Mario Perron

Artgate lawsuit climbs to $2.4 million

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , ,

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

The lawsuit launched by parents against the Lester B. Pearson school board (LBPSB), known internationally as Artgate, has reached $2.34 million with 13 parents joined in the legal action.

After nearly two months Martin B. DeBellefeuille, the lawyer representing all of the parents in the lawsuit, was electronically notified that the law firm Morency Avocats was appointed to the file, representing both the Lester B. Pearson School Board and the teacher Mario Perron.

“Two months is an excessive amount of time, when you think about it; to source out, then finally secure legal representation in a case that has drawn worldwide media attention, is really long in my opinion,” Joel DeBellefeuille, one of the parents filing the lawsuit said. “It leaves room for some serious speculation. You have a school board deeply entrenched in an historical, never before seen copyright infringement case in Quebec, let alone in the history of all Commonwealth countries and it took them two months to find a lawyer?”

On February 8, second-year high school students from Westwood Junior High School discovered the sale of their artwork assigned to them as a school project by their teacher Mario Perron. Students were previously advised by their teacher that the project entitled “creepy portraits” was a mandatory assignment. In total, the works of 96 students was discovered online for sale, allegedly listed by Perron with print on demand options such as wall art prints, face masks, men and woman’s apparel, mugs, greeting cards and stationary.

Parents who reached out to the school’s principal and the school board were met with a non-apologetic silence and the teacher continued to contact students by e-mail assigning art projects. While refusing to have a discussion with parents, the school’s principal also called down students related to the issue to her office to question them, without informing parents.

The parents suing for copyright infringements and moral damages demanded that the artwork listed without their permission or the knowledge of its creators until it was discovered be removed immediately and demanded an apology.

“So far, no apology,” DeBellefeuille told The Suburban. n

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Artgate parents launch lawsuit; LBPSB silent

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , ,

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

The families of some Westwood junior high school students launched a lawsuit against art teacher Mario Perron and the Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB) as it continues to remain silent and fails to respond to the demand letter sent on behalf of eight parents on Feb. 13.

According to the demand letter, the families requested an apology and the removal of all artwork online as well as statutory damages in the amount of $1.4 million claimed against the art teacher Mario Perron and the school board. Both parties failed to address the contents of the demand letter.

“One would seem to think that the school board is condoning the actions of Mario Perron as they are choosing to continue to remain defiant and silent on this egregious abuse and historical copyright infringement by the art teacher, that made headlines around the world,” Joel DeBellefeuille, the parent who launched the initial lawsuit, told The Suburban.

There are now 9 families attached to the lawsuit, bringing the total demand of damages to just over $1.5 million. n

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WI art teacher sells his students’ work for own profit

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

By Chelsey St-Pierre

An art teacher at a public junior high school in Saint-Lazare placed his students’ artwork on his website as well as a U.S.-based public website for sale.The grade 8 art teacher, Mario Perron used the names of the students who produced the drawings in the titles which were displayed above their respective pieces of art on the site, all which could be found under a section entitled “student art” under his seller profile.

Perron has just over 1,700 works of art for sale on the U.S.-based site. He placed 96 student creations for sale with prices ranging from $94.00 — $190.00. “For this guy to feel like he has carte-blanche is extremely alarming,” said a parent named Dave (pseudonym used for this purpose of this article) who contacted The Suburban, on condition of anonymity in order to protect the identity of his minor child.”My teen came home from school telling me that his art teacher is selling students’ artwork online. This is invasive to the privacy of the students that he is teaching.”

The Suburban contacted the school’s administration as well as the school board that refused to comment except for the following, “The Lester B. Pearson school board (LBPSB) is aware of the situation and is taking these allegations very seriously. An investigation is underway so the school board cannot comment on this matter any further at this point,” LBPSB spokesperson Darren Becker told The Suburban.

Westwood Junior High School principal Anna Haller did not respond to The Suburban’s request for comment, however when a parent reached out, she responded with concern for the confidentiality pertaining to staff. “Thank you for your e-mail. This matter is currently under investigation. All matters pertaining to LBPSB employees remain confidential.”

“Mr. Perron did not take into consideration the children’s confidentiality when he posted and then attempted to sell their drawings online without the consent of the children. the parents or the school board. This is extremely troubling and concerning,” Dave explained.

The Suburban ran an online search test and it took less than 10 minutes to connect the dots between where Perron works and view the names of his students starting from the artwork sales site. On his Facebook profile, Perron is listed as a teacher for the Lester B. Pearson school board and links to the sale of his students’ artwork was also connected to his public profile. In his Bio link, it says he teaches at a West Island school. With a quick search of “West Island school’s staff lists and Mario Perron”, it was easy to locate Perron as a current staff member at Westwood Junior high school. n

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