Sheila Copps recounts sexual assault by fellow MPP, past rape

Sheila Copps, once a Hamilton-area MPP and deputy prime minister under Jean Chrétien, has come forward as a survivor of sexual assault.

Writing in The Hill Times newspaper on Monday, Copps recounts being sexually assaulted as a 28-year-old MPP new to Queen’s Park and in another incident raped by someone she knew in a separate incident.

Copps made the revelations in light of comments she made shortly after the story broke of Jian Ghomeshi’s firing from the CBC.

“I should never have weighed on an issue as sensitive as that without taking the time to hear the other side of the story” Copps said.

Copps went on to call the subsequent police investigation the “appropriate arena for allegations of this nature.”

But in her essay Copps laments the lack of similar due process available to some parliamentarians and recounts her own past experience with sexual assault while in office.

The issue of Parliamentary due process has been in the spotlight in recent days with news two NDP MPs had accused Liberal MPs of unspecified allegations of personal misconduct.

Copps said she was assaulted while she and fellow MPPs were on a Parliamentary tour studying violence against women.

In the hotel following a group dinner, her assailant tried to force Copps up against the wall and kiss her.

She kicked him “where it hurts,” but never reported the incident, Copps said.

Copps also recounts her experience reporting to police more than 30 years ago that she had been raped by someone she knew.

“I expect my experience is not that different from many?” Copps said.

Police told Copps a conviction was impossible and merely warned the perpetrator to stay away from her.

Copps goes on to say she was not surprised by recent revelations by former Hill staffer and current political pundit Ian Capstick about rampant sexual harassment in that workplace.

“He was reflecting the experience of hundreds who have gone before him,” Copps said.

But provincial labour laws do not apply on Parliament Hill and no Canadian law enforcement agencies have jurisdiction to investigate a complaint on the Hill, Copps said.

She concludes by saying as long accusations like those made by the NDP MPs can only be investigated within Parliament, “neither the accuser nor the accused will have the same right to due process afforded Jian Ghomeshi.”