[00:00:00]

Louis Olivier Fontaine
I welcome you all. My name is Louis Olivier Fontaine. I’m a lawyer and I’m acting today as prosecutor for the National Citizens Inquiry. And we are resuming after the lunch break with the testimony of Madame Amélie Paul.

Good day, Madame Amélie Paul.

Amélie Paul
Good day.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
We’ll start with your formal identification. So I’ll just ask you to state your first and last name, please.

Amélie Paul
Amélie Paul.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
Now I’m going to ask you to take an oath. So I’m going to ask you to solemnly swear that you are going to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Say: “I swear.”

Amélie Paul
I swear.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
Madame Paul, let me introduce you in a few words. You can tell me if my presentation is adequate. So Madame Paul, you are a singer, actress, producer, content creator-an example of which are the comedy news bulletins, La vérité brutale-and you are also co-host of the podcast, En toute franchise.

Amélie Paul
That’s right.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
Is that right? Thank you. So today, Madame Paul, you’ve been invited by the Commission to testify about the consequences you personally suffered during the COVID crisis. From reading your file we understand that there are questions that will be addressed in terms of the consequences you’ve had, and the censorship to which you’ve been subjected. So that will be the subject of your testimony this afternoon.

I suggest we simply go in chronological order. So I’d like to know: What were you doing before the start of the declared pandemic?

Amélie Paul
I had started a booking company to book cover bands for festivals and corporate events and such. I had spent most of the winter working on that, notably to book my own two bands. So I had a good summer ahead of me just before the lockdown was announced-on March 13, I think. So that’s what I was doing.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
Okay. So when this pandemic was declared, what happened to you personally and professionally? In your own words, how did it go?

Amélie Paul
Well at the time I was scared-not about what was declared, not about the virus-but about all my shows. I was afraid. And indeed, everything was cancelled. So of course, it was very insecure as an artist. You find yourself without a contract before you.

But it didn’t last long compared to what I saw unfolding before me. I thought the press conferences and all that were like theatre.

In my opinion, I’ve never bought into it. And that’s why-very quickly-I wanted to highlight the absurdity of it all through video clips. It simply came to me. I like editing a lot; I studied communications so it is of course my area of expertise.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
Okay. Yes, let’s talk about those video clips. Why did you do that? What did you do?

Amélie Paul
I found what they were telling us in the press conferences interesting: what we had to do to avoid catching COVID. And I had just finished my studies in naturopathy. So I thought it was really odd that it was practically the opposite of stimulating an immune system. So for me, that’s when I came up with the idea of doing a video called Les onze façons d’affaiblir son système immunitaire [Eleven Ways to Weaken your Immune System], to approach it in a humorous and sarcastic way, pointing out that practically everything they told us to do actually weakened an immune system.

It turned out that I’d done it quite naively-for my own amusement, in fact-but then it went viral and was very successful. So after that, I decided to continue with that view of pointing out the inconsistencies and absurdities that I saw.

[00:05:00]

Louis Olivier Fontaine
Can you give a few more specific examples of what these videos are about?

Amélie Paul
For example, I could talk about masks: how it was good for our health to constantly breathe in the waste we expel, like our CO2 and so on. I had made a video that asked 80 questions, I think. They were just questions, but it was to get people thinking and to show what was going on. Not just in relation to COVID, but I felt that there were a lot of things going on in society that didn’t make sense any more. So I wanted to make people think, but in a humorous way because if you talk about it seriously, people often don’t agree.

In Quebec, I think humour really reaches people: it’s part of our culture. I’m not a comedian at all but I didn’t need to be a great comedian to point out society’s inconsistencies. It was just funny!

Louis Olivier Fontaine
All right, thank you. And what happened after that? Did you keep doing that for a while? What happened next?

Amélie Paul
I continued with the comedic videos. At one point I interviewed a biologist and she said, “You’re good at this. You should keep doing it.” So I continued to interview people who inspired me and those who I found had an important message to bring because I wasn’t a specialist in anything in particular. So I wanted to get interesting people to share their message. That’s it. So I continued to do comedy, conducting interviews, discovering such little gems on social networks: people I found inspiring and that I wanted to put forward.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
Perfect. So if I’m hearing you correctly, things had been going relatively well for you up to this point. What’s the time frame here if you remember?

