Vous avez détruit la beauté du monde. Le suicide scénarisé au Québec depuis 1763
par Perreault, I., Cellard, A, et Corriveau, P. / Illustration C. Quesnel.
Montréal, Éditions Moelle Graphique
Résumé
"Vous avez détruit la beauté du monde" sont les derniers mots prononcés par la poète Huguette Gaulin avant de s'immoler sur la place publique, à Montréal, le 4 juin 1972. C'est aussi le titre de cette bande dessinée qui aborde d'une manière originale un sujet délicat: l'histoire du suicide. Cet ouvrage est inspiré par la découverte, dans le greffe de la paix du Québec, de plus de 20 000 dossiers du coroner pour lequel celui-ci avait conclu à un décès par suicide sur le territoire de la province de 1763 à 1986. Ces enquêtes, qui cherchent à déterminer les causes et circonstances des décès, contiennent des descriptions, des témoignages et, à partir du 20e siècle, des photographies de scènes de suicide. Ces traces permettent, entre autres, de reconstituer la dernière image, l'ultime impression, parfois soigneusement élaborée, que le suicidé a cherché à laisser au monde des vivants. Mais comment rendre compte, avec pudeur et sensibilité, des lieux et des gestes posés sans faire appel aux descriptions cliniques, souvent très crues, contenues dans les archives?
Les auteurs Isabelle Perreault, André Cellard et Patrice Corriveau ont eu l'idée de travailler en collaboration avec un auteur de bande dessinée afin de reconstituer le dernier acte mis en scène par le suicidé. Mais c'est aussi une mise en abîme destinée à éclairer la démarche historique que nous convient les auteurs de cet ouvrage. Cet album confronte le lecteur à un malaise latent au Québec. En abordant le suicide par le biais des images de Christian Quesnel qui regorgent de force et de beauté, cet album apporte lumière et compréhension et contribue à démystifier un problème de société malheureusement toujours aussi contemporain.
A quantitative and qualitative study of notes left by youth suicide victims in Quebec from 1895 to 1985
par Ligier, F., Michaud, L., Kabuth, B., Lesage, A., Corriveau, P. et Séguin, M.
DansArchives of Suicide Research, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2019.1645068
Abstract
The study of suicide notes and the evolution of their content could contribute to a better understanding of reasons conducive to suicide mortality and offer further prevention strategies. From 1895 to 1985, 706 coroner’s inquests of individuals who died by suicide and were 20 years old or younger were found in the province of Quebec. Quantitative analysis compared those who left notes (n = 47) to those who did not leave notes (n = 659). Furthermore, notes were subjected to inductive thematic analysis. Sociodemographic characteristics of the deceased individuals did not change over time. Qualitative analysis revealed four superordinate themes: (1) last wishes, (2) to those I leave behind, (3) about me and how and why I did it, and (4) self-positioning in the world. Only the last theme evolved over the time period considered. Suicide notes shed light on the psychological state of the majority of young note leavers and suggest the persistent feelings of distress and entrapment before the suicide, which may be important factors for caregivers and family members to monitor.
Le négatif et le positif, numéro spécial «Autour du suicide»
par Robert Bastien et Isabelle Perreault
Dans VST, vie sociale et traitements, no. 137, 2018, p. 40-49.
Résumé
Cet article, sous forme d’essai, pose un regard à plusieurs voix sur le suicide et les dommages collatéraux que ce geste de désespoir de soi engendre chez les survivants. Il questionne de manière critique la façon dont le domaine biomédical envisage le suicide, entre autres en recourant à des perspectives anthropologiques et philosophiques qui révèlent toute la complexité de bien cerner la nature du désir d’en finir avec la vie de manière définitive. En conclusion, il questionne les campagnes de prévention en se demandant si celles-ci pourraient générer des effets contraires au but recherché.
Entre crime, problème de santé mentale et droit de mourir: débats autour de la prise en charge du suicide
par Perreault, I., Cauchie, J.-F. et Corriveau, P.
Dans Criminologie, vol. 50, n. 2, 2018, p. 5-12. https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/crimino/2018-v51-n2-crimino03961/1054232ar.pdf
Le fait divers suicidaire dans les hebdomadaires populaires québécois (1927-1940) : un « crime » moins tabou qu’il n’y parait.
par Pelletier-Audet, A.
Dans Criminologie, vol. 50, n.2, 2018, p. 39–60. https://doi.org/10.7202/1054234ar
Abstract
This article documents the discursive practices that framed journalistic accounts of suicidal acts in the burgeoning Quebec tabloid press during the second quarter of the 20th century. The new medium’s emphasis on human interest reporting contributed to making suicide highly visible, on both a local and global stage, highlighting the per- ceived entertainment value of these accounts as secular and family-oriented entertain- ment, while also reinforcing their representation as criminalized or deviant acts.
