Quebec Court Clears Cardinal Ouellet, Orders $100K Defamation Payment

Cardinal Marc Ouellet has won his defamation case against Paméla Groleau, with Quebec Superior Court Justice Martin Castonguay ruling that her allegations against him were false, defamatory and made with recklessness equivalent to malice.

The judge ordered Groleau, a former Quebec church employee, to pay Ouellet $100,000 in damages. Ouellet has said he will donate the money to organizations combating sexual abuse or sexual violence against Indigenous people in Canada.

Court sides with Ouellet

Castonguay ruled in favour of Ouellet after the cardinal sued Groleau for defamation. Ouellet had consistently denied her allegations, which centred on alleged non-consensual physical contact in encounters between 2008 and 2010.

The court found that the allegations were not only false, but defamatory. In the decision, Castonguay wrote that Ouellet “has been the victim of infamy and defamatory remarks.” He also described Groleau’s conduct as showing “a very high degree of recklessness equivalent to malice.”

The ruling gives Ouellet the full $100,000 in damages he sought.

In a statement after the decision, Ouellet said he was grateful that “the civil justice system of my country has recognized that the allegations of sexual assault made against me were false and formulated with ‘extreme recklessness equivalent to malice.’”

Allegations tied to class action

Groleau’s allegations were included in a 2022 class-action lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in Quebec.

That context became a major part of Castonguay’s ruling. The judge found that naming Ouellet in a class action largely centred on clergy abuse of children associated him with paedophiles and damaged his reputation.

“This is the infamy of which Cardinal Ouellet complains: namely, that he was associated with paedophiles in the proceedings relating to the class action,” the ruling said.

The court’s finding did not merely reject Groleau’s account. It found that the way Ouellet was publicly linked to the broader class action caused reputational harm. Castonguay concluded that the association was defamatory and that Groleau bore responsibility for it.

Vatican previously declined investigation

The Vatican had concluded in 2022 that there were insufficient grounds to open a canonical investigation into Ouellet over the sexual-assault allegations.

Ouellet maintained throughout that the allegations were false and later brought the defamation case against Groleau. In an earlier statement cited in source reporting, he said: “I have never been guilty of these reprehensible behaviours, much less of those alleged against other members of the clergy cited in the class action.”

He also called the association with other clergy abuse allegations inappropriate, saying it “must be denounced.”

Damages pledged to abuse groups

Ouellet has said the $100,000 in damages will be donated to organizations combating sexual abuse or sexual violence against Indigenous people in Canada.

His lawyers welcomed the ruling, saying: “We are pleased that the court recognized the injustice suffered by Cardinal Ouellet and that the fault committed against him now entitles him to reparation.”

Ouellet also said he remained committed to “continuing the fight within the Church and society against every form of abuse, particularly sexual abuse,” and said he supports “substantiated victims in their pursuit of restorative justice.”

The decision closes the defamation case with a clear finding from the Quebec Superior Court: Groleau’s allegations against Ouellet were false, defamatory and reckless to the level of malice, and the damage to his reputation warranted compensation.

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