Newly released cabinet records reveal former prime minister Jean Chrétien defended Quebec lieutenant governor Jean-Louis Roux in 1996 after revelations he wore a swastika and participated in an "antisemitic" demonstration during the Second World War.Blacklock's Reporter says Chrétien warned cabinet that forcing Roux to resign over his conduct as a teenager would establish a troubling precedent for Canadians seeking public office, according to previously secret cabinet minutes.“To punish him for this incident, he suggested, would be to set a difficult precedent regarding the standards required to hold public office,” the minutes stated.Roux, a prominent Montreal actor, had been Quebec's lieutenant governor for only a few weeks when L’Actualité published an investigation into his participation in anti-Jewish demonstrations in 1942.Roux acknowledged drawing a swastika on his medical student lab coat and participating in a protest during which Jewish-owned businesses were vandalized. He denied personally damaging any property.He also admitted being at the front of a protest march to the offices of the Montreal Gazette, where he said police beat demonstrators.“That was brilliant, huh?” Roux told L’Actualité when recalling the incident.The revelations prompted demands for his resignation from the Bloc Québécois and Parti Québécois, creating a political controversy for Chrétien's Liberal government.Secret cabinet minutes show Chrétien personally briefed ministers on the controversy and the possibility Roux would be forced from office.“The Prime Minister said he had to deal with the possible resignation of the Lieutenant Governor of Québec, Jean-Louis Roux,” the records stated.“Mr. Roux had recently admitted that when he was 19 years old, he had drawn a swastika on his student lab coat and participated in an anti-conscription demonstration,” Chrétien told cabinet.“The demonstration resulted in several Jewish stores being vandalized.”Chrétien informed ministers that Roux had apologized for his involvement and agreed to meet representatives of Jewish organizations.However, political pressure continued to mount.“Nevertheless, he said that the Bloc Québécois and Parti Québécois were demanding Mr. Roux’s resignation and that Daniel Johnson, who was cornered on this issue, would likely seek it as well,” the minutes stated.“He added that some federal cabinet ministers also supported this point of view.”.Chrétien argued Roux's conduct should be weighed against his subsequent record of supporting human rights.The prime minister “offered his view that the event was an isolated youthful mistake for which Mr. Roux had more than compensated through his exemplary actions in support of human rights during his adult life,” according to the minutes.Chrétien then invited cabinet ministers to discuss the controversy.“He then opened up the issue for discussion,” the records stated.However, the Privy Council Office censored the cabinet secretary's account of the ensuing discussion, leaving the positions taken by individual ministers undisclosed.Roux ultimately resigned following a November 4, 1996 news conference in which he attempted to explain his actions more than five decades earlier.“This display, which unfortunately testifies to the attitude of a large portion of the youth of Québec at the time, was inspired only by a medical student’s mischievous desire to show off and be provocative and in no way corresponded to any political conviction or ideology on my part,” Roux told reporters.He also downplayed the significance of the revelations while acknowledging the offence they had caused.“These anecdotes are not worthy of being made a fuss about today,” Roux said.“However I seriously regret their mention has offended the sensitivities of the Jewish community.”Despite Chrétien's defence of his record, Roux left office after only a brief tenure as the Queen's representative in Quebec.He never returned to public office.Roux died in 2013 at the age of 90.
