Man accused of facilitating terrorism used quarry outside Quebec City for target practice

Matthew Lapierre · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 09, 2025 7:38 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 hours ago

One of the men accused of creating an anti-government militia appears to person utilized a commercialized soil quarry successful the Quebec City country arsenic a makeshift firing range.

CBC's ocular investigations portion has geolocated images posted to Raphaël Lagacé's Facebook pages wherever helium poses with aggregate high-calibre sniper rifles. The images were taken astatine a quarry successful Saint-Joachim, Que. 

The quarry is owned by Les Entreprises LT Ltée/Béton Lagacé. It overlooks the St-Lawrence River and is conscionable southbound of Mont-Sainte-Anne, a skis resort.

In photos, Lagacé appears astatine the quarry with galore rifles. Excavation instrumentality is disposable successful the inheritance of immoderate of the photos. Lagacé wears receptor extortion and lies prone, with his hands wrapped astir the rifles, aiming astatine a people off-camera. 

In the photos and different videos that CBC News has verified arsenic being filmed astatine the quarry complex, it is not wide if Lagacé is firing the weapons, but determination are boxes of ammunition positioned adjacent the weapons.

In posts connected his Instagram account, Lagacé said helium was grooming for an "extreme long-range" shooting competition. 

In different video posted to Lagacé's Facebook successful 2013, helium does occurrence astatine a people located successful a sandpit. CBC News was incapable to verify if that video was taken astatine the aforesaid quarry. The unit of the gunshot shakes the camera, and a antheral uses an expletive off-camera erstwhile the weapon is fired.

CBC does not cognize the discourse successful which these photos and videos were filmed.

Lagacé has been charged with facilitating violent activity. The RCMP allege helium and 3 different men hoarded weapons, engaged successful military-style grooming and intended to forcibly instrumentality possession of onshore successful the Quebec City area. 

An RCMP quality merchandise issued Tuesday included a photograph showing a radical of men engaged successful "military-style training" that was taken successful a quarry. 

CBC News was incapable to corroborate if the quarry successful the RCMP photograph was located astatine the Les Entreprises LT Ltée/Béton Lagacé location, but the company's soil quarry tract is extensive.

Les Entreprises LT Ltée/Béton Lagacé declined requests for remark and declined to reply questions, including whether determination is simply a familial transportation betwixt the institution and Lagacé.

A pistillate who answered the telephone astatine Les Entreprises LT Ltée/Béton Lagacé said "no remark would beryllium made. No effect to immoderate question." Yannick Lagacé, 1 of the shareholders of Béton Lagacé, said helium would not comment.

Here is however we recovered the nonstop determination of Lagacé's societal media posts: 

First, CBC reporters found, and confirmed, his societal media profiles. Then, a scan of his Facebook provender revealed aggregate images featuring LT Ltée/Béton Lagacé trucks and machinery. 

A hunt of the company's website revealed that they operated aggregate quarries successful the Quebec City area. We tried to spot if immoderate of these quarries matched the locations wherever Lagacé appeared to beryllium handling his weapons. We knew from the photographs that we were looking for a sandy country and, successful immoderate photographs, inheritance hills and a stream were visible. 

One of the company's quarries was located connected a hill, advertised connected their website arsenic having a vantage constituent implicit the northbound enactment of the St-Lawrence River. 

Using Google Earth and outer imagery, we scanned the quarry and matched the terrain features to the features down Lagacé. 

Then, successful different video posted to Lagacé's Facebook, we spot a antheral handling a rifle. Again, we spot features that look to bespeak a quarry.

This time, the video is taken from a antithetic angle, and, successful the background, we spot Mont-Sainte-Anne, the skis resort. 

Again, utilizing Google Earth, we matched that aforesaid space of the skis elevation to the quarry. 

The 4 men appeared successful tribunal virtually connected Tuesday and stay successful custody. Their adjacent tribunal day is July 14.