NDP MP suspended amid sex misconduct allegations

Last week’s accuser this week’s accused

OTTAWA — Less than a week after her own allegations got a fellow MP kicked out of the NDP caucus, Christine Moore found herself suspended from party duties Tuesday amid allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour involving a veteran of the war in Afghanistan.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh ordered an investigation into the claims against the Quebec MP as media reports swirled about Moore’s alleged behaviour toward a retired soldier who came to Ottawa to advocate on behalf of ill and injured military members.

In an interview, retired corporal Glen Kirkland said Moore first approached him after he testified before a parliamentary committee in June 2013, where he had been asked to speak on the treatment of ill and injured soldiers.

Kirkland was wounded in an ambush in Afghanistan in 2008 while driving a light-armoured vehicle. Three other soldiers were killed and Kirkland suffered severe injuries, including a damaged pancreas and right eye, crushed vertebrae, bleeding in the brain and PTSD.

“She took interest in my health because her background is in nursing,” Kirkland told the Canadian Press in a phone interview Tuesday.

“She asked me back to her office. … I was a corporal in the military and a member of Parliament asked me to do something. There was no thought process. It was just the way it was.

“She started pouring me drinks and I told her: ‘I’m on medication,’ ” Kirkland said. “I told her what I was on. She said it was fine. I was like: ‘OK, you’re a nurse and you’re kind of my boss, so what am I going to say?’ ”

Kirkland told the CBC that Moore followed him back to his hotel and continued to send explicit messages, even turning up unannounced at his Manitoba home before he forcibly told her to stop.

“I’m not claiming rape or anything,” Kirkland, who is now a real estate agent in Brandon, Man., told CP. But, he said, “she was inappropriate. She used her position of power and authority to get what she wanted.”

Singh said Moore will remain a member of caucus pending the results of an investigation, but that she is being temporarily relieved of her duties on committees and other party matters.

“I take these allegations very seriously and I will be appointing an independent investigator to conduct a fair and full examination,” Singh said.

“While that process is ongoing, Mme. Moore’s duties as an NDP MP, including participation on any committee, will be temporarily suspended. Once the work of the investigator has been completed, Mme. Moore’s role in caucus will be re-evaluated.”

Moore, who previously served as a military reservist and given birth to two daughters while in office, welcomed the latest investigation.

“I welcome the opportunity to participate in the independent and fair examination of these allegations,” she said in a statement distributed by the party. “Out of respect for the fairness and the integrity of the process, I will not be commenting further on these allegations at this point.”

It was Singh’s second major caucus controversy in less than a week. On Thursday, he kicked Regina MP Erin Weir out of caucus after an investigation prompted by Moore’s revelations about second-hand allegations that Weir had harassed several women.

New Democrat MPs chose Tuesday to stand by their leader.

“This has hit all parties and we knew that this was not a partisan issue,” said Sheila Malcolmson (Nanaimo-Ladysmith), the NDP’s critic for women’s equality.

“So we’ve been careful to say that we believe survivors, that it’s important for people that feel they’ve been subject to sexual harassment to come forward, that there be good process to handle that.”

NDP caucus chair Matthew Dubé conceded that “people are frustrated” by the allegations.