Candidates in the federal race to represent Ottawa Centre — minus the Conservative contender — will be participating in a debate concerning LGBTQ issues on Sept. 25 at the National Gallery of Canada.
The debate is a special event presented by the annual One World Film Festival, which runs this year from Sept. 24- 27, in collaboration with several Ottawa-based LGBTQ groups.
The debate begins at 7:30 p.m. following the Ottawa premier of the film The Year We Thought About Love, a documentary about an LGBTQ theatre group in Boston.
NDP MP Paul Dewar, Liberal candidate Catherine McKenna and Green Party challenger Tom Milroy have all confirmed their attendance. But Conservative candidate Damian Konstantinakos has announced he will not be participating.
“Unfortunately, Damian’s prior commitments won’t allow him to attend the upcoming LGBTQ debate,” said Don Cummer, Konstantinakos’ communications manager, in an email statement. “However, there are many community-sponsored debates in which people who have questions about LGBTQ questions can raise their concerns and ask for his views.”
Cummer invited anyone interested to attend some of other debates other debates Konstantinakos planned to attend, including the Centretown Community Association debate on Sept. 17 and the Carleton University debate on Sept. 29.
Jessica Ruano, festival manager and debate organizer, says organizers planned to continue to search for a Conservative candidate from another riding “up until the day of the debate” to try to ensure all key parties are involved in the discussion.
According to Jeremy Dias of the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexuality Diversity, an LBGTQ support group located on Albert Street and a co-host for the debate, all Conservative candidates in Ottawa and those within a three-and-a-half-hour radius of the city have been contacted, but so far no one has come forward to participate.
“I think there’s a real need for us to have these conversations with these candidates,” Dias says. “It’s problematic that any candidate would not want to make the LGBTQ community a priority.”
Some of the scheduled topics of discussion include increased rights for trans Canadians, support services for youth at risk, and community-based educational programs to raise awareness for LGBTQ issues.
In an email statement, Dewar said he is looking forward to debating issues important to Ottawa Centre’s LGBTQ community.
“I’m very proud to have represented the vibrant LGBTQ community in Ottawa Centre for the past nine years,” Dewar said. “I think this debate will be another great opportunity to bring the community and allies together. I’m sorry to hear that the Conservative candidate won’t be participating. I hope he will reconsider — it’s not too late for him to join this important event.”
For his part, Milroy says he hopes to bring up the issue of bullying and harassment in the workplace, a problem he says he’s committed to eradicating. He says he is also disappointed by the expected absence of a Conservative challenger for the debate.
“I have met Damian Konstantinakos and he is a perfect gentleman and appears to be a fine candidate with impressive credentials,” Milroy says. “However, I believe that his party does not understand that LBGTQ issues are everyone’s issues and that the CPC’s intentional absence from the debate goes a long way to show where their hearts truly lay,” he adds.
As festival manager, Ruano says she hopes the candidates get asked the tough questions that will lead to deeper discussions.
“I’m hoping that the candidates get a little bit stumped and that they’re asked questions they might find challenging,” Ruano says. “It’s easy to say that you’re supportive of this community, but what are you doing to make these issues better?”
This will be the only candidates debate for the 2015 election focused entirely on LGBTQ issues, and it’s long overdue, according to Dias, a long-time advocate for LGBTQ rights in Ottawa.
“At this point there is no reason why these issues have not been addressed yet,” Dias says. “There are no protections for trans people, no mention of two-spirit folk, no mention of how to help LGBTQ refugees. We do have a crisis. This is not the Canada we should be living in in 2015.”
Those who wish to attend the debate can do so by reserving a spot through the festival’s website. Tickets can be purchased on a pay-what-you-can basis.