Amélie Paul
It went well. Right from the start, with the first video I made. Of course I was getting attacks on social networks but it was things like “conspiracy theorist” or “you’re a public menace” or things like that, but it didn’t get to me any more than that. So as with everyone else who was called a conspiracy theorist, it went on like that for about a year. Of course, I had comedic videos that were regularly censored. I thought it was strange when it got to the point where you couldn’t even do comedy anymore. But nothing terrible happened to me, I think, until a CBC article was published on June 2.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
If you don’t mind Madame Paul, before moving on to this other subject, I’d like you to elaborate a little. You say, if I’ve understood correctly, just online attacks by “trolls.” Could you go into a little more detail on that part?

You also mentioned the censorship aspect: that is, videos that have been censored if I’ve understood correctly. I’d like you to go into a little more detail on these two aspects. So firstly, the attacks you mentioned and, secondly, the video takedowns or censorship you mentioned.

Amélie Paul
The videos where I made fun of masks were definitely censored. Some of the interviews I’ve done-I did one with Guylaine Lanctôt so of course that was very controversial-it was censored too. Usually anything that talked about naturopathy or attacked health measures would be an area that shouldn’t be touched. Otherwise, the attacks I received were on social networks. The media hadn’t started talking about me. As long as it stayed on social networks, it didn’t bother me much.

But it was stuff like- I remember I made a video as a joke telling people, “Wear a mask and make a hole in it, then paint your face on it, so it doesn’t show.” A doctor actually attacked me, saying I was a danger for suggesting people do that. But people aren’t so stupid as to do that. Sometimes I couldn’t believe the attacks I was getting. At the same time, I had a naive side in all of this because it was total absurdity to me. It seems that I didn’t realize that for some people it was very serious and they were afraid.

[00:10:00]

In a way, I was ridiculing their fear. I don’t think I was aware of that.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
When you say, “I was attacked by a doctor,” you have to be very specific: How does that actually happen?

Amélie Paul
I think it was on Facebook. It’s been a long time because it’s been three years, but I used to get a lot of comments, especially on Facebook. You don’t see that as much now. But at the time, it was new and people were still afraid; and it wasn’t popular to criticize the measures so I got a lot of criticism. At one point, a woman on Facebook said, “I’m a doctor at such-and-such a place. You’re a public menace telling people to put holes in their masks.” And attacks like that.
Louis Olivier Fontaine
Okay, I understand. And again, when you say, “The videos were censored,” I understand what you’re saying, but in practical terms, who does that?

Amélie Paul
It was mostly YouTube shutting down a video and then saying, “You’re not respecting the community guidelines.” And that’s it. They often don’t really explain. At that point, they’d say, “You’re criticizing the health measures.” It was a little more specific but you were able to assume the reason. But I say “were able” because the more it went on, the more obscure the reasons became for censoring the videos.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
Okay. And when that happened? Did you do anything to appeal that decision?

Amélie Paul
Yes. There’s always a way to appeal but it rarely worked. It worked sometimes. I did appeal and videos came back. You just have to say, “Yes, I’m being funny and I would never criticize health measures!” Then you faked sympathy, and sometimes it worked.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
Okay. Thank you very much, Madame Paul, for those clarifications. So if you don’t mind, we’ll move on. You mentioned an article if I understood correctly. Perhaps I could ask you to elaborate and continue on this subject.

Amélie Paul
Yes. In fact, my first official experience with the media was in January 2021. A journalist from Québecor contacted me that time. I spoke to him, quite naively, and we talked for a long time, like in a kind of pre-interview or whatever. Then finally, he said, “Listen, I’m not putting you in the article I want to publish tomorrow. I’ll get back to you in three days.”

He actually published an article in the Journal de Montréal. The next day, I saw: “Des complotistes qui menacent nos”-I don’t remember the title: “Les complotistes menacent nos structures” [“Conspiracy theorists menacing our structures”] or something. And three days later he got in touch with me and then he rather implied that if I pushed the health measures on my platforms- Saying, “If you say: ‘We had a good laugh but we still have to respect the health measures, avoid clogging up the hospitals, it’s important.’ If you include this, you’ll have your moment of glory and I will promote your career.” And I went, “Well, that’s because you don’t understand how it works. Firstly, I can’t do that, and secondly, even if I did, nobody would believe me. It’s ridiculous! And even if I did, they wouldn’t listen to Amélie Paul. They don’t care, I’m not a guru. You know, people use their brains.”

