Former employee testifies against ex-Senator in sexual assault trial

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OTTAWA — Every morning at work, she alleges that Senator Don Meredith would require his “daily hug.”

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Then, she said, came the unwanted fondling. She said she lived in constant fear of being called into his office or in the office kitchen area, where he would allegedly kiss her on the mouth and caress her breasts and buttocks.

He would call her by her name, she said, or he might call her “baby” or “sweetie.” She said she would get up, like a robot, and let him touch her.

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When he was done, the former employee alleged he would tell her to “freshen up” before resuming her work.

She said that every day she would tell herself she would not have to put up with his behaviour for long; her contract would soon be finished. She had accepted a contract in the senator’s office, in the Victoria Building, steps away from Parliament Hill in Ottawa. She needed the work, so she said she opted to not ruffle any feathers and do as she was told.

The unwanted kissing and touching allegedly continued until she left his employment, a few months later.

“I was mad at myself for years for this, and even today, I feel a lot of shame,” she said.

That is part of the testimony heard during Meredith’s criminal trial over the last two weeks. He is facing three counts of sexual assault and one count of criminal harassment against his former employee for events that allegedly happened when Meredith was a senator.

The identity of the main witness is protected under a publication ban, which prevents the National Post from using her name or publishing any information that could identify her.

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Crown attorney Khorshid Rad alleged in her opening statement that over a span of a few months, Meredith sexually assaulted, harassed and used threatening conduct against his former employee to the point where she feared for her personal safety.

“This case is fundamentally about an abuse of power,” said Rad.

Meredith allegedly tried to kiss his former employee, put hands on her breasts and put his hands under her clothes, and exposed himself to her.

Other allegations include coercive behaviour such as monitoring her emails and phone calls, demanding she share her location and dictating how she dressed. He allegedly threatened her into remaining silent by saying he could destroy her career.

Meredith has pleaded not guilty to the criminal accusations made against him by the Crown. If he is found guilty, he could face jail time. Because the trial is by judge alone, it will be up to Superior Court Justice Narissa Somji to rule on her decision and deliver her verdict.

Meanwhile, the Senate is declining to provide any comment about its past harassment policies or security procedures, arguing that the matter is currently before the court.

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Meredith, a Pentecostal minister from Toronto, was appointed to the Senate by former prime minister Stephen Harper in 2010. He was expelled from the Conservative caucus in 2015 after it was revealed that he had a two-year sexual relationship with a teenager. Meredith acknowledged the affair but said he didn’t have intercourse with the woman until after she turned 18.

He ultimately resigned from the upper chamber in 2017 after the Senate ethics committee recommended he be expelled from the Senate for that relationship.

During his time in office, Meredith faced allegations ranging from harassment, including of a sexual nature, to abuse of authority towards his employees.

The allegations have been the object of two distinct reports. The first one was conducted by an external firm and concluded in 2015 but was never made public. The second was conducted by Senate ethics officer Pierre Legault and released publicly in 2019.

Legault interviewed six former employees from Meredith’s office, each alleging that he had engaged in “some form of harassing, bullying, threatening and/or intimidating conduct toward them” according to the report.

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In addition, two of those employees and a Senate constable alleged that Meredith had engaged in “unwanted conduct of a sexual nature towards them.”

In 2020, the Senate paid nearly half-a-million dollars in compensation to Meredith’s former employees, including the one on trial, in relation to the allegations of his inappropriate behaviour. Meredith denied many of allegations in the report.

I never wanted to upset Mr. Meredith. I obeyed and that was it

It was during the course of the Senate ethics investigation that Legault contacted the Ottawa police to inform them of allegations of a criminal nature, which led to Meredith being charged and released by police in 2022 on a promise to later appear in court.

Even though the alleged acts are said to have happened more than a decade ago, that employee (also referred to in this article as the “main witness”) delivered emotional court testimony via webcam using Zoom, during which she was seen trembling, looking at the floor and breaking down in tears.

Halfway during her examination, the Crown lawyers told Justice Somji that the main witness could not continue because she had broken out in hives. Then, the cross-examination was interrupted for more than a day, on a doctor’s order, because she suffered a physical reaction caused by stress, which caused her to be hospitalized.

