Claude Poirier (born October 26, 1938 in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

) is a negotiator and crime reporter for the

-based Canadian French-language television network

TVA The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...

. He is best known for negotiating with suspects during hostage situations. Poirier's 60-year career as a crime reporter started in 1960 when he covered a bank robbery. He continued to do the job for several months without receiving a salary. Soon after, he reported on the assassinations of U.S. president

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

and his brother

Robert Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, a ...

as well as

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

leader Martin Luther King Jr. In Quebec, he covered the

kidnapping In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

and subsequent murder of former Quebec Liberal Minister of Labor Pierre Laporte, by the FLQ militant group in 1970. He has, perhaps unwillingly, nicknamed the RCMP (Gendarmerie Royale du Canada in French) la "Genmarderie Royale du Canada" ("marde" is a slang term for excrement in French). Rumour has it that he does it on purpose because of a grudge he has against them. Due to such events, he is often portrayed in comedy sketches. During his career Poirier has participated in numerous inquiries and trials as an expert and as a witness. He covered the widely publicized

biker gang An outlaw motorcycle club is a motorcycle subculture generally centered on the use of cruiser motorcycles, particularly Harley-Davidsons and choppers, and a set of ideals that purport to celebrate freedom, nonconformity to mainstream culture, ...

war that broke out in Quebec during the 1990s as well as trials in notorious murder or crime cases such as the trial of several biker gang members arrested during a province-wide

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

operation called "Printemps 2001" which significantly reduced their criminal activities around the province. During hostage situations or similar events, criminals often asked police for a negotiation with Poirier. In August 2007, he was heavily involved over the well-publicized case of the disappearance of a 10-year-old girl, Cédrika Provencher, in

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

, in a possible case of abduction. Poirier received the Medal of Bravery frin the Canadian government in 1977. The Quebec government jas honoured him five times during his career. Today, Poirier still comments on recent crime cases or cold ones on the TVA Nouvelles broadcast at 5:00 p.m. EDT on weekdays and during the LCN morning show. During his commentary, he also discusses the judicial system as well as federal or provincial laws related to crime measures such as

gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians. Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...

, prison sentences and related matters. He is also the host of ''Le Vrai Négociateur'' on LCN, a 60-minute show that discusses various cases involving the juridical system in Quebec or Canada as well as various crime or disappearance cases. Poirier also played an important role in the production of the television series "Le Negociateur" which aired in 2005. The second season began on October 23, 2006, on the TVA television network. The series features well-known figures in

Quebec culture The culture of Quebec emerged over the last few hundred years, resulting predominantly from the shared history of the French-speaking North American majority in Quebec. Québécois culture, as a whole, constitutes all distinctive traits – spiri ...

such as

Elvis Gratton Bob 'Elvis' Gratton is a fictional character, the subject of multiple films and a television series of the same name by Quebec director Pierre Falardeau: a series of short films (''Elvis Gratton'', 1981; ''Les Vacances d'Elvis Gratton'', 1983; ''P ...

star actor

Julien Poulin Julien Poulin (born April 20, 1946) is Canadian actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer. He has portrayed numerous roles in several popular Quebec films and series. Elvis Gratton films His most memorable role was Elvis Gratton in ...

, Frederick de Grandpré,

Pierre Curzi Pierre Curzi (born February 11, 1946 in Montreal, Quebec) is an actor, screenwriter and politician in Quebec. He is a former Member of the National Assembly of Quebec (MNA) for the riding of Borduas in the Montérégie region south of Montreal. ...

Les Boys ''Les Boys'' is a 1997 Quebec-made comedy film directed by Louis Saia. It has spawned three sequels and by any measure ( profit, box office or attendance) is the most successful Quebec made film series of all time, and one of the most successfu ...

actors Serge Thériault and Roc Lafortune, 2004

Star Académie ''Star Académie'' is a Canadian reality television series that started in 2003, aimed primarily at the Quebec television audience, featuring an array of young women and men under the age of 30 competing for the title of the next solo singing sensa ...

winner

Stephanie Lapointe Stephanie is a female name that comes from the Greek name Στέφανος (Stephanos) meaning "crown". The male form is Stephen. Forms of Stephanie in other languages include the German "Stefanie", the Italian, Czech, Polish, and Russian "Stef ...

and Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge.

References

External links

Biography of Claude Poirier
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poirier, Claude 1938 births Living people French Quebecers Journalists from Montreal