Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 1, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba Read online at winnipegfreepress.com/fp-features DON’T MISS THE SUMMER 2024 ISSUE Available at Manitoba Liquor Marts - while supplies last! P i c k u p y o u r c o p y t o d a y ! THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2024WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● B3 NEWS I CANADA House committee witness demands apology from Liberal MP OTTAWA — A witness who stormed out of a parliamentary committee meeting in tears Wednesday is demanding an apology from a Liberal MP who put a halt to a planned discussion about vio- lence against women in favour of a de- bate about abortion rights. Cait Alexander was on Parliament Hill to provide testimony at a rare sum- mer hearing of the House of Commons status of women committee when she says Liberal MP Anita Vandenbeld re-victimized her as a survivor of do- mestic violence. “I am completely flabbergasted,” Alexander said in an interview after the meeting Wednesday. “This is exactly what it felt like these last few years, where I’m literally show- ing my bludgeoned, bleeding, bruised body and the people who have authority and power in this country are saying, ‘Well, we care about you.’ But then they silence you.” Vandenbeld, who serves as parlia- mentary secretary to the Minister of International Development, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Alexander was one of two witnesses who stormed out of the meeting organ- ized so MPs could hear from advocates for domestic violence victims and a deputy chief of the Peel Regional Po- lice. The meeting was scheduled after the killing of Breanna Broadfoot, 17, in London, Ont., who police say was a vic- tim of intimate partner violence. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said last week that the suspect had pre- viously been arrested but was released before the fatal attack and criticized the Liberal government’s bail policies. Though witnesses at the committee set out to similarly argue that the cur- rent justice and bail system is failing victims, the session quickly derailed into a mess of political bickering. During her opening statement, Alex- ander, who heads up the advocacy group End Violence Everywhere, shared her personal story as her family watched from the public benches behind her. “I’m supposed to be dead,” she told the committee, showing MPs graphic photos of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her ex-boyfriend three years ago. “If you haven’t met a survivor and a victim’s family, well, now you have.” Before long, Alexander’s family mem- bers were berating MPs for a partisan display that descended into procedural chaos. Her mother told Vandenbeld that she was “disappointed” and the whole thing amounted to further abuse of her daughter.It began when Vandenbeld was given the floor to ask questions of the witnesses. She gave a short statement about how much she cared about survivors’ stor- ies and outlined some of the actions the federal government has taken to address violence against women. Then she chided Conservatives for politiciz- ing the issue by calling the meeting during the summer with little notice, which left other parties unable to pre- pare or recommend other witnesses. “We do not use victims and surviv- ors of trauma to try and score political points in this committee,” she pro- nounced. Instead of pivoting back to the topic at hand, Vandenbeld went on to call for a debate on a motion related to abortion rights — an issue Liberals have tried to pin the Conservatives down on for months. “This is the problem. Did she listen to anything that was said this morning?” said another witness, Megan Walker, who lives in London and advocates to end male violence against women. After that, the meeting dissolved into a lengthy back-and-forth between MPs, as multiple points of order were brought to the chair. NDP MP Leah Gazan confronted the Conservative chair of the committee for not allowing her to suggest witness- es for the meeting. “I’m disgusted,” she said. “I’m repre- senting Ground Zero for murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls.” Not long after that, Alexander stormed out of the room in tears. Walk- er turned her back on the committee and followed. Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri lambasted Vandenbeld for derailing the meeting and said the victims came to testify in order to bring about “legitim- ate change.” She apologized to Alexander’s moth- er, who stood behind the witness table. “‘Sorry’ isn’t good enough — we’ve heard ‘Sorry,’” Alexander’s mother told the committee. The meeting adjourned shortly there- after. Alexander said afterward the entire ordeal was retraumatizing and that the committee’s actions are “exactly the type of behaviour that has allowed my abuser to go free.” Alexander flew to Ottawa from Los Angeles to testify, and stressed she didn’t make the trip for partisan rea- sons. She saw it as an opportunity to highlight her story and those of count- less other women who have had similar experiences, she said. While abortion is a “serious issue” deserving of attention, she described the antics of the committee, and Van- denbeld, as “abusive,” and accused the Liberal of trying to use her trauma for political gain. “It’s so utterly disrespectful, in- humane and honestly just unkind to not allow us to continue a healthy con- versation on what was supposed to be discussed, and the audacity to do some- thing like that,” she said. Ferreri said in a statement the Liber- als effectively silenced the victims. Walker said she hasn’t had an experi- ence like the one she endured on Par- liament Hill Wednesday in 25 years of advocacy. “While they silenced us in that meet- ing, they will not silence us from mov- ing forward in our valuable work to end male violence against women.” — The Canadian Press ALESSIA PASSAFIUME COLE BURSTON / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Cait Alexander, head of the advocacy group End Violence Everywhere and a domestic abuse survivor, was in Ottawa to serve as a witness at a parliamentary committee meeting Wednesday, but left the hearing in tears after the session derailed into partisan bickering. Amnesty International names Wet’suwet’en chief Canada’s first prisoner of conscience OTTAWA — Amnesty International called for the release of a First Nations chief who is serving two months of house arrest Wednesday, naming him Canada’s first prisoner of conscience. Chief Dsta’hyl was arrested in 2021 for breaching a court order not to im- pede construction of the Coastal Gas- Link liquefied natural gas pipeline and is currently confined to house arrest for contempt of court. The chief, who also goes by the name Adam Gagnon, represents the Likh- ts’amisyu clan within the Wet’suwet’en Nation. “The extraction industries have been protected by the government and en- couraged to just keep raping the land,” Dsta’hyl said at a press conference, where he appeared by video from his home. “It’s up to us as Wet’suwet’en people to protect the land,” he told reporters Wednesday. Amnesty argued Canada has unjustly confined the chief and others who de- fend their land and rights during a cli- mate emergency. The group considers a prisoner of conscience to be a non-violent person who had been jailed or restricted solely because of their political, religious or other conscientiously held beliefs, or their identity. “We’re standing before you today in a moment of urgent and profound in- justice,” said David Matsinhe, the Can- adian chapter’s policy director. “His conviction and home imprison- ment sends a chilling message to all In- digenous peoples in Canada: defending your rights and ancestral land is a crime and you will be punished for it.” This is the first time Amnesty Inter- national has recognized a prisoner of conscience within Canada and it is seeking his “immediate and uncon- ditional release.” The office of Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc referred a request for comment on Amnesty’s allegation to the B.C. prosecution services as well as the Public Prosecution Service of Canada. The PPSC responded to say the mat- ter doesn’t fall under its jurisdiction. — The Canadian Press DYLAN ROBERTSON ;