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National Post was the only news organization to witness her entire testimony over the course of five days at the Ottawa courthouse. The summary of her version of events is as follows.

The main witness alleged that the first unwanted kiss happened shortly after she started working for Meredith.

She had walked into his office to make him sign expense accounts and other documents. Before she got up to return to her desk, she testified that he took her by her forearms and put his lips on hers, unprompted.

“It was like a whirlwind,” she recounted. “On the spot, I was surprised, I was shocked. But I told myself instinctively that I would not be there long.”

“So, I got a hold of myself and carried on with my things.”

From that moment on, she testified that a sense of “familiarity” had taken place between Meredith and her, suggesting he felt comfortable becoming intimate with her. She said she was continually stressed from the moment he called her into his office.

She said that a few days after the first kiss, he saw her take out her lunch and asked her to bring it to his office. She said she wanted to eat quickly and get it over with, but he stopped her to say that they needed to pray. She said he took her hand, they prayed, and then she ate — quickly.

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She testified that as she was picking up her things, he took her in his arms and allegedly kissed her on the mouth.

She testified that the fondling started happening in the first weeks of her employment. She said he would ask her to come towards him, then touch her — first over her clothes, then eventually under. She alleged that would happen almost on a daily basis. It would happen either in his office, where his door would always be closed, or in the kitchen, before he left at the end of the day, according to her testimony.

She alleges he would give her compliments, telling her that she was an “asset” to his office.

“I was feeling trapped, I felt that I had no value,” she said.

People working in the offices of other senators had noticed the high turnover in Meredith’s office and proceeded to warn her about it, she said.

She said that assistants in neighbouring offices told her they would sometimes hear yelling and loud arguments coming from Meredith’s office. She said they offered her a place to go when things became too tense, but she never took up their offer.

She also recalled a security guard who was surprised to see a new person in Meredith’s office shortly after the start of her employment and said she could use the “panic button” underneath her desk if she needed anything at all or did not feel safe.

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But she kept to herself throughout her employment, she said, focusing on the fact that her job was only temporary, and kept an eye out for some other job opportunity.

Parliamentary constable Scott Fuller testified in court that the main witness used to be a “very bubbly” person and “always had a smile on her face,” but said that completely changed shortly after she started working for Meredith.

“She was a really bright light prior to that, a very happy person… it’s like someone turned off that light,” said Fuller.

Senate employees served at the “pleasure” of senators, the main witness and another employee both testified, meaning that the senators could terminate their position without notice and did not have to provide any reason for firing them.

That added to the sense of job precariousness, with the main witness saying many times she would let Meredith overstep personal and professional boundaries without pushing back.

She said Meredith made a comment that he did not like seeing her wearing pants, so she made sure to mostly wear dresses and skirts at work.

He would also contact her on her personal phone (as a temporary employee, she was not given a mobile phone for work). He also asked for her email password. She said she gave it to him.

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“I never wanted to upset Mr. Meredith. I obeyed and that was it,” she said.

Until, one day, she said she mustered enough courage to say no.

She was travelling to Toronto for an event. Meredith picked her up at the airport and drove her to her hotel. Despite asking him to wait for her in the car, he insisted on getting out of the car and coming with her to check-in, she said. She says he then insisted on going up to her room.

Once in the hotel room, she alleges he lay on the bed, asked her to sit by him and engaged in unwanted physical kissing and touching.

I was thinking to myself: I can’t believe I’m going through this to keep a job

This would be one the rare times she escaped her state of numbness and came to her senses, she told the court.

“When he laid on the bed, I panicked,” she said. “Considering the prior touching, I was afraid that he would insist on having full sexual intercourse.”

She said she asked him why he was doing that, and if that was the first time he was being unfaithful to his wife, and then proceeded to insist they were going to be late for the event and had to leave.

His tone changed, he became cold, she said. According to the main witness, he told her to hurry and “freshen up” so they could leave.

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“All I wanted to do is leave and go home,” she said about that moment.

