'I cannot let any other woman go through a process like this'
1st woman to share accusations against Rick Chiarelli reflects on past year
Laura is 33, a former journalist from South America, and the first person to publicly tell her story about her inappropriate job interview with Coun. Rick Chiarelli.
"I still think it's unbelievable what I went through," she said, a little more than one year after first speaking to the CBC about how the veteran councillor among other things asked her about going braless to work events, wondered ifshe ever dealt drugs and showed her pictures on his phone of women in revealing outfits.
"In my resum, it says that I was a journalist. And the fact that he completely dismissed that and didn't think that I will say anything about [what happened]is just insane to me."
When Laura first spoke outlast September, CBC agreed not use her name because she was worried about finding employment in the future. She's still worried about that, although she has allowed CBC to publish her first name and a few more identifying details.
In the days and weeks after Lauratold her story to CBC last fall,many more women cameforward with their own stories of Chiarelli'sinappropriate behaviour.
CBC corroborated the accounts of 13 women, and reported eight of them last fall.
Laura's interview with Chiarelli, along with those of two other job applicants,became the focus ofthedamning report from the city's integrity commissionerwhich found the councillor's behaviour violated the city's code of conduct.
After a 10-month investigation, integrity commissioner Robert Marleau is recommending council impose the harshest sanctions available: a nine-month suspension of pay, the equivalent of more than $79,000.
The councillor has denied all allegations.
CBC's Joanne Chianello sat down with Laura this past weekend.Here's an edited version of what she had to say, in her own words.
On what happened during the interview
I was wearing a summer dress, nothing revealing. I just remember him taking a look at me, probably from toe to head. He was like, "Oh, you can show your legs, you can show your arms. What is it that you wouldn't show?"
He asked me what was the worst thing that I had ever done ...I'm from South America. So he asked me if I had ever dealt with cocaine not done drugs, but more like, sell drugs.- Laura, reflecting on her job interview with Chiarelli
He was showing me photos of his former assistant who likes to go to ComicCon. Aboss shouldn't have those photos it wasn't her working, it was just her posing. It was just creepy.
And he kept talking about how going bralessis so useful to recruit volunteers. He showed meanother photo of a girl sitting in a car, and the photo was taken from theside, and you could see she wasn't wearing a bra because her T-shirt was cut low.
I think at some point I stopped making my poker face because it was just too much. And he said to me, "Oh, the reason I have those photos is because we get audited and I have to prove that [the women] are working for me."
He asked me what was the worst thing that I had ever done. I said, "I don't know, I don't do bad things."You can notice from my accent, I'm from South America. So he asked me if I had ever dealt with cocaine not done drugs, but more like, sell drugs.
On what she was thinking
I'd read his website before the interview because I didn't know anything about him. And in some places, it said that he was against sexual harassment and he was supporting women.
I really keptthinking that [the interview] was a bad joke.And I kept waiting for him to say, "OK, I'm kidding, this is not what we do."
I rememberI kept thinking, it's 2019, what is this person thinking? My mom has gone through that,God knows my grandma had to go through that. And then so many generations before me. But I was like, this has changed, right?
On her decision to come forward
I was so afraid that he was targeting new immigrants. And as an immigrant myself to this country I've been here for many years I waslike, maybe he's just using new Canadians that don't know that Canada is better than this, and he's taking advantage of that.
He told me that he was going to interview two other people before making a decision, and I was like, oh my God, I cannot let any other woman or person, for that matter go through a process like this.
On still not using her full name
I come from SouthAmerica where things are more complicated than in Canada So even though I knewI was in a better place, I also didn't know if anything was going to happen to me.
It took 13 women to go against one person.- Laura, whose public story about her interview with Chiarelli spurred others to come forward
And when I talked to my family, they also told me, what if you want to get a job in the future? And then anybody can Google your name and they know that you're a troublemaker because that's, unfortunately, how women who speak out are portrayed. It's never that they wanted justice.
It took 13 women to go against one person. It's insane to me that we can't be treated as one-versus-one, it has to be 13-versus-one.
On the reaction to her story
I remember thinking, there are two ways that this [could]go.
One is that nobody talks and that's it. That's the end of the story, and he will continue doingthe same [things]. Orthe other is that if other people have experienced the same, they willcome out. I didn't know if anybody was going to be able to talk about it.
So when they did, I was so grateful.
- 'Better without a bra': More women come forward with allegations against Chiarelli
- Former Chiarelli staffer is 13th woman to allege inappropriate behaviour from councillor
I was so happy that they could prove that what I was saying was true, but also I was so sad that they all had to go through something similar. And that they were so young that they didn't know how to fight.
After seeing thereport from the [integrity] commissioner, I hope that people understand that it's OK to speak up and that even though not everybody is going to believe you because that's impossible there are many of us that willbecause we have experienced that ourselves.
- Bras hung outside city hall in response to Chiarelli allegations
- Protests greet Chiarelli inside, outside council chamber
- Hiring guidelines proposed in wake of Chiarelli allegations
I went to the city hall tree and took pictures and [sent] them to my family and they were all so proud. I wanted to hang my [bra] too, but in the end I didn't.
On what the last year's been like
It's been overwhelming.
I did go to a psychologist for a bitbecause I started getting very stressedand I couldn't walk by myself, but it was all in my head. Inever had anybodyfollowing meand nobody ever harassed me.
Whoever I was meeting with, like my friends and my co-workers, I had to tell the story to anybody I knew because I couldn't believe it myself.I needed to keep talking about it [and] I've received a lot of support from them.
I had to give up on social media a little bit because it was too much. But now I'm back to it. So, you know, things are coming back to normal.
On the recommended sanctions against Chiarelli
If he cares about money, then it's a good punishment. But if he doesn't, then who cares?I want him to stop.
Look, if he was elected for 30 years, maybe he does some good things. I hope so. Otherwise, why are people still voting for him? To put any person through thathe should know better.
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