Meredith was appointed to the Canadian Senate on 18 December 2010 on the advice of Prime Minister Harper,and joined the Conservative caucus.
Harassment complaints and sexual misconduct investigation
Workplace harassment and bullying in Meredith's office were first brought up with a human resources manager in 2013. Two years later,in February 2015,Quintet Consulting Corp,a third-party firm,was hired to investigate because Pierre Claude Nolin,the Speaker of the Senate of Canada,had noticed a higher than usual turnover rate in Meredith's office. [24] The Quintet report was submitted in July 2015 and led to Meredith being formally investigated by the Office of the Senate Ethics Officer. [24] [25] [26] Meredith initially denied that an ethics investigation existed despite having been interviewed for it. The ethics investigation included allegations of unwanted sexual advances,innuendo,and rude behaviour from eight women:four of Meredith's former staffers and four Senate employees. [27]
Meredith was expelled from the Conservative caucus on 17 June 2015,following allegations that he had groomed a teenager for two years,beginning when the girl was 16. [1] In October 2015,the Office of the Senate Ethics Officer suspended its investigation pending the result of the concurrent police investigation that took over the file. [26] Ultimately the teenager,known by the pseudonym,"Ms. M," declined to press criminal charges to protect her identity. After the police investigation was dropped the Senate ethics office investigation resumed in February 2016 [28] and found him guilty of ethics violations in March 2017 after he conceded he had sexual intercourse with the woman after she turned 18. [2] The woman said that Meredith "continually encouraged her to be in a relationship with him" and that he frequently masturbated on-camera during video chats while he was in his GTA Faith Alliance office. [2] Meredith called the encouragement a gross lie and did not recall masturbating,but said that if he did "it was an interaction". [2] Meredith was expelled from the Independent Senators Group he had joined the previous year.
Meredith repeatedly apologizing for his "moral failing" and begging forgiveness but refused to step down,while taking sick leave on doctor's orders. He claimed to be a victim of racism in this affair,with his first lawyer Selwyn Pieters suggesting "his client was being portrayed as a "sexual predator" because he is an imposing black man". [29] Meredith replaced Pieters with Bill Trudell as his new attorney,the latter who believed that the race card approach would not be helpful in Meredith's defense. [30] Despite growing calls for Meredith's resignation from the Senate,Trudell argued "for a one- or two-year suspension without pay as a form of punishment for his two-year sexual relationship with a teenage girl". [31]
Meredith announced on 9 May 2017 that he would be resigning from the Senate. [3] The announcement came shortly after the Senate Ethics Committee found that his conduct "demonstrated that he is unfit to serve as a senator" as "He has abused his privileged position of authority and trust by engaging in behaviour that is incompatible with his office",and "No lesser sanction than expulsion would repair the harm he has done to the Senate". [31] Although the Senate has no explicit power to expel a member,a situation unprecedented in Canadian history,the Ethics Committee "accepted the legal opinion of the law clerk and parliamentary counsel to the Senate that the Constitution gives the upper house the same privileges enjoyed by the United Kingdom's House of Commons,which can permanently eject a member". Had Meredith not agreed to resign voluntarily,it was "virtually certain his former colleagues would have voted overwhelmingly" to expel him. [32] In his resignation letter he stated that "the path of expulsion being considered by [his] colleagues will have major implications for the Senate of Canada" and that "this is a constitutional fight in which [he] will not engage." [33] His resignation took effect on 10 May 2017. [5] By resigning to avoid expulsion,Meredith retained his eligibility for a Parliamentary pension. [34]
The Senate Ethics Officer's report was published in June 2019 and concluded that Meredith's behaviour "constitute[d] both harassment and sexual harassment." [24] In June 2020,the Senate made a formal apology to Meredith's victims. In September 2020,following recommendations in a report by former Quebec Court of Appeal judge Louise Otis [ fr ],the Senate internal economy committee authorized financial compensation for Meredith's victims. [24] The total financial compensation to nine of Meredith's former employees totaled $498,000. [34]
