A victim of domestic assault was left in tears after a parliamentary committee hearing saw Liberal and NDP MPs shift the committee’s attention away from discussing violence against women.
Witnesses testifying before a parliamentary committee stormed out of the committee room disappointed with NDP and Liberal MPs who used the committee’s time to address abortion rights and dispute committee procedures.
Witnesses Cait Alexander and Megan Walker were invited to testify about the experiences that they and dozens of other women have had with domestic violence and sexual assault and how what solutions the government can pursue to crack down on intimate partner violence.
Alexander, founder of End Violence Everywhere, testified that despite being a Canadian citizen, she lives in Los Angeles, California because she does not feel safe living in Canada after her experience with domestic violence.
Alexander showed the committee graphic photos of her injuries right after she was allegedly beaten by her ex-boyfriend and told the stories of several women who had experienced domestic violence and sexual assault at the hands of their male partners.
She also criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, and federal Justice Minister Arif Virani for not caring about the victims of intimate partner violence.
Walker shared stories of dozens of women who were the victims of intimate partner violence and how many of the male perpetrators were able to escape facing the consequences for their actions.
After the two women testified, Liberal MP Anita Vandenbeld used her time to tout the Liberal government’s efforts to combat intimate partner violence while attacking Conservative MPs for calling an emergency meeting and for inviting a survivor of domestic abuse to testify before the committee.
“We know that the leader of the opposition has asked Conservative-chaired committees to hold as many meetings as possible during the summer to take us away from the important work that we are doing listening to constituents,” said Vandenbeld.
“I know that for this committee, this is something we’ve never done. We do not use victims and survivors’ trauma to try to score political points in this committee. This is cruel, I think it’s cruel to have people relive the trauma that they’ve endured.”
Vandenbeld moved a motion to forgo debate on the issue at hand and to study the issue of abortion for women, non-binary, and transgender individuals.
After the vote on the motion was held, Conservative committee chair Shelby Kramp-Neuman gave the floor to fellow Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri to speak. However, Liberal and NDP members objected, claiming that NDP MP Leah Gazan had requested to speak before Ferreri.
After several minutes of bickering about who should be allowed to speak first, Alexander stormed out of the committee room in tears while Walker followed her out.
Once Gazan was granted her time to speak, she used her speaking time to attack Conservatives for allowing individual MPs to table private members bills on abortion and violence against pregnant women and accused committee chair Kramp-Neuman of barring her from inviting any witnesses.
In a comment to True North, a spokesperson from Poilievre’s office said that Gazan and all committee members were given ample time to invite witnesses, as evidenced by Alexander’s ability to travel 17 hours from Los Angeles to testify before the committee.
MP Ferreri had also tabled a motion to hold four more meetings on the issue of intimate partner violence, but the meeting was adjourned before members could vote on the motion.
In a video with MP Roberts, Alexander and Walker condemned the behaviour of Liberal and NDP MPs, claiming the members sabotaged the meeting for political purposes.
“It’s absolutely abhorrent, it actually explains a lot. They spent twenty minutes trying to figure out whose hand was up first,” said Alexander.
“We have been further silenced by political bulls— and by partisan rules, that should not have a place around this issue.”
Walker elaborated on Alexander’s thoughts, expressing her disappointment with the committee.
