Remarks by the Potvin family concerning the legality of smuggling

This videoclip is an extract of an interview with members of the Potvin clan: Georgette, Denise and Thérèse.

Georgette Potvin: You know… this clandestine business…well, okay, let’s call it by its real name, smuggling… it’s illegal, but there’s nothing immoral in that, at least not according to our consciences … and as for the business that my husband and his brothers did for a few years, well, I didn’t know …… like you, you said that your father had already done things like that …

Thérèse Potvin: Oh yes, they did all kinds of stuff…

Georgette Potvin: But, all the same, it allowed the man in my life, in a very short space of time, to buy himself a brand-new car, a ’49 Monarch, as well as set aside $5,000 to buy a farm in 1950 that was fully paid for, ($11,000) in just five years. There was 235 acres of land in all, as well as equipment, and the animals… Compared to the cost of land today… I’d say it was money well invested.

Denise Potvin: Basically, it’s like a hole in the system or a usable gray zone, one that’s based on the elasticity of your conscience… It might seem that ours was more elastic than others, but no, it’s never been like that… It was never the moral aspect of it all …. more the fear of getting caught.