In short, I refused and then I got scared. I said, “When’s this article going to be published?” It was either I accept [his demand] or he was going to write the unflattering article he wanted to publish in the first place. He told me it was going to come out on Monday. But in the end, nothing came out.

So there I was, at peace, and then I said to myself, “My God, I’m never going to deal with the media again. I don’t want anything to do with journalists.” Until, it had to be May 2021, Brigitte Noël, after the death of my friend Bernard Lachance-

Louis Olivier Fontaine
Sorry to interrupt you again, Madame Paul. Could you please tell us which media outlet contacted you?

Amélie Paul
At first it was a guy from Québecor.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
Okay, from Québecor. And it’s your decision, but would you like to mention this person’s name?

Amélie Paul
I’d rather not mention it. I don’t know; I’m a little afraid of the potential consequences it might cause.

[00:15:00]

Louis Olivier Fontaine
Yes, you’re ahead of me. So why do you want to avoid it?

Amélie Paul
Yes, that’s right, it’s due to fear. That’s why-although I did talk a little about it-I never took any further action. The media scare me. I’m traumatized, you might say. It’s just my opinion but I know they can go to great lengths to write things that can harm someone.

So there you go.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
Could you give us some examples of things that have been written about you? I know we’ve been going chronologically here. We can either continue chronologically or if there are examples that you’d like to mention now.

Amélie Paul
Well, my friend Bernard Lachance passed away on May 11, 2021. That was exactly two years ago yesterday. Of course, the media made a big deal out of it-because he’s a conspiracy theorist who died of AIDS-to show that he was in the wrong. So it was wonderful for them.

And then a few weeks later, Brigitte Noël from CBC contacted me for an interview and I didn’t even reply. I didn’t even reply to decline because I also know that she has a reputation of destroying people. Her work isn’t very constructive. So out of fear, I just ignored it, very naively thinking, “Maybe she won’t talk about it if I don’t respond.”

And finally, she wrote to me again a few days later and said, “You know, Madame Paul, I’m going to do my story no matter what, even if you don’t write me back. But I’ll give you another chance. So here are the points I’m going to cover.” Then she made a list. And she mentioned private conversations I’d had with my friend in the bullet points. I thought to myself, “It can’t be legal to do that, to publish conversations between two friends. She’ll never publish that!”

Well, no! Finally, on June 2 an article was published on the CBC website. Then on the CBC news at six o’clock, there was also a little report talking about me in particular. It implied that I was his naturopath. Because I had studied naturopathy, they sort of made the association that I was his naturopath, which wasn’t true. He was my friend and he never paid me for consultations or anything. I’ve hardly done any consulting since I got my diploma. I wasn’t really interested in one-on-one consultations. It was more for myself, to cure a health problem I had.

So there you have it. I was in no way Bernard’s naturopath. They also implied that I was selling him natural products to cure his AIDS. But Bernard-whether you agree with him or not-was campaigning to say that HIV didn’t give you AIDS. And as far as he was concerned, he didn’t have HIV. So it makes no sense to say that he was taking natural products to cure HIV.

And he took natural products like me. We took the same thing for daily maintenance because he was a bit like me. We liked to talk about health, naturopathy, and all that. And we had a mutual friend who sold us these products.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
Okay. Once again, let me interrupt you. So you’re talking about an article that was written by Madame Noël in June but on a completely different subject. So why do you think they suddenly decided to write about Amélie Paul and one of her friends? Do you have a hypothesis? Why do you think this article was written?

Amélie Paul
Well, as with all the other so-called “conspiracy theorists,” to demolish their public reputation. So that we don’t have any credibility. So that people don’t come and listen to us in our videos, on our platforms, I imagine. I can only assume that’s the case.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
And how did it make you feel? How did the publication of this article and this report affect you?

Amélie Paul
I was definitely devastated. Not only was I ashamed because I said to myself, “I’m a disgrace to my whole family, to those around me. I’m hurting my mother,” who was fighting cancer and it was very difficult for her at the time.

[00:20:00]
People boycotted my boyfriend’s restaurant. So it caused a lot of problems in my circle of friends. But on a personal level, I had become bad company. I felt like I had leprosy. No one could associate with me. It was like a social death sentence if you like. I was blamed for Bernard Lachance’s death and even today-two years later-I still get attacks from people who say, “You’ve got blood on your hands, you’re responsible for his death, you belong in prison.” It’s never really stopped.

