Lawsuit alleges Trudeau Foundation tried to silence woman’s allegations
Scholar accuses mentor of sex harassment
A woman has filed a $1.25-million lawsuit against the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, alleging that, while she was a scholarship student, she was sexually harassed by her mentor and the foundation then pressured her to sign a non-disclosure agreement to keep it quiet.
Cherry Smiley, 38, is a member of the Nlaka’pamux Nation in British Columbia and the Dine’ Nation. She received a scholarship to the foundation in 2016, when she was in the second year of her PHD program at Concordia University in Montreal. She alleges she was sexually harassed by her mentor, Stephen Kakfwi, the former premier of the Northwest Territories, and the foundation tried to get her to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
“They told her that it would be ‘bad for her’ if ‘this got out’ and that ‘Kakfwi could sue her’ and that the Foundation ‘could be accused of racism by Mr. Kakfwi,’” the lawsuit says. “They attempted to minimize the sexual harassment, telling her that it was just a ‘cultural misunderstanding.’”
The lawsuit is directed solely at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. It does not name Kakfwi as a defendant nor does it name as defendants the various members of the foundation with whom Smiley interacted over the course of 2018, 2019 and 2020.
None of the allegations have been proven in court, and no statement of defence has been filed by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. An emailed statement attributed to Dyane Adam, vicechair of the board of directors, but sent by Frédérique Lorrain with TACT, a Montreal public relations firm that fields foundation media requests, said “The Foundation has a different interpretation of several facts alleged in the article published by Radio-canada,” which first reported the lawsuit.
While named after his father, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is not currently involved with the non-partisan charitable organization, although he was from the time it was created until 2014. His brother Alexandre Trudeau is a member representing the Pierre Trudeau Estate.
In early June 2018, Smiley travelled to St. John’s for the foundation’s “Summer Institute,” the lawsuit says, where she met Kakfwi, who would serve as her mentor. Mentorship is part of the foundation’s programming for its scholarship recipients.
The lawsuit says the two had dinner together at a restaurant.
“The dinner was unusual in that Mr. Kakfwi spent the entire evening talking about himself and did not ask the Plaintiff about her research or her areas of academic interest,” the lawsuit says.
It also claims Kakfwi invited Smiley to visit him at his home in Yellowknife, “which made the Plaintiff uncomfortable.”
The lawsuit says the two then took a taxi to the Sheraton Hotel, where, late at night in the hotel lobby, as they were saying their goodbyes, “Kakfwi suddenly moved his body extremely close to the Plaintiff and grabbed her upper arm, close to her breast, and squeezed it. He proceeded to hold onto her upper arm for an extended period, rubbing and massaging it.”
“The Plaintiff panicked and eventually pulled her body away from him,” the lawsuit says.
Two days later, there was a session with speakers and mentors, and the discussion of Metoo came up. The lawsuit alleges that Kakfwi said he had been accused of sexual harassment and then called the accuser a “liar.”
“The Plaintiff and other attendees were extremely disturbed by this comment.”
The day after that, there was a gala at the end of the Summer Institute. The lawsuit says Kakfwi pulled Smiley close again, grabbed her arm near her breast, and again invited her to Yellowknife, saying she could stay “in his spare bedroom.”
“When the Plaintiff returned home following the Summer Institute, she felt very shaken, distressed and upset,” the lawsuit says. “She was especially frightened and intimidated given that she required a reference letter from Mr. Kakfwi in order to receive the subsequent year of her scholarship funding from the Trudeau Foundation.”
The Post was unable to reach Kakfwi at his business in Yellowknife.
By June 10, just days after Smiley had returned home, Pascale Fournier, who is now president of the Trudeau Foundation, phoned her to ask how things were going with Kakfwi. Smiley told Fournier what happened in Newfoundland, and then reported the incidents in writing. She also requested a female mentor and suggested the foundation allow scholars to select a mentor of the same gender.
In an email reply to Smiley, Fournier, the lawsuit says, wrote “these incidents should never have taken place and I am sorry you had to deal with them,” and said she’d speak with the foundation’s then-ceo, Morris Rosenberg.
Neither Fournier nor Rosenberg responded to the Post’s requests for comment on Wednesday.
Rosenberg and Smiley spoke by phone on June 22. The lawsuit says that “it was clear that Mr. Rosenberg did not believe (Smiley).”
“During this call, Mr. Rosenberg accused the Plaintiff of ‘blowing things out of proportion.’ He questioned the Plaintiff about the incidents, demanding to know if it was a ‘familiar squeeze’ a ‘sexual squeeze’ or a ‘caress,’” the lawsuit says. “The Plaintiff was extremely uncomfortable and distressed during this offensive conversation. She felt disbelieved and under attack.”
By early August 2018, Kakfwi was removed as a mentor at the foundation, the lawsuit says. But, then, the foundation asked Smiley to sign a non-disclosure agreement, the lawsuit says, and she “felt extremely uncomfortable with this request, which was solely focused on silencing her.”
In meetings, the lawsuit alleges that, Bruce Mcniven, a foundation board member and lawyer, and Peter Sahlas, a board member, pressured her to sign the NDA. Neither responded to the Post’s request for comment by press time.
In the end, Smiley never did sign the NDA, but the lawsuit says she felt “unsupported, ostracized, stressed, scared, humiliated and depressed,” and that the foundation “consistently reminded her not to tell anyone about what happened.”
Smiley also dropped out of the mentorship program and no longer felt comfortable going to foundation-hosted events or retreats.
She also claims that, in May 2019, when there was a delay in getting scholarship money, the Trudeau Foundation “falsely accused her of ‘having addiction issues.’”
After an attempt to contact the ombudsperson in November 2019, which was, the lawsuit says, a third-party consultant, and emailing the foundation’s board with details of her situation, which she sent in July 2020, Smiley then faced a “lengthy email,” sent in December 2020 by the foundation’s board chair. The lawsuit says the email was sent to the entire “Foundation community” and was “attacking ... defaming her and breaching confidence in an egregious manner.”
Adam’s statement said the foundation “approached the alleged incident in June 2018 with the utmost seriousness. It also supported the Scholar, covering her legal fees and arranging meetings with her, her counsellor and her supporting companions.”
“The Scholar subsequently made the decision not to file a formal complaint leading to an independent investigation,” the statement said.
Smiley is seeking a declaration that the Trudeau Foundation “breached its contractual duty of good faith and honesty” and damages in the amount of $500,000 for that breach.
She also seeks a declaration that the foundation “breached the Plaintiff’s confidence,” and damages of $500,000 for that, plus punitive damages of $250,000.
Adam’s statement said the foundation had yet to be sent a copy of the lawsuit.
THESE INCIDENTS SHOULD NEVER HAVE TAKEN PLACE