Patrick Cloutier

Pte. Cloutier and Mohawk Warrior Brad Larocque, a University of Saskatchewan economics student, face off during the Oka Crisis (Image: Shaney Komulainen of Canadian Press, September 1, 1990)

Patrick Cloutier (born 1970) is a former^[1] member of the Royal 22^e Régiment of the Canadian Forces who gained a degree of celebrity through his appearance in a well-known photograph taken during the 1990 Oka Crisis, a land dispute between the Mohawk nation and the town of Oka, Quebec. In the iconic^[2] image, Patrick Cloutier is shown in a face to face confrontation with a masked Mohawk individual, Brad Larocque, a University of Saskatchewan economics student.

Later that year Patrick Cloutier was granted an "accelerated promotion" to the rank of master corporal.^[3] In May 1992, after admitting to occasional cocaine use,^[4] Cloutier was demoted to the rank of private and received a sentence of 45 days in a military prison.^[4] Subsequently on December 9, 1993, Cloutier was discharged from the Canadian Forces, after being found guilty of leaving the scene of an accident and causing bodily harm while driving under the influence of alcohol. Cloutier was convicted of ramming a double-parked car, injuring its two occupants and a 16-year-old passenger in Cloutier's own vehicle.^[1]

In 1995, Cloutier appeared in a pornographic film entitled Quebec Sexy Girls II, which spoofed his confrontation.^[5] As of 2000 it was believed that Cloutier had left Canada.^[5] However in a recent interview, the family of Patrick Cloutier mentioned that he left for Florida to work for a house contractor, but came back to Canada a few years later. He now lives in a cabin in his native village of Saint-Maxime-du-Mont-Louis in Gaspésie, working in the merchant marine, leaving regularly for trips of several months aboard ships.^[6]

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