I Remember
If the motto of Quebec is: “I remember”, one can say that, like any inhabitant of Quebec, Francis Aribaut, past president of the UIHJ, also recalled it and adopted it. Twenty-five years ago now, the world of the judicial officers convened in Montreal to hold for the first time on American ground a congress of importance under the aegis of the UIHJ. It is thus at the invitation of the Chamber of the judicial officers of Quebec, at the time of their congress, in May 2010, that Francis Aribaut, with his wife Mercedes, came back to Montreal to commemorate this historical congress of 1985. On this occasion, he had inaugurated a new artery of Montreal dedicated to the judicial officers at the Court of Justice of Montreal, in remembrance of the former colonial ushers of the New France. To achieve this vast project of 1985, president Aribaut had managed to set up a formidable “Franco-European-Quebecker” team which made of this 12th congress one of most successful ones in the annals of the UIHJ.
In his short speech at the time of this commemoration, and in memory to the “elders” still among us and who “remember”, Francis Aribaut mentioned in particular our late fellow-members Gielen, Lartigues, Vanderveken, Paquette and Linteau. He also thanked Louis-Raymond Maranda, president of the Chamber of the judicial officers of Quebec, to have given a following after their meeting in Glasgow, during the permanent council of the UIHJ - and notwithstanding a short timeframe - to commemorate this historical event during the annual convention. Thereafter, he evoked the presence of former President Coulombe and our fellow-member Ronald Dubé, then present. A particular homage was made to his fellow-member André Mathieu as the “Father of the Allée des Huissiers” as to his inseparable colleague Gilles Boisvert who finalized the success of this project with the members of the team of the mayor of Montreal, M. Drapeau, and the other authorities at the time. He then recalled how the idea of our fellow-member germinated in him during one of his many trips to France, precisely in Neuilly-Sur-Seine. He specified that it is in this city close to Paris, and on his way for a training course, that our colleague Mathieu discovered there a passage bearing the etymological name of “Rue des Huissiers”. Later on and always avid to discover its origin, he eventually learned that this street of Neuilly existed to honor the establishment of the “crafted joiners and carpenters” who formerly manufactured there particular woodworks and doors. They were not thus at all the judicial officers we know, making de facto Montreal the only public place in the world directly dedicated to the profession. President Aribaut also recalled that the only other place in the world in bond with the judicial officer was Auxerre, in France, which hosts the statue of Guillaume Roussel, usher of the Presidium of Auxerre, having exerted in 1780 to the said bailiwick of Auxerre, today more known under the name of “Cadet Rousselle”.
A Double Anecdote
President Aribaut did not fail to underline a particular fact which occurred on 16 July 1985. At the time of this great festival on the inauguration of this Alley in memory of the French history of Quebec and Canada, in addition to the frank company of the Navy, our fellow-member Mathieu also invited there the tribe of Abénakis as one of the multiple particularly friendly people to the French. At the time of the dubbing by the Great-Chief on the Place d'Armes of Mr. Aribaut as honorary chief of the Abénakise tribe, he proceeded to smoke the peace pipe and to dance the “rain dance” with a young Indian bearing the name of “Oiseau Bleu”. It is precisely at this time of the dance that, under a blazing sun, it suddenly started to rain ... for all the duration of this dance, until the royal shouting on the Place Notre-Dame de Montréal. What a memorable moment!
Moreover, he also underlined to his present colleagues that he had been very happy, two days before this commemoration, to meet again in the presence of his wife and of his fellow-member Mathieu this young Indian answering to the charming name of Oiseau Bleu, currently working at the museum of the people of Abénakis, located in Abénaki territory, in Odanak, Quebec. Expecting a rainy day according to the weather forecast on this commemorative day, Blue Bird told him she was going to pray the skies for a radiant day, which was the case, to everyone's astonishment in this celebratory event!
