Crime reporter, shootout survivor Auger retires
Last Updated: Monday, August 28, 2006 | 6:40 PM ET
CBC Arts
Michel Auger, the famed Quebec reporter who took six bullets in the back while covering the province's biker gang war, is retiring from the daily crime beat.
Auger, 62, announced his retirement in Sunday's edition of Le Journal de Montréal, the French-language daily newspaper where he works.
Auger, who has spent the last 42 years in journalism, began his career as a freelancer but ultimately found his niche in crime reporting.
Michel Auger, speaking at the National Newspaper Awards ceremony held in Toronto in May 2001, was shot in 2000 in the Journal de Montréal parking lot.
(Tannis Toohey/Canadian Press)
"He was one of the first who actually sat down with the Banditos, during the war of the motorcycle gangs. He sat down and talked to the chief of the Banditos. Nobody ever talked to them but he did," former police detective Andre Bouchard told CBC News.
"It was known that he could talk to the police, he could talk to the criminals, and it didn't mean that because he talked to the criminals, he could go tell the police what the criminals did."
However, not everyone appreciated his writing. On Sept. 13, 2000, while Auger was in the midst of covering Quebec's biker war and its ties to criminal organizations, he was shot in the Journal de Montréal parking lot. He took six bullets in his back but, miraculously, survived without serious injury — although doctors were unable to remove three of the bullets.
"I'm pretty lucky to be alive, not be paralyzed and also not to have nightmares," Auger said. "I'm lucky to be the same guy before and after the shootout."
Hailed as a hero across the country, Auger was also recognized with honours by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, the National Newspaper Association and Quebec's provincial government.
Bouchard investigated the attack against Auger, but while he says police have identified the shooter, there is not enough evidence to lay charges.
Crime reporting easier 30 years ago
Auger said he had been contemplating retirement for the past six years. However, his decision also came because he says police information has become too tightly managed.
"In the beginning of my career, we had free access to every police station. We were talking directly to the people involved, the police investigator," he said.
"It was easier 30 years ago. It was easier to do crime reporting than it is today."
Auger's retirement plans include a regular column, television projects and another book. His previous book credits include 2003's The Biker Who Shot Me: Recollections of a Crime Reporter and 2004's The Encyclopedia of Canadian Organized Crime, which he co-wrote with fellow crime reporter Peter Edwards of the Toronto Star.