Un droit criminel en retrait ou en introspection? Le cas des plaintes déposées pour tentative de suicide dans le district judiciaire de Montréal (1908-1919)
par Cauchie, J.-F. et Corriveau, P. Hamel, B., et Lyonnais, A.
Dans Criminologie, vol. 50, n. 2, 2018, p. 13-38.
Abstract
In 1892, when the first Canadian Criminal Code was created, attempting suicide was a crime. It remained one until 1972, when it was decriminalized and the link between suicide and mental health and changes in social response toward suicide attempts were somewhat “officialised”. This article shows, however, that suicide attempts were not initially dealt with only through criminal law, to be handled next solely through a medical framework. At the beginning of the 20th century, the idea of suicide as a crime co-existed with the idea that it should be dealt with by psychiatry. Analysis of 163 complaints of attempted suicide in Montreal between 1908 and 1919 shows that it was not always easy to determine which approach would be followed – a verdict of mental illness or placing an individual with suicidal tendencies in a medical institution did not necessarily mean that the case would not lead to criminal prosecution. Reshaping, even a partial recreation, of this type of right was necessary to change the way suicide attempts were treated.
‘Croyez surtout pas que j’ai perdu la tête’: quand les lettres d’adieu de suicidés québécois défient les verdicts du coroner
par Cauchie, J.-F, Corriveau, P. et Hamel, B.
Dans Frontières, vol. 29, n. 1, 2017
Abstract
According to the WHO, 90% of suicides are related to mental health issues. However associating suicide to an altered state of mind is not that simple. In Quebec for instance, History has shown us that this association often goes beyond psychiatric considerations. Without taking a stand on this issue, our analysis of suicide notes nonetheless starts off from the principle that, as soon as words are committed to paper in relation to one’s suicide, this narrative raises the prospect of a future where the author wishes to remain an actor in his or her own life and whatever is to come next. The majority of the notes from our sample explicitly detail the reasons for the upcoming death. Nevertheless, in 91 % of files, the coroner concludes that the act was committed by a person out of mind. Even when the suicide explicitly stated that it is not the case.
La scénarisation de sa propre mort. La régularité suicidaire dans les enquêtes du coroner (1925-1980)
par Alex Gagnon et Isabelle Perreault
Dans Déviance et Société, vol. 41, n.3, 2017, p.481-503.
Abstract
Distancing itself from epidemiological debates, this article’s purpose isn’t that of identifying the risk factors or causes of suicide. It will instead examine the socio-cultural factors which, without causing or determining suicide, accompany its execution through shaping the “script” of acting out. Based on the sociological theory of scripts, first developed in the field of sexuality studies, we analyze the narrative or scriptwriting of the suicidal act itself, and highlight suicidal regularities, such as they emerge from the Quebec coroner’s inquests in the twentieth century: to commit suicide, more often than not, is to take one’s own life following agreed upon suicidal scripts, common forms of “acting” in a specific context.
Le suicide dans les enquêtes du coroner au Québec entre 1763-1986: un projet de recherche inédit
par Corriveau, P., Perreault, I, Cauchie, J.-F, et Lyonnais, A.
Dans Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française, printemps 2016, vol.69, n.4, p. 71-86.
Abstract
This research note focuses on the creation of a database that will eventually include all 20 000 coroners’ inquests conducted in Quebec from the British Conquest (1763) to 1986 that have returned a verdict of death by suicide. With its invaluable material ranging from medical records, witness statements from relatives and diverse professionals, coroner and jury verdicts to farewell letters, the relevance of this database will not be limited to epidemiological analyses. It will also facilitate a better understanding of the evolution of social discourses on suicidal gestures and will shed some light, through their own words, on the lives of those who chose to put an end to their existence. The note also addresses the fact that the creation and use of such a database does not come without its share of thorny epistemological and methodological dilemmas.
While of Unsound Mind? Narratives of Responsibility in Suicide Notes in the 20th Century
par Perreault, I., Corriveau, P. et Cauchie, J.-F.
Dans Social History, vol. XLIX, n.98, 2016, p.155-170.
Abstract
Between 1892 and 1960, most suicide verdicts rendered during coroners’ inquests labelled death by a person’s own hand as “suicide while of unsound mind.” During this period, psychiatrists increasingly determined the degree to which individuals who attempted to kill themselves could be considered criminally responsible for their actions or not responsible by reason of mental illness. To elucidate this gradual transition from state to medical authority over suicide in Canada, we analyse narratives of responsibility found in “suicide notes” appended to coroners’ inquests, particularly ways in which the act of suicide was construed by individuals who committed suicide as a rational decision or an individual right and not as a moment of madness or a criminal act.
