A former MP says she was recently racially profiled by Ottawa’s parliamentary security service, which she is now calling on to fight racism within its ranks.
Celina Caesar-Chavannes claims she was interrogated by officers last June as she tried to gain access to the precincts of Parliament wearing her parliamentary pin. Granted to current deputies and former elected officials, this brooch in principle allows its wearer to access any building within the enclosure without their property or person being searched. But parliament security asked her where she got the pin and tried to carry out a search, she claims.
Mme Caesar-Chavannes says that while she was forced into questioning, former NDP MP Peggy Nash was able to get through security without incident. “Peggy left politics long before me,” she says. Nobody expects them to recognize us, but the brooch is universal. Security knows what it is. »
Celina Caesar-Chavannes was elected as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Whitby, Ontario in 2015. She left the Liberal caucus in March 2019, serving as an independent until the election the following fall. Peggy Nash, meanwhile, served as the MP for Parkdale-High Park in Toronto from 2006 to 2008 and regained her seat from 2011 to 2015.
Although she did not see the first part of the meeting, Mme Nash confirmed that she arrived at the entrance to the Senate building with her own lapel pin and was waved through by security. She remembered that M.me -Chavannes said at the time that when security asked her where she bought her pin, “it was like they didn’t believe she could legitimately be in possession of a parliamentary pin.”
Precedents
This is not the first time that the security service of the Ottawa parliament has been arrested for racial profiling.
In 2019, the service apologized after an incident at a lobbying event called Black Voices on the Hill, where several young attendees said they were called “dark-skinned people” and asked to leave a parliamentary cafeteria. by a security guard.
In her farewell speech in 2021, Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, who served as an NDP MP for Nunavut, said she did not feel safe on Parliament Hill. She described being chased in hallways and subjected to racial profiling by members of the Parliamentary Protective Service. “Every time I walk on the grounds of the House of Commons, that I speak in these Chambers, I am reminded at every step that I do not belong here,” said Mr.me Qaqqaq.
In response to a message posted on Twitter by Mr.me Caesar-Chavannes on the day of the incident, former NDP MP Laurin Liu said, “That daily racial and gender profiling when I was on Parliament Hill 10 years ago made me dread running for work. »
NDP MP Matthew Green, who is a member of the black parliamentarian caucus, said the group had also heard of other incidents. “We need to work with senior management to ensure there is adequate training for all staff,” Mr Green said, noting that he is in discussions to ensure that this type of situation does not happen. happen again.
Actions to take
Mme Caesar-Chavannes said the acting director of the Parliamentary Protective Service, Larry Brookson, responded quickly to the incident and apologized. But she thinks more should be done and believes that an apology without action means nothing.
Mme Nash also remembers that his colleague had then asked what measures the service would take to avoid a repetition of these events. “It didn’t seem to have been fully thought through, but there was a commitment to working with her moving forward and making sure staff were properly trained. »
After weeks of waiting, Mme Caesar-Chavannes met with the inclusion specialist at the Parliamentary Protective Service, but the conversation has since stalled, she says.
“In a position of power and authority […]you have the opportunity to make decisions about what happens next for people in that space,” she said, adding that she was advocating on behalf of those who are subjected to the same type of treatment and have less the privilege to speak.
“I think it would be wise to take this seriously because it’s 2022 and this kind of egregious abuse shouldn’t be happening here,” Ms.me Nash. “As long as there are persistent stereotypes, and as long as people dismiss complaints about someone’s hurt feelings, truly representative parliaments will not be able to take their full place, and that is simply undemocratic. »
Asked about the incident, the Parliamentary Protective Service said it was following “a process of assessment and capacity building”. “We remain committed to continuous improvement, to fostering authentic exchanges and to receiving constructive feedback,” it was assured last Thursday.