Education minister says he ‘authorized’ revoking licence of Montreal teacher who pleaded guilty to voyeurism

Montreal -

A former Montreal elementary-school teacher who pleaded guilty to taking photos of unsuspecting girls over three years, including capturing images up their skirts, will have his teaching licence revoked, Quebec’s education minister announced Tuesday.

Simon Lamarre entered a guilty plea on a charge of voyeurism last August following an undercover sting operation by Montreal police.

Education Minister Jean-François Roberge said in a tweet that the “nature and gravity of the offence are irreconcilable with the teaching profession.”

“I have thus authorized, on the recommendation of my department, the revocation of Mr. Lamarre's certificate," he continued.

At Lamarre's trial, court heard that he filmed teenagers in public pools, in metro stations, and on escalators.

It was his ex-girlfriend who contacted police after finding videos on an old computer and USB storage devices.

M. Simon Lamarre a été déclaré coupable de l’infraction criminelle de voyeurisme. La nature et la gravité de l’infraction sont inconciliables avec la profession enseignante. J’ai ainsi autorisé, sous recommandation de mon ministère, la révocation du brevet de M. Lamarre. #polqc

— Jean-F. Roberge (@jfrobergeQc) November 30, 2021

Montreal police officers arrested him on Sept. 25, 2020 after he was caught recording a video under the skirts of three high-school students while going up the stairs at the Villa Maria metro station.

At the time, he was a Grade 5 teacher at Notre-Dame-de-Grâce elementary school -- a job he then quit to become a lecturer at both Université de Montréal and Université de Sherbrooke in their education faculties.

La Presse reported on Monday that a judge sentenced him at the Montreal courthouse to a conditional discharge.

The judge also gave Lamarre three years’ probation, telling the court that it wasn’t in the public’s interest to jail him and prevent him from continuing his career in education.