A Quebec Superior Court judge has ordered Paméla Groleau to pay Cardinal Marc Ouellet $100,000 in damages after ruling that allegations of sexual misconduct she made against the cardinal were unfounded and defamatory.
Justice Martin Castonguay ruled in favour of Cardinal Ouellet in the defamation case, finding that Groleau’s account of encounters with the cardinal between 2008 and 2010 was not credible.
Groleau had named Cardinal Ouellet in a 2022 class action against the Archdiocese of Quebec, alleging that the cardinal engaged in inappropriate conduct towards her while she was training and working as a lay pastoral agent.
She had first reported her concerns anonymously to a Church advisory committee in 2008 and later submitted a complaint to Pope Francis in 2021. The complaint was rejected in 2022, after which she joined the class action.
In his 52-page judgment, Justice Castonguay said Groleau had acted “recklessly or even maliciously” towards the Cardinal and had altered her account of events after becoming dissatisfied with how her complaint was handled.
The judge said the evidence established that the allegations were unfounded and found that Groleau had not acted as a reasonable person when she publicly accused Ouellet of sexual misconduct.
Cardinal Ouellet’s lawyers welcomed the ruling, saying the court had recognised the “injustice” suffered by the cardinal and that the judgment reaffirmed the need for serious allegations to be based on accurate and relevant facts.
Cardinal Ouellet, in a statement, thanked his lawyers and witnesses who testified during the trial, saying they helped the court establish the facts and ensure that “the truth prevailed.”
The cardinal also reiterated his commitment to combating abuse, saying he supports substantiated victims seeking restorative justice.
He has pledged to donate any money received from the lawsuit to organisations working to combat sexual abuse against Indigenous people in Canada.
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