Canada's Former Deputy PM Says She Was Raped In The Early Days Of Her Career As A Politician

Sheila Copps, Canada's prominent woman politician and a former deputy prime minister, added more fire to the nationwide uproar over sexual violence against women, as she edisclosed her own personal experience. The senior woman leader said she was sexually assaulted twice in the early years of her political career, when she was still a rising politician. Copps was deputy Prime Minister under Jean Chretien from 1993 to 1997.

Mrs Copps' disclosure followed the uproar after two MPs from the Liberal Party were suspended over allegations that they harassed fellow women MPs. Prior to that, Canada watched the controversy over the sacking of a popular radio host over allegations of sexual abuse and intimidation, reported AFP.

Candid Revelation

The former deputy prime minister, now 61, wrote her experience of sexual violence, in a column for the weekly newspaper "The Hill Times". Copps said the first incident involved another member of the Ontario legislature. She was first elected as a law maker at the age of 28. She recalled that the first attack took place in a hotel hallway when she was on a tour of northern Ontario, to study violence against women.

"I pushed back my assailant, kicking him where it hurts, when he tried to force me up against a wall and tried to kiss me," Copps wrote. Copps said she never reported the matter to police, thinking that it was a "personal misjudgement" by her attacker, who happened to be a fellow legislator. The other incident was when Copps was 31 years old, and that involved "someone I knew" raped her. But Copps offered no details except saying that she reported it to police, who gave the assailant a strong "warning".

Erring Radio Host

Tales of sexual harassment started surfacing in Canada last month when public broadcaster CBC fired syndicated radio host Jian Ghomeshi over charges of sexual abuse. The accusations against him came as anonymous hints. Therefater, nine women came forward with strong allegations against Ghomeshi and Toronto police promptly launched a criminal investigation. But the radio host claimed that whatever happened was consensual "rough sex" usually found in erotic novels or visual clippings. He said he would sue the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for wrongful dismissal.

Ghomesh is admired for his top-rated arts magazine radio show Q, heard across Canada and in 180 cities of the United States. Heather Conway, CBC's head of English programming justified the termination of the host, as a response to the allegations which are "inflicting an injury on another human being"

Harassing MPs

After the radio jockey's indictment came the episode of Liberal leader Justin Trudeau subjecting two members of his Liberal Party for action for having sexually harassed two New Democrat MPs. The accused lawmakers have denied any wrongdoing. But the case is being probed by the parliamentary Board of Internal Economy.

The Examiner, in a report, noted that Mr. Justin Trudeau was in a dilemma and faced 'dammed if you do and dammed if you don't" situation. It said Trudeau made the right choice in suspending two Liberal MPs. "Like workplaces across this country, Parliament must also have clear guidelines and procedures for dealing with allegations of serious personal misconduct of this nature," Trudeau had said.