Nicole Juteau

In January 2001, Juteau retired from the SQ at the age of 46. She found work as a tour guide, but continued to do contract work as an investigator. Notably, she was hired by the Quebec College of Physicians to expose unlicensed medical practitioners.

After six years on patrol, Juteau became an undercover agent for the SQ's morality squad. At the time, cocaine was appearing on the streets of the province. Juteau would often try to entrap drug dealers in bars by posing as a stripper or a prostitute. Toward the end of her career, she worked as an intelligence officer during the Quebec Biker War in the late 1990s. She infiltrated the Hells Angels and would photograph them at major events. She earned the nickname, "La matante".

The hiring of Juteau as Quebec's first police officer cleared the way for other women to pursue careers in law enforcement. Montreal's police department hired its first female police officer in 1979 and Quebec City's police service hired two women the following year. By the time Juteau left the SQ in 2001, there were more than 1,900 women serving as police officers throughout Quebec.

Juteau approached recruiters from a number of police forces. Only two, however, were open to hiring women; the City of Sainte-Foy – now part of Quebec City – and the SQ. She applied to both she was ultimately hired by the SQ on June 17, 1975.

On August 21, 1975, the National Assembly of Quebec repealed the regulations barring women from serving in the SQ. On September 11, 1975, Juteau was formally sworn in, becoming the first female police officer in the SQ's 105-year history. She was given same duties and powers as her male counterparts. Incidentally, 1975 had been designated as International Women's Year by the United Nations.

In 2020, Juteau's admission to the SQ on June 17, 1975 was designated an historic event by Nathalie Roy, Quebec's Minister of Culture and Communications.

In the fall of 1973, Juteau and two other women – Diane Lafontaine and Marie-Claire Gagnon – were accepted into the Institut de police du Québec in Nicolet. The two other women would later go on to work as security guards. Juteau would later describe her experience as the institute as "hell", noting that the instructors showed little interest in her. Nevertheless, she excelled in the program; she was already well-trained in karate and, through regular family hunting excursions since the age of 10, she was already proficient with a variety of firearms. When it came to the physical tests, she placed third in a class of 49.

When Juteau started at CEGEP in September 1972, she was unable to apply to the police technology program at Collège Ahuntsic, as the program did not admit women at the time. Instead, she enrolled in the school's correctional technology program, as both programs offered the same courses during the first year. She then switched to the police technology program through a counsellor who was unfamiliar with the college's policies. The manoeuvre was quickly discovered but, rather than discharge her from the program, the administration demanded she sign a pledge not to sue the college if she was unable to find a job.

Nicole Juteau (born September 22, 1954) is a retired Canadian law enforcement agent who, in 1975, became Quebec's first female police officer. She served with the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), Quebec's provincial police force, from 1975 to 2001.

Juteau was born on September 22, 1954 in Laval, Quebec. Her father was a firefighter. In later interviews, she described how she had dreamed of becoming a police officer from a young age. Her childhood home was located near a busy intersection where traffic accidents were common and she would often rush to accident scenes to watch the first responders in action.

Historically, women had served in Quebec police forces as far back as the early 1920s; however, they were generally limited to administrative roles. In 1925, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) – then called the Police provinciale du Québec – began hiring so-called femmes de peine ("labour women") who were responsible for guarding, searching, and escorting prisoners. These women were not allowed to carry firearms and they did not have the power to arrest suspected felons.