Beyond that, from a professional point of view, a few days after this article appeared, my two YouTube channels were shut down. They were my bread-and-butter. Then my music shows- because in the summer of 2021 shows were starting up again. I had a few shows booked. It was starting up again, I was happy; and then in the end, they were cancelled.

From a naturopathic point of view as well, I was really too scared. I was already hardly doing any consulting. At that point, I didn’t want to do any more at all. It wasn’t worth doing consultations for the small amount money I was making, and then potentially saying the wrong thing and getting sued by the College of Physicians. Because after Bernard’s death-this is just me guessing, maybe they were real people, but I found it very suspicious-I received maybe three requests from people who said to me, “I’m HIV-positive. Could you recommend some natural products to stop my tritherapy?” In any case, I thought it wasn’t very subtle. I said to myself, “Well, I quit.” And I know that many naturopaths and holistic health practitioners have stopped practising because of this witch-hunt.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
So if we’re talking about your professional income: For example, we’re talking about YouTube channels that were closed that were a source of income for you. We’ve talked about the shows. We’ve talked about the naturopathic practice which has been greatly reduced.

Amélie Paul
Stopped outright.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
Stopped, all right. Did your band continue? How did it go?

Amélie Paul
At some point, I’m not sure-two months after this saga, maybe a little before-I was starting to feel better- Because I had disappeared for maybe a month or two. And then I had a show coming up with my band in Repentigny. I was happy. I said, “Here, I’ll post this on my social networks. It will be a nice change of scenery and I can’t be attacked for having a show.”

Louis Olivier Fontaine
Sorry. When was this, if you remember?

Amélie Paul
I think it was maybe the end of July if I remember correctly. Because the other thing had happened on June 2 and then I left it for a while. It was, I’d say, at the end of July that I announced on social networks that I had this show.

And then there are the little soldiers of the celebrity pages, the haters who are on our backs all the time. I don’t know if you want examples: Xavier Camus, Les Illuminés du Québec, that whole gang. They called the sponsors of the event where I was going to play to scare them, to tell them, “You’re hiring a conspiracy theorist.” So they had to issue a statement saying, “Calm down. We don’t endorse Amélie Paul‘s comments. She won’t be coming here.”

So that show was cancelled, and immediately afterwards there was an article about it in Le Soleil. And then I guess these people did some research because I hadn’t announced it anywhere, but I had a show in Gaspésie opening for Éric Lapointe, which is all the more ironic. Éric Lapointe is no choirboy! But anyway.

[00:25:00]

So there, same thing: the event organizer received calls to say, well, probably the same thing. I can’t say exactly what they said. But at least he called me to say, “Amélie, I’m obliged to cancel you. My board of directors is on my back; they’re getting calls.” So they cancelled that show. And from then on my musicians said, “Listen, we won’t play with you anymore because we’re risking our careers.” So they booted me out of my own band that I had launched: my own company. And after that, well obviously, the other shows planned for that summer were cancelled.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
And-feel free to answer or not to answer-but I understand that many sources of income had disappeared. How are you doing today?

Amélie Paul
Well, people give me donations. I get a bit of advertising revenue from YouTube because I’ve opened another channel, but it’s not the same as before because now there’s a lot of shadow banning. I don’t have any proof but that’s what I think.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
Can you explain to the Commission what this is?

Amélie Paul
Yes. The shadow ban-on Facebook especially, and on YouTube-is when they allow you to exist, if you will, but they’re going to promote you to a lesser degree in people’s news feeds. You’ll have a little less visibility. So I have a bit of income from YouTube and Facebook, but it’s mainly public donations that keep me alive. So when I make videos, I ask for donations and people encourage me. So this shows that you have to stay honest and true when your income depends on the people who listen to you.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
So in the chronology, we talked about Madame Noël’s article. We’ve talked about a number of subjects. Are there any other topics further down the chronology that you’d like to mention to the Commission? And in a few minutes, we’ll have to give the floor to the commissioners, who may also have some questions for you.

Amélie Paul
Well, I think that about covers it. There’s also the music. I don’t have concrete proof of this but at the time, when my manager was trying to track my music on the radio-that is, to contact radio stations to try to get them to play my songs. Let’s say, of the two big radio stations in Montreal, one said, “We don’t play Amélie Paul.” For the other, the musical director had agreed to play my song but then he said, “My hands are tied, I’m not allowed to play it.” So you could argue: “But it wasn’t a good song.” But it had reached number one on iTunes Canada, so it must have been not bad.

