The seven episodes of The Village: Murders, Fights, Pride were created by Radio-Canada in collaboration with CBC, which has already launched two seasons of a podcast entitled The Village about other sordid crimes perpetrated in Toronto’s gay village, including by serial killer Bruce McArthur.
By doing your research, [l’équipe de The Village] discovered that there was a similar story in Montreal, dating back to the 1980s-1990s. So, we started to work together, to share information, elements of research, and then each on our side we built our series
explains Marie-Eve Tremblay.
The English version of the podcast, The Village: The Montreal Murders (New window), is produced by CBC Podcasts and hosted by Francis Plourde.
Strained relations between the police and the gay community
The first victim featured in the podcast is Joe Rose, a young HIV-positive gay activist who was stabbed in the back in 1989 on a bus in Montreal. He will be the first name on a list compiled by Michael Hendricks, another gay activist who over the years has noticed similarities between the victims and the modus operandi of their attackers.
In Rose’s case, her killers will be found. They are three minors and Patrick Moïse, 19 years old. Other victims will be less fortunate: 30 years later, about half of the 17 murders reported in the podcast are still unsolved.
At the time, the slowness of the investigations was attributable in particular to the very difficult relations between the LGBTQ + community and the police forces of Montreal, which multiplied the aggressive raids in the bars of the Village.
The community did not trust the police, so did not necessarily cooperate with investigations. Indeed, the police treated homosexuals in a very different way
summarizes Marie-Eve Tremblay.
Often questionable motives – such as gross indecency or the showing of pornographic films – were invoked to end the party and indiscriminately arrest everyone in the bar. The raid of July 15, 1990 in a clandestine party at the Sex Garage will remain immortalized as one of the worst confrontations between the police and the LGBTQ+ community in Montreal.
Ex-police officer André Bergeron, himself in the closet at the time, witnessed amply this discriminatory approach, which at times seemed to be guided by outright homophobia rather than repression of crime.
You know when you look at someone with disdain, that was it
he recalls in the third episode of the podcast. It showed in the face, in the actions, and sometimes in the decisions […] Instead of giving a chance, you don’t. You had to be homophobic, otherwise you weren’t in the gang.
A serial killer in the Village?
In the spring of 1991, three men – Gaétan Éthier, Robert Assaly and Normand Gareau – were found dead in almost identical circumstances within the space of five months. A question that no one dared to ask began to surface: is there a serial killer in the Gay Village?
The answer will come years later, at least for Gaétan Éthier and Robert Assaly, who were among the seven confirmed victims of Canadian serial killer Michael Wayne McGray, arrested in 1998.
Unlikely support
The killing spree would not end until 1993, after repeated efforts by activists from the LGBTQ+ community to demand hearings at the Human Rights Commission.
Several improbable supports will come to help bring to light the injustices experienced by the community, starting with that of the Minister of Justice at the time, who had nevertheless turned a deaf ear for months (we will not reveal here what convinced to act).
Further strong support came from the Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Montreal, who was asked to testify at the Commission after one of his colleagues was also murdered. Finally, the arrival of Jacques Duchesneau as head of the police brought a wind of change to the relationship between the community and the police.
It is important to tell this story, because there are many people who are not aware that it happened. And if there have been achievements, it remains very fragile. We see it with abortion today […]we are always on the verge of retreating
concludes Marie-Eve Tremblay.
The seven episodes of The Village: Murders, Fights, Pride are available on OHdio.
Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca