The mother of one witness who left the House of Commons committee in tears slammed the “nasty” partisan attitude of Liberal, New Democratic and Conservative politicians in a letter to be circulated to lawmakers.
“In my 31 years of teaching 6- to 8-year-olds, I have never seen such selfish, abusive and poorly behaved individuals,” Carolyn Alexander said in the letter Friday.
“You are not children. You are elected leaders who can make a positive difference in the lives of all Canadians. Please do so!”
Alexander’s daughter Kate, a victim of domestic violence, gave harrowing testimony Wednesday at an emergency meeting in Ottawa convened to discuss violence against women following several high-profile cases this summer.
The meeting was quickly derailed when Liberal MP Anita Vandenberg introduced a motion to debate abortion rights, challenging the hastily convened summer meeting, which resulted in the meeting being plunged into procedural confusion and a whirlwind of political bickering that had little to do with violence against women.
Carolyn Alexander accused Vandenbeld of deliberately disrupting the meetings and silencing the victims.
“Why? Because you did not give your own victims enough time to testify?” she wrote.
“You used Kate as a victim to score points for political gain and make it look like the Conservative party was using her.”
Witnesses left the parliamentary committee in anger after the Liberals tried to steer a planned debate on violence against women into the issue of abortion rights. Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri apologised on behalf of the committee, but the mother of one witness responded that “sorry isn’t enough”.
Alexander’s daughter demanded an apology from Vandenbeld, but the congressman did not apologize late Wednesday, instead saying he deeply regretted “the distress this meeting has caused to witnesses.”
In his letter, Alexander scolded the Conservatives and questioned whether the purpose of the meeting was a political ploy at the expense of his daughter to get the Liberals and New Democrats to react.
She also questioned why her daughter’s information was provided to the other parties just hours before the meeting and why more time wasn’t given to plan — a point strongly disputed by Liberal and New Democrat members of the committee.
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Conservative members of the committee, including Councillors Michelle Ferreri and Anna Roberts, posted dozens of times on social media about the hearing, criticising Liberal and New Democrat councillors and demanding apologies.
Party spokesman Sebastian Skamski said Conservative MPs, like the witnesses, had proposed and conducted the meeting in good faith.
“It is disappointing that members of the Liberal-New Democrat coalition government sought to disrupt the conference rather than defend the destructive criminal justice policies they support,” Skamski said in a statement.
“The Conservatives will continue to work to hold more committee meetings, in line with the expansion motion we have proposed to allow for further investigation and witness testimony on this important issue, and we expect Liberal and New Democrat members to treat this issue with the seriousness it deserves.”
On August 1, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, visiting London, Ontario, was answering a question about two witnesses at a House of Commons committee hearing who became upset and walked out after a Liberal member steered a planned discussion on violence against women to the issue of abortion rights.
Alexander also lashed out at NDP MP Leah Gazan, accusing her of conspiring with the Liberals to “sabotage” the meeting.
Gazan said Wednesday that she had been unable to call her own witnesses at the meeting despite living in the “epicenter” of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and she decried the politicization of a committee that has historically worked together to bring about meaningful change.
“Were you aware that you silenced our daughter who was speaking out about her story and the stories of 25 other victims? [intimate partner violence] and [sexual assault] Have there been cases that were not properly addressed by the police, the justice system or the government?,” Alexander said in a passage addressed to Gazan. “You have silenced the voices of our daughters.”
Ms Alexander said she was “amazed” by her daughter’s strength but also surprised by the partisanship and lack of sensitivity and understanding shown by the Government in tackling the issue of violence against women.
She ended her letter by saying that her family and friends fully support her daughter in speaking out to support victims of intimate partner violence, adding that Kate and people like her want to see positive change on this issue.
“Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening after what happened in the House of Commons last Wednesday,” she said. “It should be a disgrace to us all.”
