Hard luck truck jinxes lawyer
Geoffroy loses job with Eeyou Economic Development
by Steve Bonspiel

FOR THE RECORD:
An article published in The Nation on January 5 reported on some of the financial difficulties encountered by Waswanipi trucker Gary Cooper. The article stated that his truck had been seized and sold at public auction by lawyer Jocelyn Geoffroy acting on behalf of the Eeyou Economic Development Board. The article further reported that Cooper had later seen Geoffroy driving the truck. Cooper was quoted as saying that Geoffroy should be “disbarred” for his actions.
That quotation should not have been included in the story and The Nation apologizes to Mr. Geoffroy. As the article went on to say, Geoffroy did not purchase the truck at the sale. There is no suggestion that Geoffroy acted improperly in overseeing the auctioning of Cooper’s vehicle.

The Eeyou Economic Development board fired its lawyer Jocelyn Geoffroy during a board meeting December 7. The firing is the latest chapter in a long story of bad luck for a Waswanipi businessman that has people scratching their heads.

A year ago, Waswanipi trucker Gary Cooper was having trouble paying off his debt to Eeyou Economic Development for his 2000 Ford Expedition company truck.

Cooper made attempts to settle the debt and although he wasn’t working any more, he made an offer of $400 a month – as opposed to the monthly $2,000 he had been paying.

But then-Eeyou Director Chris Cooper (no relation) wouldn’t budge, said Cooper. “I offered to rework my loan and pay towards my debt, but he wouldn’t accept it. They’d rather seize my vehicle than take the offer.”

After his truck was seized, he met with Chris Cooper, who, Gary says, told him, “Hey Gary, we got your car!”

“They were so proud, they thought they hit the jackpot,” said Gary Cooper.

Alain Langevin, the director of Barrette-Chapais, the sawmill Cooper was hauling for, also offered a five-year contract extension to help Cooper’s company out.

“I was pretty darn solid; [Eeyou] would have gotten paid directly from Barrette. They were willing to go that far to do this for me. It all came crashing down when Eeyou refused. They said they preferred not to do it this way and that I still had to pay them. I said, ‘That’s the only way to pay you.’”

All to no avail. His truck ended up being sold at a public auction for $4,500. After all that, Eeyou only made $273 off the sale, with the rest going to the auction house. The vehicle was worth roughly $21,000 at the time. He would not say how much he had left to pay, but had been driving it for four years.

Cooper’s life and that of his company, Linda and Gary’s Trucking, changed on December 17, 2003, his wife’s birthday. He got a call at 5 am informing him that one of his drivers had crashed his hauling truck. The truck was totaled, but the trailer remained intact and according to Cooper was worth $90,000. Still, he couldn’t recover the full amount and began to default on his payments.

The truck had traveled 1.5 million kilometres in three years. When it was evaluated, the adjuster said it was in the shape of a seven-year-old truck. Cooper had been hauling wood chips for Barrette-Chapais day and night from Chapais to la Tuque.

Even before the accident, Cooper had been going through a rough period, including a separation from his wife. His oldest son had taken it hard and the problems he was having with him at home were affecting business. Cooper figures he lost almost $300,000 during this period.
Then, when his truck was seized almost a year ago, Cooper became demoralized and didn’t know where to turn.

The icing on the proverbial cake came on October 30.
Cooper saw his vehicle rambling around near his house. He ran to grab his camera. It turned out that the man behind the wheel was Jocelyn Geoffroy, the lawyer for Eeyou Economic Development.

“I couldn’t believe it!” said Cooper. “Of all people to have my car, it was Eeyou’s lawyer! He should be disbarred. I can’t believe he did that.”

Cooper is looking into launching a complaint with the Canadian Bar Association.
When he paid a visit to Eeyou Economic Development’s office to explain the situation to Rachelle Bretz, Eeyou’s Assistant Director General, she was appalled.

“He used very bad judgment in bringing that vehicle back into the community and parking it at our offices,” Bretz told the Nation.

She said that at a December 7 board meeting, Eeyou decided to terminate Geoffroy’s contract because of the incident.

“The lawyer has had a lot of chances to contact us and either speak with me or the Director General to defend himself, but he hasn’t done that,” continued Bretz, who used to work as a law clerk in Ontario. “I find it terribly unethical. It’s caused a problem in that it’s now made Eeyou look as if we condone this sort of practice and we don’t. The board of directors is extremely upset that he has brought this kind of reputation on us. We won’t stand for it.”

Jocelyn Geoffroy could not be reached for comment.
Although the vehicle is not in Geoffroy’s name, Bretz said his decision to drive it into the community was just as bad as if he purchased it at the auction.

“We had asked our legal counsel (Geoffroy) to oversee the auctioning of that vehicle to help pay down the debt that Gary had with us,” she said. “We believed things were progressing well and that he was overseeing it in a responsible manner. We had absolutely no indication of who had purchased that vehicle.”

Bretz said that Eeyou is willing to work out a payment plan, but Cooper has to come into the office right away even though his truck is long gone.

“What he should do is come to us immediately,” said Bretz. “If he needs to work out a 12-month plan until he gets back on his feet, we’re more than willing. Right now we’re getting nothing back into our investment fund. I’d rather see something come back in. Gary had been paying big payments every month religiously. Then he ran into trouble and everything went by the wayside.”