So basically, it was thanks to people on social networks because I didn’t get any support, obviously, from the radio or the mainstream. Of course, nobody wants to play me and nobody’s going to talk about me.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
A question we often ask at the end of interviews is: How could things have been done differently to make things go better for you? I know it was difficult for you, but is there a thought or reflection that comes to mind? How could things have been done better?

Amélie Paul
After the Radio-Canada [CBC] article, I tried to contact journalists. And my manager at that time had also tried to reach someone with his contacts who would allow me to give my version because Bernard and I spoke every day. So I knew the truth. I would have told it and there would have been no problem. But nobody ever wanted to interview me or get my side of the story, whereas Bernard’s sisters were in the media with Paul Arcand, with Denis Lévesque, but Bernard hadn’t spoken to them for six years, I think. So that’s where it was suspicious. I mean, they should have given me the right to speak in my own defence, but I was never able to defend myself in that story.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
If you could have had the right to reply, the right to speak, things would have gone better.

Amélie Paul
Well, I think for all the subjects that we deal with, what is missing is the debate in the media. I think that’s the key. Both sides should be represented in the media but they are not. Even if someone comes across as a conspiracy nut and has outlandish theories, let him express himself. He’ll discredit himself. Lies discredit themselves.

[00:30:00]

Louis Olivier Fontaine
I think that’s a very good conclusion to your testimony, Madame Paul. I’ll turn the floor over to the commissioners if they have any questions for you.

Commissioner Massie
Thank you very much, Madame Paul, for your testimony. It’s touching and disturbing. In a society, we would expect our artists to explore new avenues, be creative, and lead us away from political correctness, let’s say. At least, when I was young, that’s what was most popular. Well, I admit I haven’t kept up with it all that much lately-I’ve been a bit out of touch-but I did notice that, whether in music or theater or other forms of artistic expression, it seemed pretty restricted.

In your artistic milieu, are there many other artists like you who have taken this risk or had this naiveté – I don’t know, you mentioned naiveté – to express themselves because they found this situation absurd?

Amélie Paul
There are very few. At the very beginning of the pandemic, Lucie Laurier spoke out against it. She talked about it but it wasn’t far-fetched-what she was saying was very logical-and then she was cancelled immediately. But she was already established and well known so she had a lot to lose. Perhaps she served as an example because after that, very few people spoke out.

Guillaume Lemay Thivierge just said, “No, I’m not vaccinated yet; I’m waiting for a Quebec vaccine.” I think it was Medicago at the time. Just because he wanted to wait, he was also mistreated by the media. He lost a big sponsorship.

So I think that all these people served as an example to say, “Don’t say anything if you don’t want to lose your career and your gains.” And artists who were known for speaking out against the government, for being rebels and non-conformists, suddenly became the ultimate conformists. It was pretty special.

Commissioner Massie
Does this suggest, finally, that the artistic community is somewhat limited in its ability to express itself, given the forms of remuneration to which it has access, which perhaps go through government channels or firms that may somewhat control the messages?

Amélie Paul
Well, given that Quebec is a small market, whether in film or music-I’m not certain of what I’m saying-but I think it also works largely through subsidies, even for artists. So yes, it’s difficult. I imagine they’d rather keep quiet and not risk losing everything. Or even if it wasn’t subsidies, if you no longer have the support of radio stations and the media, it’s the end of your career or, at any rate it’s more difficult. It’s not the end, but it’s a lot harder.

Commissioner Massie
To pick up on Mr. Meloni’s opening comment this morning, a lot of people are now saying, “Well, it’s over, we’re moving on.” Do you now feel the freedom to express yourself quite well within different art forms? Is it all over?
Amélie Paul
Absolutely not. In any case, from an artistic point of view, there may be an opening. So the organizers, maybe they have an opening and they don’t mind, but it’s a risk taken at the corporate level. Event sponsors run the risk of being attacked. Nobody wants to take the risk. So I have the impression that it’s the code of silence. Everyone knows that everyone else knows, but we just pretend. That’s just my impression.

Commissioner Massie
And how long do you think it will last? Will we get out of it soon?

Amélie Paul
I have no idea. Naively, I hope so. I hope the truth will come out, and we’ll get through this, and justice will be done, but I have no idea.

Commissioner Massie
And what do you think it would take for the voice of this artistic community to be liberated? What would have to happen in our society?

