The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation has twice sought a change of venue for a trial into allegations by a former foundation scholar who says she was sexually harassed by her assigned mentor, pressured to keep it quiet and left unsupported and unbelieved.
A year after Cherry Smiley’s lawsuit was first filed, the Trudeau Foundation has not yet filed a statement of defence but has twice filed motions that the suit be dismissed or denied jurisdiction so it can be heard before a judge in Quebec.
“It would be very prejudicial to my client to be heard in Quebec. She is not a fluent French speaker, and neither am I, and the only connection of the case to Quebec is the foundation is headquartered there, but it’s a national foundation and the parties all live in different parts of the country.”
She suggested the foundation might be trying to drain Smiley’s resources.
No comments:
Post a Comment