Photo: Cole Burston The Canadian Press Cait Alexander, who leads the advocacy group End Violence Everywhere, is pictured here at Queen’s Park in Toronto on May 15
Alessia Passafiume – The Canadian Press in Ottawa
Published at 8:31 p.m.
- Canada
A woman who stormed out of a parliamentary committee meeting in tears Wednesday is demanding an apology from a Liberal MP who derailed a planned discussion on violence against women in favour of a debate on abortion rights.
Cait Alexander was on Parliament Hill to testify at a rare summer hearing of the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women when Liberal MP Anita Vandenbeld allegedly re-victimized her as a survivor of domestic violence.
“I’m absolutely flabbergasted,” Alexander said in an interview after Wednesday’s meeting.
“That's exactly what I've felt over the last few years, where I'm literally showing my body bludgeoned and bleeding and bruised and the people who have authority and power in this country are saying, 'Well, we care from you.” But then they silence you,” she described.
Ms. Vandenbeld, who is Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development, did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Ms. Alexander was one of two witnesses who stormed out of the meeting held so MPs could hear from advocates for victims of domestic violence and a deputy chief of Peel Regional Police.
Although witnesses have begun to make dark claims that the current justice and bail system is failing victims , the session quickly derailed into a chaos of political wrangling.
In an opening statement, Cait Alexander, who leads the advocacy group End Violence Everywhere, shared her personal story as her family looked on in a public area.
“I'm supposed to be dead,” she said confidently, showing lawmakers graphic photos of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her ex-boyfriend three years ago.
“If you haven't met a survivor or a victim's family, well, now you have. »
Procedural chaos
A few moments later, the interventions of the deputies degenerated into a partisan demonstration which turned into procedural chaos.
It all began just minutes after opening statements by Alexander, followed by lawyer Megan Walker and Deputy Police Chief Nick Milinovich, after a first round of questions and answers with Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri.
Liberal MP Anita Vandenbeld then spoke. After assuring the federal government that the issue was serious, she chided the Conservatives for politicizing the matter and accused them of giving other parties little time to prepare or to recommend witnesses.
“We are not using victims and survivors of trauma to try to score political points at this commission,” she said.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000“It is cruel to make people relive the trauma they have endured just to be able to hold a meeting. If that meeting is not accepted, then we can read on social media that the Liberals or other parties do not care about these issues; or, we all know that, we care very deeply about it,” she added.
Instead of returning to the discussion of the topic at hand with the witnesses, Ms. Vandenbeld instead suggested that the committee resume a different discussion on abortion rights.
The witnesses, left hanging, began to heckle Ms. Vandenbeld.
As Ms. Alexander again showed the photos of her injuries, a visibly upset Ms. Walker asked the member, “Did she listen to anything that was said this morning?”?.
The right to speak was not given back to the witnesses. Instead, a lengthy back-and-forth between MPs ensued, with multiple points of order presented to the committee chair.
NDP MP Leah Gazan accused the committee chair, conservative Shelby Kramp-Neuman, of not giving him the floor and instead favoring his conservative colleague.
“The fact that my voice being silenced within the commission, while I was not given the opportunity to call witnesses, is deeply offensive, deeply violent and deeply disturbing,” she stressed.
“I am disgusted because I did not have the chance to present witnesses, even though I represent Ground Zero for murdered and missing indigenous women and girls,” continued the neo-democrat.
Outrage
Alexander’s frustrated mother told the Liberal instigator she was “disappointed” and that the exploitation of her daughter’s testimony was another form of abuse.
Shortly after, Alexander stormed out of the room in tears, followed by Walker.
Conservative MP Anna Roberts said she was “disgusted by the whole day” and apologized to both witnesses.
Ferreri lambasted Vandenbeld, reminding her that the victims had come forward to bring about “legitimate change.”
She added that The committee should hold more meetings on the subject to hear from more witnesses, then apologize to Ms. Alexander's mother, who was standing behind the witness table.
“Being sorry is not enough,” the woman retorted.
Women victims of violence “big losers”
The Bloc Québécois MP for Shefford, Andréanne Larouche, then denounced “the mud-throwing between the party in power and the opposition,” which she said led to the politicization of a large number of parliamentary committees.
“I replaced on the Health Committee, that committee became political; I replaced on the Public Safety Committee, that committee became political; I filled in on the Foreign Affairs Committee, that committee became political,” she listed.
“I was crossing my fingers that my committee, the Status of Women, wouldn't do that,” she continued. “And I'm extremely disappointed to see that today, they've done the same thing.”
“In the name of partisanship, things are no longer moving forward. You have all fallen into the trap of making the issue of violence against women political.”
“Women must not be politically instrumentalized, and that is what is becoming. The big losers today are women who are victims of violence,” she added.
The meeting was adjourned shortly after.