[00:35:00]

Amélie Paul
Well, since you can’t do anything about the media-which is obviously controlled by the government-all the artists would have to get together. But it’s like in any milieu-I’m talking about artists here-but in any milieu, if everyone had stuck together, all these stories would have fallen. But there was a division into two camps. So as long as we’re not all together, I think that’s the problem.

Commissioner Massie
Now the question is: You mentioned that at the beginning, when you observed what was happening with the launch of measures to counter the pandemic, that from your point of view, it didn’t seem credible. And you commented that, perhaps, you were a little naive at the time. After three years, have you come out of the age of innocence?

Amélie Paul
I’ve had some wonderful evolving gifts in three years. Yes. I’m just as naive but deep down, my naivety at the time was that I didn’t think what I was doing was serious. I wasn’t aware that it wouldn’t go down well with society.

Commissioner Massie
Thank you very much.

[Addressing the other commissioners in English:] You have any questions? Okay.

Commissioner Drysdale
[In English] Good afternoon. Given the treatment that you got from the social media and the media, have you got any kind of an opinion as to what the recent amendments to the Broadcasting Act through Bill C-11 might have on your future?

Amélie Paul
My opinion on Bill C [11], the consequences it may have for my future as an artist, right? As a content creator on social networks-I think that’s it, if I’ve understood correctly?

I think it’s a law that is a bit disguised, and will eventually have even more control over the content of social networks, and then control “disinformation.” So when what you say is not in line with the government-that is, not in line with the accepted narrative-I assume it’s disinformation. So is this going to open the door to more censorship? That’s what I think, but I could be wrong. I don’t think it’s necessarily for the good of Canadian content creators. Only my naive side would believe that.

Commissioner Drysdale
[In English] The second part to that question might be with regard to new music in Canada. Most of the new music coming out by emerging artists is funded by the government through grants and assistance, and most of the festivals have government funding in them. Can you comment on what kind of an effect that has on artists like yourself, and making a decision whether or not they’re going to have protest music? You know, they used to have protest music when I was about your age, and there isn’t any of that anymore.

Amélie Paul
So the question was: Given that most artists are funded by government subsidies, what impact will this have on protesting artists? Is that it, if I understood correctly?

Personally, I have no hope of getting a grant anyway, and I wouldn’t want one so it doesn’t affect me. There are those who make their way on social networks, and you can still denounce things through music. I think that the best way is in fact to denounce through song lyrics. I think it gets across a lot better.

I was going to say, the mistake I made-it’s not a mistake-but to denounce through comedic videos or by speaking directly, saying “It’s a fraud,” doesn’t make it through. But on a canvas or through a song, I think it can still make it through. But the idea is to use new media, social networks, and travel your path by yourself. I also think that is the future. We can’t go on forever. I don’t think subsidies are going to continue. People are awakening and detaching themselves from this falsehood.

[00:40:00]

Artists who didn’t do anything during all that time, who didn’t even raise maybe a few questions, who didn’t denounce anything? I don’t know. I can’t say. But personally, I don’t want subsidies. I’m not in this. I don’t want government help. I’d just like, maybe, to have permission to play on the radio or to do shows. At least to be able to play in places where sponsors are not called and harassed. So that’s that. That’s my situation. As for the others, they just have to be docile and they’ll be fine.

Commissioner Drysdale
Thank you.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
So in closing, Madame Paul, it only remains for me to thank you on behalf of the National Citizens Inquiry for your testimony.

Amélie Paul
Thank you.

Louis Olivier Fontaine
I’m aware that coming to talk about your personal experience can generate a lot of stress and anxiety. So I congratulate you on your courage and integrity.

Amélie Paul
Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.

[00:41:35]

Final Review and Approval: Erin Thiessen, November 6, 2023.

The evidence offered in this transcript is a true and faithful record of witness testimony given during the National Citizens Inquiry (NCI) hearings. The transcript was prepared by members of a team of volunteers using an “intelligent verbatim” transcription method, and further translated from the original French.

For further information on the transcription process, method, and team, see the NCI website: https://nationalcitizensinquiry.ca/about-these-translations/

Summary

Amelie Paul, a podcaster and actress, used humor to try to wake people up to the absurdity of the measures being implemented by the government. The media pounced on her and one journalist gave her an ultimatum. Amelie said, “It was either I accept [his demand] or he was going to write the unflattering article he wanted to publish in the first place.”