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7| O akville B eaver | T hursday,M ay 31,2018 insidehalton.com Since 1991 220 Randall Street, Downtown Oakville 905-842-2100 peterwatsoninvestments.com Thinking of Retiring… Someday? Let's Talk. Visit our website to sign up for a free consultation. Peter Watson MBA, CFP, R.F.P., CIM, FCSI Jennifer Watson B.A. Oakville North-Burling- ton MP Pam Damoff is con- demning the actions of a Conservative MP after fly- ers accusing Damoff of sup- porting ISIS members over their victims were mailed to residences in her riding. The flyers, which began making the rounds in late April and early May, were mailed by the office of Leth- bridge, Alta., MP Rachael Harder and arrived in enve- lopes featuring her letter- head. The headlines of the fly- ers included "MP Pam Da- moff Fails to Stand Up for Victims of Rape and Sex-Victims of Rape and Sex-V Trafficking" and "Pam Da- moff Chooses ISIS over Women & Girls."Women & Girls."W The letter goes on to at- tack the Liberal govern- ment over its efforts to de- radicalize ISIS members and singles out Damoff in particular. A similar flyer titled "Pam Damoff Rejects ISIS Victims" can be viewed onVictims" can be viewed onV Harder's website. "I'm really upset and so are people in the communi- ty, quite frankly," said Da- moff. "It has been quite over- whelming - the response from the community. Theyfrom the community. Theyf are as upset as I am that this has been sent out using their taxpayer dollars." The statements in the fly- ers focus on the events of a March 20 meeting of the House of Commons Com- mittee on the Status of Women, of which Damoff isWomen, of which Damoff isW a vice-chair and Harder is a member. In that meeting, Harder is critical of the Liberal gov- ernment's policy concern- ing returning ISIS mem- bers, which includes efforts to de-radicalize and inte- grate them back into Cana- dian society. Harder ultimately brought forward a motion calling on the committee to study the impact bringing ISIS terrorists back into Canada could have on wom- en and girls who have es- caped ISIS atrocities and found refuge in Canada.found refuge in Canada.f The majority of the com- mittee, including Damoff, voted not to proceed with that study. "This was an opportuni- ty to stand up for vulnerable women and girls who call Canada home," said Harder in the flyer. "Every Liberal member of the committee voted no. Ms. Damoff led the charge." Damoff denies she "led the charge," noting it was the NDP who initially spoke against the motion because the committee had already decided what subjects they would be studying for the next several months. These study subjects in- clude examining barriers to women in politics. Committee vice-chair Sheila Malcolmson of the NDP said the Conservatives did not bring any study sug- gestions forward by the rec- ognized deadline. Harder argued the dead- line was self-imposed and said refugee woman and girls and the trauma they have experienced is worthy of consideration in this mat- ter. Damoff discussed the reasoning behind her deci- sion to vote against Harder's motion. "We have not, as a gov- ernment or as a committee, heard from anyone that there are refugee women in Canada who are talking about being traumatized by any policy the government has" said Damoff. "It is just simply not something that has been highlighted except in the context of being in a propa- ganda type way. Other than being a political stunt, it is not something that is worth spending the time to study." Damoff pointed out that if there was a real demand for this study the Immigra-for this study the Immigra-f tion Committee or the Pub- lic Safety Committee would be the ones to handle it. Harder had no reaction to this explanation. "Ms. Damoff clearly said at the Status of Women Committee that she didn't think it was a priority to hear from women who were victimized by ISIS. I encour- age Canadians to watch the full video at <http://full video at <http://f www.rachaelharder.ca/ PamDamoff> to decide for themselves," she said. Shortly after her constit- uents began receiving the flyers, Damoff took to Face-flyers, Damoff took to Face-f book, where she posted a video calling the flyers "U.S. style attacks and misinfor- mation" and "propaganda." "These kind of personal attacks have no place in pol- itics," said Damoff. She also took issue with Harder's using taxpayer dollars to send the personal attack flyers to the Oakville North-Burlington constitu- ency. Damoff said she would be sending the speaker of the House of Commons a let- ter questioning the use of parliamentary resources to send "misinformation and a partisan mailings." Harder would not com- ment on how many flyers were sent, but said the House of Commons re- viewed them prior to their mailing and all House of Commons rules were fol- lowed. Damoff said the reaction of her constituency toward her has been positive follow- ing circulation of the flyers despite calls by Harder for residents to contact Damoff and express their concerns. "I have not had anyone who got the flyer call me and tell me, 'This is awful what you are doing,' or anything like that," said Damoff. "It did not get the re- sponse that I think was in- tended." Damoff is calling on resi- dents to write Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer if they are concerned about the style of politics dis- played by Harder in this in- cident. The Oakville North-Bur- lington MP emphasized that the number of ISIS mem- bers returning to Canada has been very small and they are monitored when they arrive. She said those believed to have committed crimes will be put on trial and im- prisoned if found guilty. NEWS Flyers accuse Oakville North-Burlington MP of choosing ISIS over its victims DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com