Brazeau drives off into uncertain future after Senate suspension

By Jorge Barrera
APTN National News
OTTAWA--Moments after the Senate voted to suspend him, trailed by a mob of television cameras and photographers, Sen. Patrick Brazeau strode swiftly from the Red Chamber, down a flight of stairs out through the doors of Parliament Hill’s Centre Block and into the passenger’s seat of a waiting white car, his new girlfriend trailing, jumping into the backseat.

The man who used to hammer out tweets into the wee hours of the morning and who declared in his last Senate speech Monday night that the Conservatives would not throw “this Indian under the bus,” drove off into the Ottawa night without uttering a sound to the reporters swarming around him.

With the Conservatives holding a majority in the Senate, there was never any doubt about the outcome of the vote after Prime Minister Stephen Harper threw his full weight behind the motion to suspend Senators Brazeau, Pamela Wallin and Mike Duffy.

All three were suspended on separate motions. Duffy, however, did not show up for the vote. The trio lost their pay and use of Senate resources until the end of the current Parliamentary session, but kept their health and dental benefits.

Still, there was an air of drama around Tuesday evening’s vote, with the press gallery above the Red Chamber packed to standing room only. Behind the reporters in the viewing gallery sat Brazeau’s new girlfriend, Vanessa Brisson, and his long-time assistant, Lorraine Rochon, who began working with the now suspended Senator while he was national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples.

Of the three suspended Senators, Brazeau may face the most uncertain future. While all three face RCMP breach of trust investigations over their housing and expense claims, Brazeau faces additional legal troubles.

He now faces court date set for Feb. 14 to face charges of assault and sexual assault against a former partner as the RCMP also investigates his claimed income-tax exemptions as a status Indian between 2004 and 2008 by using his former father in-law’s address in Kitigan Zibi.

Brazeau, who was appointed to the Senate by Harper in 2008, was national chief of CAP which represented non-status and urban Aboriginal people.

Brazeau also initially tried to stay on as national chief of CAP after he was appointed to the Senate in hopes of collecting both his $130,400 Senate salary and his $100,170 CAP salary.

Brazeau just could not escape controversy. He was dogged in the Senate by a sexual harassment complaint from his time at CAP which he fought in Federal Court until coming to a settlement. He also repeatedly ran into trouble online, once calling a Canadian Press reporter a “bitch.”

He did manage to attract the lights in the run-up and aftermath of his charity boxing match with Liberal leader Justin Trudeau. Trudeau won the fight and cut Brazeau’s once flowing pony tail in the foyer of the House of Commons. One Ottawa Citizen columnist declared the Algonquin Senator could someday become a Conservative party leadership candidate.

The sweet lights quickly turned sour for Brazeau who became a lightning rod of controversy on First Nations issues. Claiming to be a champion of the grassroots, he turned against the Idle No More movement while mocking Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence during her fast on Victoria Island, which lasted from December 2012 to January of this year.

Reports then surfaced around his housing allowance, revealing he was using his father’s house as a primary residence in Maniwaki, Que., while spending most of his time living in a rented house in Gatineau, Que. Senators can claim a housing allowance if they live more than 100 kilometres outside of Ottawa.

Then the use of his father-in-law’s address on tax returns surfaced in a CTV report on the night Feb. 6.

Hours after the report aired, Gatineau police allege an argument between Brazeau and his live-in partner over his handling of First Nations issues turned violent.

The next morning, at 9 a.m., Gatineau police arrived at Brazeau’s rented Gatineau home. Police received two phone calls from a crying woman that morning. It was the same house that Brazeau video-taped himself strumming a guitar and singing a song dedicated to murdered and missing Indigenous women.

Gatineau police allege, according to a court document, that Brazeau choked and spat on the woman, pushed her down stairs, grabbed her breasts and pulled her pants down hard enough to snap a button and break a zipper.

Police found him locked in an upstairs bedroom.

Brazeau was expelled from the Conservative caucus.

Then, over the summer, Brazeau met a new woman, Vanessa Brisson, a server who worked at a bar near the Ottawa River in Gatineau.

Facebook photos depicted the two smiling and cuddling.

The relationship would have avoided the media glare if it wasn’t for another police call, this time at a house owned by Brisson.

Details of that September night remain unclear. Brisson told APTN National News Brazeau did not hurt her. Brazeau later claimed that he spent eight days in the hospital following the incident.

He had an October court date postponed as a result of those health issues.

Brazeau now faces a future he never imagined back in December 22, 2008 when it emerged he had been appointed by Harper to the Senate along with 18 others including Duffy and Wallin.

While Duffy and Wallin had already risen to prominence as television personalities, Brazeau was just beginning his political career.

Brazeau has belatedly attempted to wrap himself in his heritage, claiming he is the victim of racism within the Conservative party. He apologized to the “Aboriginal community,” claiming many of his past statement on First Nations issues were dictated by the Prime Minister’s Office.

While some in the Aboriginal community may be ready to forgive him, few are ready to embrace him.

“He could have made a difference in the lives of First Nations, but (he) thought he was above us. Now that he has been cast aside by those he though could provide him wealth and power he is crawling back and seeking forgiveness,” wrote Frank Shawnoo, on APTN National News‘ Facebook page. “I will forgive him, but I will never trust or believe in him. Oh how the mighty have fallen.”

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@JorgeBarrera