La représentation socioculturelle du suicide au Québec au milieu du 20esiècle. Étude de cas
par Alexandre Pelletier-Audet
Dans Santé mentale au Québec, vol. 41(2), 2016, p. 159-64
Abstract
By comparing the narratives in a 1958 Montreal newspaper article with the data compiled in the Coroner inquest report, this case study seeks to assess the value of journalistic sources in historicizing the shifts in the modes of representation and emotion surrounding suicide in the province of Quebec in the middle of the twentieth century.
Faire parler la mort volontaire: enjeux épistémologique, méthodologique et éthique
par Corriveau, P., Lyonnais, A., Cauchie, J.-F, et Perreault, I.
Dans I. Perreault et M.-C. Thifault (dir.). Récits inachevés. Réflexions sur les défis de la recherche qualitative, Ottawa, Presses de l’Université d’Ottawa, 2016, p. 201-218.
Enjeux autour de la responsabilité du geste suicidaire en institution carcérale. Analyse des enquêtes du coroner de Montréal entre 1892 et 1950
Patrice Corriveau, Jean-François Cauchie and Isabelle Perreault
Champ pénal, vol XI, 2014 (url : http://champpenal.revues.org/8973)
Abstract
In Quebec, a coroner’s investigation is initiated as soon as a death occurs in the territory to determine if it is due to natural causes or not. This is the case with deaths occurring in penal institutions. In this paper, we will explore more specifically how suicides in prison are defined and perceived by social actors and the official reports mentioned in the coroner’ inquest. To do so, we have an empirical corpus firsthand: coroners’ inquests in the judicial district of Montreal that have concluded to suicide deaths between 1892 and 1950. Our study allows us to understand how the various explanations of suicide in prison institution are constructed through the Coroner’s investigations, the information they collected in the reports, but also by the evidence they used and the words selected to describe the events surrounding the death (and death). We will see that a "suicide" can invoke different interpretations according to social actors that comment and explain the act, and depending on the historical period in which it is named. We will also see that the determination of a suicide verdict in penal institutions show that the prisoner status as a pariah makes conceivable the "suicidal will" in the eyes of the coroner (and his witnesses), whereas this is not the case for verdicts made for the general population.
250 ans de suicides au Québec : les fondations d’une recherche dans les Archives du Coroner
Cellard, A. and Corriveau, P.
Histoire sociale, vol. XLVI, n.91, 2013, p. 675-691.
Abstract
Suicide, a serious crime once subject to the death penalty during the period of New France, is now seen as a societal problem rather than as an individual misdeed. In this sense, suicide is a perfect example of the reversal of a social and legal response to a behaviour that had for centuries, however, been considered deviant. In order to understand the various social stakeholders’ change of attitudes and reactions toward suicide and suicide victims for Quebec society as a whole, an empirical database addressing most cases of suicide over a long period of history must be examined. This is exactly what we plan to do in coming years in the course of our project “Du crime de lèse-majesté à ‘problème de société’: l’évolution de la réaction sociale à l’égard du suicide au Québec de 1763 à 2000”, which will involve identifying and analyzing all cases of suicide contained in the Coroner’s Archives held by Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BANQ) for the period 1763 to 2000. This research note is designed to outline our archival process and illustrate through a few typical cases of suicide the richness of our material. To do this, we have opted to focus on the suicide notes found in the thousands of files examined to date.
‘Des menottes sur des pansements’: la décriminalisation de la tentative de suicide dans les tribunaux du Québec entre 1892 et 1972
Cellard, A., Chapdeleine, E. and Corriveau, P.
La Revue Canadienne Droit et Société, vol.28, n.1, 2013, p. 83-98.
Abstract
From the time when suicide was considered equivalent to premeditated murder by the Canadian justice system to the decriminalization of attempted suicide in 1972, there was a dramatic reversal in how suicidal behaviors were viewed by society. Through an analysis of cases involving suicide attempts in Quebec between 1892 and 1972, we will examine the shift in the legal interpretation of attempted suicide. The law and medical science occasionally compete with one another to impose their own explanations of attempted suicide. Th ese views are not mutually exclusive, though they are, at times, mutually reinforcing. Furthermore, the social reaction toward suicidal behaviors began to migrate from the criminal to the medical within the context of the courts, resulting in de facto decriminalization before such measures were inscribed into law.
Éléments pour une sociologie historique du suicide au Québec, 1763-2000
André Cellard and Patrice Corriveau
Droits et voix. Rights and Voices. La criminologie à l’Université d’Ottawa. Criminologie at the University of Ottawa, sous la direction de Véronique Strimelle et Françoise Vanhamme (dir.), chapitre XIII, 2010.