An association of Quebec journalists is welcoming the departure of the chief prosecutor — Bernard Amyot, a lawyer who has penned diatribes against the media — from the provincial inquiry into police spying on reporters.
But “we’re uneasy about the fact that he was appointed in the first place because the stuff we found about Amyot did not require much research,” said Stéphane Giroux, president of the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec.
“All I did was Google him and then I came across those very, very disturbing articles he wrote. Our confidence is still there, but it is was badly shaken and it’s up to the commission now to restore that faith.”
With questions being raised about his neutrality, Amyot resigned Monday, days after it emerged that he had penned a newspaper opinion piece in which he called columnist Patrick Lagacé a pseudo journalist and accused him of lacking rigour.
Revelations last fall that Montreal police had spied on Lagacé’s smartphone to discover his sources sparked the scandal and brought denunciations by journalism organizations around the world. The scandal prompted the Quebec government to set up the commission to formulate recommendations to protect journalists’ sources.
The FPJQ called on the commission to replace Amyot. The lawyer’s comments against Lagacé in the 2008 commentary, published in The Métropolitain, raise doubts about his neutrality, the organization said.
In a statement issued on Monday afternoon, Amyot said “some doubts have been raised about me, and even though these doubts have no legal basis, I am making the decision to withdraw from my position as chief prosecutor.”
He said he did not want his participation in the inquiry to raise questions about the integrity of the commission’s work.
In the same statement, Justice Jacques Chamberland of the Quebec Court of Appeal, who is heading the inquiry, said he wants to carry out the proceedings “with rigour and speed, in complete independence and serenity.”
He said he accepted Amyot’s resignation with regret.
“We certainly do not question his integrity and professionalism,” Chamberland said.
The rant against Lagacé isn’t the only opinion piece that Amyot has penned that criticizes the media.
In an open letter published in Droit Inc., a legal profession publication, in 2012, Amyot takes a pot shot at the media even though the letter is a 300-word denunciation of the then-head of the Quebec Bar Association for a statement he had issued during the Quebec student strikes at the time, saying student associations were democratic.
Lucie Joncas, until now the assistant chief prosecutor, will take over from Amyot.
Giroux said the FPJQ has not found any instances where Joncas has written about the media.
“I like to think that Lucie Joncas will be professional and whatever opinion she might have about journalists she’ll be able to put them aside and focus on the work,” Giroux said.
