The President of the National Assembly is responding to criticism of Catherine Fournier, who was sexually assaulted by an elected official, by establishing a position of Respect Officer who will support victims of harassment and assault.
“It was Omerta in the National Assembly, nobody questioned the fact that he [Harold LeBel] remains in office that he continues to go out as a deputy. I believe in role modeling, so I didn’t understand him staying in office. I was sure he would resign,” Catherine Fournier said yesterday after revealing she was the victim of the former Rimouski MP.
The latter was convicted of sexual assault for actions he committed in October 2017 after partisan activities in Rimouski.
On Wednesday morning, the majority of elected officials in the National Assembly said the institution and elected officials should do more to protect victims.
Compliance Officer
More specifically, the Office of the National Assembly will change its rules and create a position of Respect Officer.
“The Office of the National Assembly has not waited to improve and amend its regulations to help, among other things, people who are victims of psychological or sexual harassment,” said National Assembly President Nathalie Roy. “There will be a new compliance officer who will be appointed for the next school year. [parlementaire].”
Catherine Fournier herself is campaigning for the creation of an independent respondent body to support elected officials who have been victims of attacks.
- Listen to Catherine Fournier’s interview on Yasmine Abdelfadel’s show via QUB radio :
Suspend elected officials?
But the question on everyone’s lips before Question Time was: Should elected officials facing criminal charges continue to sit like Harold LeBel did?
Justice Secretary Simon Jolin-Barrette “thinks” that clear rules and a mechanism need to be put in place.
“When we live in such a situation, it is important that the elected victims can carry out their work with complete peace of mind and make sure that they are not embarrassed in the course of their work,” he said, recalling that it was already in the National Assembly has a policy against harassment.
weakness
Marc Tanguay can’t say if he was uncomfortable sitting with Harold LeBel after the indictment was filed, but interim PLQ leader Marc Tanguay believes serious consideration needs to be given.
“If an MP is impeached, should we have a different leadership in the National Assembly? You know, the systems and the way to manage all that, it’s improvable,” he pointed out.