Following the day’s events in Toronto, she said Meredith drove her back to her hotel and asked her to once again go back to her room. She testified that she said no. She said he asked again if she was sure he could not come upstairs, to which she replied that his wife was at home waiting for him.

After that trip, she said she went to the Senate human resources office to ask if there was another job available because she was not “at ease” in Meredith’s office. She did not mention the sexual allegations, and instead explained they had “incompatible personalities.”

She also asked about a policy about general harassment, but was told by a staff member that Meredith would have to be advised if she were to lodge a formal complaint. Employees who did that were usually blacklisted from further Senate employment, she said she was told.

The Senate has had a new harassment policy since 2021, which gives complainants the option of going to a third-party independent investigator to lodge a harassment complaint. The new policy has however been criticized as a “gift” for would-be abusers as it prohibits the disclosure of any information that could reveal the identity of the parties involved.

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The main witness said she never lodged a formal complaint, saying she was too scared about what Meredith would do if he found out about it.

“I left the (human resources) office in a worse state than I had arrived in,” she said.

From that moment on, she testified that she felt she had to continue to endure her employer’s continuous unwanted sexual advances in order to keep her job.

She testified that Meredith would remind her that he was providing her with a job and that “nobody else would.” He would also isolate her and tighten his control over her by forbidding her to answer emails or phone calls from colleagues from other offices, she alleged.

She alleges that she had to tell him when she left the office to go make photocopies or even go to the bathroom. She said she tried to leave her desk as infrequently as possible so as to avoid the questions.

“As a result, I became hypervigilant. I was personally questioning everything I would do, every action I would take,” she said.

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One morning, shortly after the Toronto trip, she said Meredith asked her to bring documents to his hotel room in Ottawa and offered to take her out to lunch afterwards.

She said she was surprised to see him answer the door wearing only pyjama bottoms.

She said he took her quickly by the arm to bring her into his room and closed the door. She said he looked a “little nervous” and asked her if she had seen or spoken to anyone en route to his room. She said she hadn’t. Then, she said, he stretched out on his bed.

She said he proceeded to kiss her and put one of his hands under her dress. She alleges that with the other hand, he took his erect penis out and held it.

She said that at that moment, she said she was “disgusted” with herself. She closed her eyes and said she “let things happen.” After what she said felt like eternity, she says he stopped touching her. She then left and went in the downstairs lobby to “freshen up.”

“I was thinking to myself: I can’t believe I’m going through this to keep a job,” she testified.

She said Meredith would also make lewd comments about her in front of other employees. When discussing a Caribbean community event, the senator allegedly suggested that she wear a traditional costume. Another employee who was in the room testified in court that she found the comment inappropriate, as those costumes are usually revealing.

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Things were becoming tense in Meredith’s office toward the end of her employment. The news media had been chasing a story about questionable Senate expense claims, including some related to Meredith’s attendance at a Washington, D.C. prayer breakfast. (Meredith would eventually end up repaying those expenses.) Reporters were calling and emailing the office. She said Meredith did not want to speak with journalists and forbade her from answering any calls or emails.

One morning, the phone was continually ringing when Meredith told her to go into his office. He allegedly warned her that if any more information were to leak out to the media, he would know who it came from.

He allegedly told her that if she were to “stab” him in the back, he would do the same to her.

She says that conversation was overheard by another employee, who then informed the Senate leadership team. The main witness was eventually offered a job in another senator’s office. She resigned from Meredith’s office, turned in the office key to human resources and blocked his number on her personal phone.

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But even though she was out of his office, she worked in the same building as him and was still afraid to cross paths with him, she said.

Her former colleague testified that the main witness would be triggered by the mere scent of Meredith’s cologne and would refuse to take the elevator out of fear of seeing him.

Eventually, the main witness said the stress became “unbearable” and she moved out of Ottawa entirely.

“I said to myself: there’s no point in being afraid of running into him. My physical and psychological health depended on it.”

Meredith’s trial was scheduled to end on Friday, but because of delays it is now expected to continue in 2025.

National Post
calevesque@postmedia.com

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