In the end, President Aribaut greeted the former supervision minister, Daniel Jacoby, currently in convalescence, and with whom he had a telephone conversation. He also mentioned the names of his colleagues, the president of the national Chamber of the judicial officers of France, Jean-Daniel Lachkar, and Patrick Sannino, his treasurer, both prevented. He finally thanked his colleague, Françoise Andrieux, for her presence in her double capacity as general secretary of the UIHJ and as an interim representative of the National chamber of the judicial officers of France. Admittedly, the Allée des Huissiers was a key event of this 12th congress but it would be inappropriate to overlook all the other collaborators present or absent who worked towards the success of this project with energy and much care! Those remaining today, Mssrs. Boisvert, Bourdages, Briers, Christin, Coulombe, Decoste, Delattre, Dubé, Mathieu, Néri, Soulard and Seneshal, to name only them, were all key actors who marked with their seals this beautiful and extraordinary event of their short history!
But it is important to stress that one of the most remarkable characteristics was certainly that which was going to serve the community of the citizens of Quebec and to change the life of the judicial officers from Quebec by the introduction of “statement of facts” which was one of the main topics! This process, which allows the populations, the lawyers and the judges, to make use of this appreciation by its establishment by a judicial officer, was going to become one of the new fields of activities concerning the judicial officers. The judicial officer of Quebec could thus then at very short term preserve the elements leading a court to conclude from a situation of which the details of the facts are herein mentioned when they are subjected to disappear with time. So to speak, the judicial officer freezes its characteristics, like an accurate legal photography thus put forward for the benefit of justice. By this key period of their history, Francis Aribaut and his team gave these letters patent of nobility to the Quebecker judicial officers who inherited this stock of general knowledge from their counterparts who inculcated the principles in them at the time of the meeting as well as during further training courses provided in particular by the National School of Procedure of Paris (ENP).
There is no doubt that Mr. Aribaut noticed that the Allée that he inaugurated in 1985 had changed. Indeed, it was renovated in 2002 and 2003, probably in preparation for his arrival. After all, it had been patiently waiting for him for all these years! Long ago suitable for vehicles, it was then known under the name of “Côte Saint-Gabriel”. The judicial officers of Montreal used it daily to deposit or withdraw the various relevant procedures relating to their functions. Now it has become a rest area available to the employees and users of the law courts. The Allée proudly appears to be a hyphen between the modern world and the old-Montreal of yesteryear. Thus crowned in November 2003 by the unveiling of the work “Signatures”, it constitutes a close link with its history which will preserve this memory of the signatures of the ushers of the Nouvelle-France for ever, of which Jean de Saint Père, the first usher of Ville-Marie and of Canada (1648-1651), Michel Pailleur (1703-1730) and Jean Baptiste Decoste (1731-1759). Taking as a starting point the volume “The Judicial officers” by Dymant & Mathieu, and following our colleague from Quebec the artist thus went through imposing brown covered registers preserved at the Public records of Quebec and containing the acts of the colonial ushers indexed since the establishment of the “Nouvelle-France”, on the banks of the Saint-Laurent, and the creation of this first royal court of Ville-Marie (Montreal), in January 1648 - Now more than 362 years ago. On a purely legal aspect, it is thus a unique artery in the world! As pointed out the Brière artist, the work is composed “of three elements borrowing from the open book a triangular volumetric layout. Steel sides draw up vertically tallying the pages with white marble”.
Francis Aribaut, Knight of Justice
A third event was also celebrated, that of the 15th birthday this year of the institutionalization of the Chamber of the judicial officers of Quebec.
At the term of this historical event and before taking a photograph in the presence of the elders, Louis-Raymond Maranda, gave to president Aribaut a memory plate of this commemoration while raising him to the rank of Knight of Justice, a Quebecker habit. This plate, decreed by the Chamber of the judicial officers of Quebec, particularly mentions what follows:
“In memory of the inauguration of the Allée des Huissiers located at the Law courts of Montreal under the presidency of Mr. Francis Aribaut of the International Union of the Judicial officers on 16 July 1985, the Chamber of the judicial officers of Quebec is proud to raise to the rank of Knight of Justice the fellow-member Francis Aribaut, judicial officer, former president of the International Union of the Judicial officers for his exemplary devotion to the rise of the occupation of judicial officer in the world”.
President Aribaut declared very moved and honored to receive this distinction and gave another appointment to his present colleagues and fellow-members for the fiftieth birthday!
