Listen to daily commentary from provincial news director Sarah Mills
Next year's Oscars will feature an award for stunt design. Sarah Mills says it's surprising that it's taken 100 years fo...
MONTREAL — The civil trial of Just for Laughs founder Gilbert Rozon on allegations of sexual assault will resume next week after the women suing him waived their rights to circumscribe the questions the defence can ask them.
Taking note of the nine plaintiffs’ position, the Court of Appeal on Friday dismissed Rozon’s motion seeking to exempt his trial from new Civil Code restrictions on questioning in sexual-assault cases.
In March, a Court of Appeal judge had said that new provincial legislation limiting the type of questions that can be posed to alleged victims or witnesses could affect Rozon’s trial. But the plaintiffs subsequently advised the court they would not seek to invoke the Civil Code provision.
The changes – adopted days before the trial started in December – prohibit questions that suggest an alleged victim’s sexual past or their decision to stay in contact with an alleged abuser harms their credibility.
On Friday, the Appeal Court rejected Rozon’s appeal because the plaintiffs had waived their rights and Rozon’s legal team was not required to abide by the new legislation.
“In short, since the appeal does not provide for anything more to the appellant than the respondents’ waivers already granted to him, the interests of justice and the rule of proportionality support the dismissal of the appeal,” the court wrote.
The changes last year to the Quebec Civil Code say there is “a presumption of irrelevance of proof based on myths and stereotypes recognized in criminal law.” Rozon’s lawyers had said they intended to challenge the constitutionality of the new provision.
“We would obviously have preferred the Court of Appeal to provide guidance for the future,” Rozon told reporters as he left the Court of Appeal. “Sooner or later, it will have to be done, but for now, it’s a short-term Band-Aid.”
The Quebec impresario is being sued for a total of nearly $14 million in damages over allegations of sexual assault and misconduct.
All nine women suing him have testified about their experiences and faced cross-examination. The case has heard from dozens of witnesses who have backed up their allegations. Rozon’s lawyers have not begun presenting their defence.
A case management date is scheduled for Tuesday and the trial could resume later in the week.
The civil lawsuit is the latest in a winding legal battle that began as a class action but was converted into individual suits after a 2020 Quebec Court of Appeal ruling.
Also in 2020, a Quebec court judge found Rozon not guilty of rape and indecent assault connected to events alleged to have taken place in 1980 involving Annick Charette, who obtained a court order to make her identity public.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 11, 2025.
Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press
