Political in the Case of Denis LortieWolfram Bergande – the SINTHOME 15". www.lacan.com. Archived from the original on 2016-12-01. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
- ^ ISBN 9781459707221.
- ^ "Rene Jalbert, Canadian hero". Archived from the original on August 21, 2021. Retrieved Jun 14, 2021 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "Canadian Parliamentary Review - Article". www.revparl.ca. Archived from the original on March 3, 2021. Retrieved Jun 14, 2021.
- ^ a b "Parole conditions eased for Assembly killer". Archived from the original on 2016-01-16. Retrieved 2016-01-16.
- ^ "Lortie Released | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Archived from the original on June 17, 2021. Retrieved Jun 14, 2021.
- ^ "Dark moments for politics in the Kweeb". Archived from the original on July 15, 2015. Retrieved Jun 14, 2021.
External links
- CBC Archives
- French article in the newspaper Le Soleil describing the events Archived 2004-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
- French web article about the events Archived 2006-05-25 at the Wayback Machine
- "'Mr. D.'". Time. May 21, 1984.
- French article describing the event on its 20th anniversary in 2004
- Bergande, Wolfram: The Père-version of the Political in the Case of Denis Lortie, in: The Sinthom 15, www.lacan.com