Justice on Trial: A Father’s Fight After His Daughter’s Murder
The story of Guy Bonnier is one of unimaginable grief and a deep frustration with the justice system. His daughter, Romane Bonnier, was just 24 when she was brutally murdered in the street in October 2021 by her ex-partner, François Pelletier. The trial that followed brought little comfort — in fact, it became another source of pain. What made it worse, in his eyes, was that Pelletier had been allowed to represent himself in court.
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When Bonnier tried to address this issue in his victim impact statement, the court stopped him. He was told he couldn’t criticize the justice system during that part of the proceedings — articles 727 and 728 of the law strictly limit what can be said. His speech could only reflect his personal experience, without targeting the system itself. But, as he sees it, that personal pain is directly tied to the system’s failings.
Pelletier was ultimately sentenced to life in prison, but the father’s mission didn’t end there. He is now publicly calling for legislative change — specifically, a law requiring that anyone accused of murder be represented by legal counsel in court. He believes this would protect grieving families from being retraumatized, keep trials more focused, and even reduce strain on judges and prosecutors. In his view, allowing self-representation in such serious cases effectively hands defendants a tool to manipulate the process.
Bonnier acknowledges that the judge in his daughter’s case followed the law to the letter, likely to avoid giving Pelletier any grounds for appeal. But he insists that it is the law itself that is the problem. The system, he says, is like “a small boat following the current,” and unless the current changes, others will endure the same needless suffering his family faced.
Through interviews, including one with Patrick Lagacé, Bonnier has made his case to the public: this is not just about his family’s tragedy, but about preventing future harm — both emotional and procedural — in Canada’s courtrooms. For him, justice for Romane is now tied to a broader fight to ensure no one else must sit through a trial where the person who took their loved one’s life is given free rein to turn it into a spectacle.
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