Survivors slam disabilities minister; Hehr sorry for ‘insulting’ comments
OTTAWA — A contrite-sounding Kent Hehr publicly apologized Tuesday to a group of thalidomide survivors who accused the disabilities minister of belittling them and their cause as a “sob story,” among other insults, during an in-person meeting earlier this year.
Hehr, who lives with a disability himself and is in a wheelchair, said he meant no harm during his face-to-face meeting Oct. 19 with members of the Thalidomide Survivor Task Group, all of them victims of the devastating side effects the long-banned pregnancy drug.
“I apologize for what transpired in the meeting, for the way they feel the meeting went,” Hehr said outside the House of Commons under the hot glare of television lights. “There’s no doubt about that.”
What transpired, spokeswoman Fiona Sampson told a bombshell news conference Tuesday, was this: “‘Everyone in Canada has a sob story,’” Sampson quoted Hehr as saying. “‘Lots of people have it bad in Canada— disabled people, poor people, not just you.’” She also accused him of saying the survivors were better off now than when they were kids.