A Pentecostal minister who was appointed to the Senate in 2010, Meredith was the focus of a Star investigation in 2015 over a two-year sexual relationship with a young woman that began in 2013, when she was 16 and he was 48. Ricard’s investigation found that Meredith violated “the highest standards of dignity” of the Canadian Senate when he “lured” the girl into a sexual relationship, despite how “vulnerable” she was due to her age.
The report as published first takes the reader through the challenges Ricard faced. Meredith objected to the probe, questioning whether Senate ethics rules covered the allegations, and saying whatever he did with the teen was on personal time. But Ricard determined that the code of conduct applies broadly and that a senator must uphold the highest standards in both public and private life.
The report describes how a meeting at a church function in 2013 led to a full-blown sexual relationship. At first, there were flirtatious chats. Then Meredith asked the teen to send naked or partially naked photos of herself. At times, they used Skype or Viber to have video sex. Meredith was either in his taxpayer-paid suite at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, in his church office at the GTA Faith Alliance north of Toronto, or in his home office in the Toronto area.
The report goes into great detail about the intimate relationship, stating that Meredith would masturbate while looking at the girl on a screen. As for their sexual play, the report says Meredith told her “this is what adults do.” During their two-year liason, she called him “uncle” or “daddy.” He called her “daughter,” which Meredith, when interviewed, told Ricard was a “running joke” between them. On one occasion, Meredith introduced her to his wife and daughter.
Early on in their relationship, he invited the teen to his hotel room and promised he would “only take off his socks,” the report says. That encounter ended up as just dinner at a restaurant. Later, she did visit his room. There, he would fondle her. His pants would be down, her top would be off. They had intercourse once before she turned 18 and twice after, the report states. She was a virgin when she met Meredith, and the report notes that Meredith, in a Viber message exchange, told her “no rush baby, no rush.”
Their liasons typically involved dinner, with intimate times at either his hotel room or her apartment. On one occasion, the report says, she returned to his Chateau Laurier room to collect some takeout food after a sexual encounter and Meredith flew into a rage — angry, he said, because somebody might see her. “I am a student and food means a great deal to me,” she told Meredith in a text.
The report notes that Meredith wanted Ricard to prepare two reports, private and public, leaving out most of the detail from the public report. Ricard determined that her report had to tell the full story because the “details are essential to understanding the narrative” and because of the “need to promote public confidence in the fact-finding process.”
While questioning him, the Senate officer told Meredith that Ms. M alleged the senator said he “could introduce (her) to people in the future.” Meredith said he did not recall this, but told Ricard he is always looking out for “how we can help to promote our young people.”