Rail advocate in Lac-Mégantic, Que., says he was fined after raising safety concerns

MONTREAL — Robert Bellefleur says he was drinking his second cup of coffee in his home in Lac-Megantic, Que. on the morning of July 21 when he received a visit from two armed Canadian Pacific Kansas City police officers.

They parked, “put on the bulletproof vests, put on the baton, put on the handcuffs, the gun and then came over,” he said. The officers, he said, told him he was under investigation for illegally trespassing on railway property.

Bellefleur, a rail safety advocate, says he was later fined nearly $700 by the Quebec Crown prosecutor’s office. The rail company’s investigation came after he reported a safety concern with the train tracks running through the community the previous month, he said.

While the CPKC says the police visit and fine were issued to deter trespassing — which it describes as dangerous and illegal behaviour — Bellefleur believes the railway company’s actions are an attempt to discourage him from raising safety concerns.

“They want to muzzle me,” he said. “They want to use this opportunity to silence me.”

Bellefleur says he had sent photos to Canadian Pacific Kansas City in June that showed erosion around a culvert, after a citizen called him to flag the issue.

That led to the visit from police and a $668 fine from the prosecutor’s office, which he says he paid to avoid a the costs of defending himself in court.

CPKC confirmed Bellefleur received a citation, adding that uniformed officers had visited to warn him against trespassing.

“We’d like to remind the public that trespassing on railway infrastructure is both dangerous and illegal and should never occur,” wrote André Hannoush, a spokesperson for the rail company. Fines, Hannoush added, “are a tool regularly used by law enforcement to discourage dangerous and illegal activity around the railway.”

Hannoush said the rail line through Lac-Mégantic “is now, and at the time referenced in this case, safe for rail operations, as confirmed by multiple regular inspections.”

Bellefleur sees the situation differently.

He says he started the Coalition des citoyens et organismes engagés pour la sécurité ferroviaire de Lac-Mégantic in the wake of the rail disaster that struck the town in 2013, when a train full of oil-laden cars derailed and exploded in the heart of downtown. While he wasn’t home at the time, he says he knew 25 of the 47 people who died in the tragedy.

He says he’s flagged safety concerns at least 10 times since CPKC acquired the track from Central Maine & Quebec Railway in 2020. He also regularly raises perceived rail safety issues with the city administration and the media.

Bellefleur believes that he was not trespassing when he took the photos in June, insisting he was at a level crossing.

He also cites an article of Quebec’s civil code that states that a person who is coming to a person’s assistance for unselfish reasons is exempt from liability for injury that may result.

Bellefleur says the investigation will not dissuade him from speaking out. On the contrary, he says he intends to file complaints with the rail company, the Crown prosecutor’s office, and the provincial citizen protection office, the protecteur du citoyen.

He’s also still checking out the state of the tracks when citizens raise concerns — sometimes using a drone to keep his distance.

Quebec’s Crown prosecutor’s office said it could not comment on Bellefleur’s case because of rules around confidentiality. But a spokesperson for the office said that, in general, a defendant who pays a fine in full is considered to have entered a guilty plea.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2025.