IVAC: Fin de Cycle
Many of you have followed along through my struggles to mete out $600 in compensation from the Quebec victims fund (IVAC).
It started around here with my initial request for compensation in early 2004.
Followed by this thoughtless response from IVAC
Moved to here with my snarky response to the Quebec Bureaucrat.
Broke-down completely with this correspondence with the inept (and comical) Mr. Beaulieu.
Turned to bile with this address to IVAC directeur, Jean Ranger in early 2005.
And finally became all-out war with this appeal in response to IVAC's decision to deny our family victim compensation for the death of Theresa.
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Some have criticized me for my lack of decorum in responding to IVAC, stressing that I must always keep a cool head in these affairs (you may have been right, I haveregrettibly burned some bridges in these affairs). I have argued that 26 years is too long to wait on politeness.
Today, I received IVAC's final decision to my appeal:
They have reversed their decision and agreed to compensate the family $1,100 for the loss of our sister / daughter.
MORE IMPORTANT they have acknowledged that Theresa's death was a criminal matter, and they scoff at Quebec Police's suggestions that she might have died from suicide or drug overdose.
This is the first acknowledgement in 26 years from a Quebec public official that Theresa died as a result of criminal actions.
A great victory.
My heartfelt thanks to Pierre Hugues Boisvenu who helped a friend, and Isabelle Grimard who knew the truth when she saw it.
IVAC's response follows:
Montreal, June 23, 2005
JOHN ALLORE
108 COBBLESTONE DRIVE
CHAPEL HILL, NC 27516
U.S.A.
Requesting party: ALLORE JOHN
Party concerned: MINISTÃRE DE LA JUSTICE
Name of victim: THERESA MARIE ALLORE (DECEASED)
File number: 120192927-00001
Date of event: NOVEMBER 3, 1978
Re: Decision rendered further to administrative review
Further to the February 21, 2005 application for review of the decision rendered February 15, 2005 by the Direction de l'indemnisation des victimes d'actes criminels, the matter was referred for administrative review based on the information provided. The Bureau de la révision administrative hereby reverses the decision refusing the claim on the grounds of lack of evidence of a crime.
In the application for benefits submitted by the brother of the deceased, he maintained that his sister was murdered in November 1978, when she disappeared and her body was discovered in April 1979. The claim was submitted within the year that police investigation was reopened by the Sûreté du Québec.
The Bureau de la révision administrative re-examined all the evidence, from which it gleaned the following facts:
On November 3, 1978, Theresa Allore was last seen alive in the residence of Collège Champlain in Lennoxville, where she was studying. She lived with her parents in Compton.
Her body was found by a trapper in April 1979, in an arm of the Rivière Coaticook, less than one kilometer from her home domicile. Her body was face down, was dressed only in underwear, and was in an advanced state of decomposition.
The autopsy conducted in 1979 was unable to find signs of violence, and the advanced state of decomposition did not allow for identification of the exact cause of death, or the presence of toxic substances.
At the relevant time, the police held the theory that her death was due to a drug overdose because there was a party at which drugs were used held at the college the night she disappeared.
The autopsy report found that the cause of death remained indeterminate in the absence of any clear sign on the body of traumatic violence or detectable anatomicopathological cause of natural death. The toxicity analysis was unable to provide evidence of the presence of the usual drugs or of drug abuse,
Theresa's torn scarf was found in a farmerÂs field and one week later her purse was found 10 kilometers away.
The personal research conducted by the deceasedÂs immediate family between 2002 and 2004 revealed that three women were murdered in the same geographical area, which murders remain unsolved to date.
Firstly, it must be noted that in order to be entitled to benefits under the Crime Victims Compensation Act, preponderant evidence is required. It must be shown that the facts submitted are serious, accurate and concordant to accept a particular conclusion as being the most likely (50 % +1). This evidentiary requirement is clearly different from that in a criminal trial, where it must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty of the crime charged.
The Bureau de la révision administrative cannot accept the drug overdose theory held by the police to explain Theresa AlloreÂs death, on the grounds of the toxicity analysis conducted in 1979. In our view a theory of accident or accidental death is inconsistent with the discovery of a body face down, in an arm of a river, far from the road, clothed only in underwear. Considering that the victim disappeared in November and the body was found in April, the clothing is inconsistent with death without incident. The discovery of her scarf and purse far from her body also militates in favour of unnatural circumstances of death.
Given these facts, the Bureau de la révision administrative finds that Theresa Allore did not die a natural death and that the circumstances of her death were criminal in nature. The family of the deceased is entitled to death benefits of $600.00 and the costs of transporting the body, which are fixed at $500.00. A finding that Theresa AlloreÂs death was due to a crime does not in any way constitute firm confirmation of murder and cannot be substituted for police investigations conducted with that fact at their disposal, which has much higher evidentiary requirements than for the compensation of victims of crime.
The application for review is therefore allowed.
Please feel free to contact us should you require further information regarding this matter or for any other questions you may have.
You may apply for a review of this decision within 60 days of receiving this letter. You request must be made in writing and sent to the following address: Tribunal administratif du Québec, 500, Boul. René-Lévesque Ouest, 21e étage, Montréal (Québec) H2Z 1W7. You may contact the Tribunal administratif du Québec at one of the following telephone numbers : (514) 873-7154 or 1 800 567-0278.
Sincerely,
Isabelle Grimard
Lawyer
Bureau de la révision administrative
IVAC/Civism
IG/dl
c.c. Ministère de la Justice
Direction de l'IVAC
posted by John Allore @ 6/28/2005 05:53:00 PM
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