Gilbert Rozon: Just for Laughs founder charged with rape and indecent assault

Gilbert Rozon, the founder of Canadian comedy festival Just For Laughs, has been charged with rape and indecent assault.

Quebec’s director of criminal prosecutions announced the charges on Wednesday, which relate to incidents that are alleged to have occurred in June and September 1979, in Saint-Sauveur.

The charges come more than a year after allegations of sexual misconduct against Rozon began surfacing in the wake of the #MeToo movement that was sweeping the entertainment industry. The allegations led to the Canadian’s resignation from his role with the comedy company in October 2017, and a number of other high-profile positions, including as vice-president of the Montreal Chamber of Commerce.

The charges relate to the allegations of one woman who was part of a group of 14 who had their complaints investigated by Quebec’s department of criminal and penal prosecutions. The DCPC announced this week that it had found the complaints of the other 13 women to be not viable for prosecution, but urged women not to be discouraged by that outcome.

“The worst thing is silence,” a provincial justice minister, Sonia LeBel, told reporters on Wednesday. “Despite everything, I would encourage women to continue calling people out. I’ll say again, this isn’t a value judgment on their stories, it’s a very precise decision in a very precise context, meaning in the ability to lay criminal charges.”

The DCPC also said that the burden of proof for criminal prosecution was very high owing to the presumption of innocence. “The prosecution must effectively make a demonstration to the court of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt on the part of the accused,” it said.

Another group of women, calling themselves Les Courageuses, launched a C$10m class-action lawsuit against Rozon in May, based on allegations of rape and sexual harassment occurring between 1982 and 2016. That case is still in progress in the Canadian civil system.

A total of 30 women have made allegations against the 64-year-old. Rozon has not admitted to any of the allegations, saying upon his resignation last year that he was stepping down “out of respect for the employees and families who work for these organisations and all our partners”. After he sold his stake in Just for Laughs, a well-known pipeline to Hollywood for comedians, the company was bought by Bell Media, Groupe OCH, ICM Partners and the Canadian comedian Howie Mandel.

Rozon said in a statement to Canadian media this week that he had learned of the charges against him on Wednesday morning. “I will continue to defend myself before the justice system, and I reserve all comment for that authority,” he said.

In 1998 Rozon pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman. He was issued a C$1,100 fine and a year’s probation, but appealed the conviction and eventually received an unconditional pardon, which left him without a criminal record. The judge at the time expressed concern that a criminal record might prevent Rozon from travelling to the US for his business activities, which would have an impact on Montreal’s economy.