Minister for women won't comment on committee drama as Liberal MP defends actions

Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth Marci Ien rises during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. The federal Minister for Women and Gender Equality won't comment on the actions of a Liberal MP in a committee hearing about intimate partner violence last week, saying "parliamentary committees are independent." THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

OTTAWA -

The federal minister for women won't comment after a House of Commons committee that was supposed to discuss violence against women last week instead dissolved into political chaos.

Witnesses Megan Walker and Cait Alexander, who walked out of the meeting, wrote to federal party leaders this week to decry MPs' behaviour and demand concrete action on the issue.

"We hope that you, and your members of Parliament, treat this issue with the seriousness it deserves," they said.

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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre responded to their letter Thursday, saying his party will write to other federal parties to demand a recall of the committee to allow them and other victims a chance to speak.

"What took place last week was a shameful episode in the history of the House of Commons, and we owe it to you, as well as to every other survivor, to rectify this situation immediately."

Walker and Alexander directed ire at Liberal MP Anita Vandenbeld, who instigated a procedural fight at the committee by moving a motion to resume debate on abortion rights rather than engaging on domestic violence.

"It was a ruthless turn of events. It continued the abuse," the letter said.

Vandenbeld said in a lengthy opinion article this week that she was responding to procedural antics by the Conservatives, whom she accused of "hijacking" the committee process for their own political aims.

"I believe that what has happened in recent months in the status of women committee is a case study in how our parliamentary institutions are being deliberately dismantled, and those who defend them or call it out are being targeted, attacked, silenced and intimidated into leaving political office," she wrote in the article published by National Newswatch.

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She said she believed "traps" were being set by far-right politicians and insisted her actions were about defending the parliamentary process, but acknowledged the harm to witnesses.

"In my focus on trying to save our committee from the same dysfunction and partisanship that has plagued other committees, I played a role in adding to their trauma and for that I am very sorry. Nothing that happened in that meeting should ever have happened."

Vandenbeld said she had to close her constituency offices since the meeting as she and her staff were being targeted by online abuse.

The minister who oversees the government's gender policy, Marci Ien, has been silent about the incident.

She declined to comment on what happened or on Vandenbeld's subsequent comments, and would only say in a written statement that committees are independent and her party stands up against violence.

"We must stand up against gender-based violence in all forms and take concrete measure to combat this ongoing crisis," she said, noting that the government has invested more than $500 million towards a national action plan.

The statement went on to say that the government "will always defend a woman's right to choose and to have safe and accessible sexual and reproductive health care."

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Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri, who sits on the committee, said Vandenbeld referred to herself at least 36 times in her op-ed "with no regard for the hurt and frustration she directly caused."

"We continue to call on the Liberals to let the brave witnesses they turned away ... return to committee and speak," she said in a written statement.

"We will continue to fight for vulnerable women who are increasingly victimized after nine years of Trudeau's disastrous policies and their unforgivable shameful actions."

Vandenbeld raised concerns in her piece about committee rules being broken or ignored, including the use of "props," which she described as "in this case, photos."

Alexander, in her opening testimony, had testified about her own experience of abuse at the hands of her ex-boyfriend three years ago. She held up photos to show MPs the extent of her injuries.

The Liberal MP's complaint about those images crossed another line for Alexander.

"It makes me want to throw up," she said. "This isn't how you treat any human."