Once best known as the home of a famous hockey stick, Victoriaville, Que., has more recently established a reputation as a growing entrepreneurial hub. It is the “economic engine” of the centre of Quebec, a “dynamic and welcoming community,” the city of 46,000 says on its website.
And, frankly, it could do without people on horseback clogging the roads.
After a long battle that led the city to rewrite its bylaws, the city last month won a court victory against Jean Roy, the man known as Victoriaville’s urban cowboy.
Roy was hit with more than $8,000 in fines for a variety of infractions, including having his horse in a public place and failing to clean up its excrement.
Jean Roy accuses city officials of âharassment,â seeking conflict instead of recognizing horsesâ ability to bring joy into peopleâs lives Graham Hughes for National Post
In an interview, Roy was defiant, saying he has no intention of stopping his regular trips into town astride his horse, Dandy Blue Pine. “They won’t intimidate me when I know my cause is a noble one,” he said, saying horses have a place in the city. “In Montreal, the mounted police ride around the city on horseback.”
On Sunday evening, his determination to bring his horse to town led to a night in a jail cell and criminal charges of interfering with the work of a municipal park supervisor, obstructing a police officer and assaulting a police officer during his arrest.
Roy was released Monday after signing an undertaking to keep the peace, not to enter city parks with his horse and to refrain from consuming alcohol. He had taken his horse to the city’s Place Sainte-Victoire park where there was a concert. His lawyer, Guy Boisvert, said Roy’s brushes with the law are “almost always related to the horse.” Roy is due back in court Aug. 21.
Recently Victoriaville’s horse problem drew unwanted attention when a video was posted online showing a skirmish on a city street between Roy and cursing bar patrons who yelled at him that his horse did not belong downtown.
Roy said the altercation happened two weeks ago outside Bar Le West at about 1 a.m. He said most people love seeing a horse ride down the street, but this particular group took offence. He was told he looked like “a damn idiot” on his horse, was yelled at to “take your horse somewhere else to s—,” and asked if he wanted to go line dance with his horse.
It is not the first time Roy, 55, has felt targeted for his equestrian passion. He said he began riding in the city about four years ago and tries to do it once or twice a week. He said he always carries a bag to clean up after Dandy.
But he accuses city officials of “harassment,” seeking conflict instead of recognizing horses’ ability to bring joy into people’s lives.
“When I go into town with my horse, people will come up to me and say, ‘Oh. He’s beautiful. Can I pat your horse?’” he said. “I’d say 80 per cent of the population are on my side. I’m not the only urban cowboy.”
After failing to win a conviction against Roy in municipal court because its animal bylaw said nothing about horses, Victoriaville decided to act last summer. In August, an exasperated city councillor, Patrick Paulin, posted a photo on Facebook showing horse droppings on the sidewalk outside the city’s work placement centre.
In September, the bylaw was rewritten to specify that horses not be allowed in parks, public squares, and playgrounds, on sidewalks or bicycle paths or at any large public gathering. It does not prohibit Roy from riding on the street, but Roy has said he plans to challenge the bylaw.
Nobody from the city was available for comment. City lawyer Rosane Roy told the Journal de Montréal that the bylaw was needed to protect the public, particularly during the festivals where Roy liked to appear with his horse. “Several people expressed their fear of the horse, and up until then, no bylaw prevented horsemen from riding in parks or other places during gatherings,” she said.
François Hébert, a friend of Roy, said he also enjoys riding in the city, saying it is reminder of his father’s era when milk was delivered in a horse-drawn wagon. “The public is usually sympathetic,” he said. “If they’re afraid, it’s because they don’t know horses.”
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