CALEB NICKERSON
OTTAWA April 14, 2021
Pontiac MP Will Amos made international headlines last Wednesday after he appeared naked during a video conference with fellow members of parliament and a leaked photo was widely . . .
circulated on social and traditional media outlets.
Amos was in his parliamentary office participating in a hybrid sitting of the house, where some MPs appear via video link. Only his fellow MPs and some parliamentary staffers witnessed him in the nude, as the video feed is only visible to the public when someone is speaking.
At the end of question period, Bloc Québécois MP Claude DeBellefeuille raised a point of order, emphasizing that members should respect the dress code and noting that an MP had appeared naked, but didn’t identify Amos as the culprit.
“We have seen that the member was in very good shape, but I think this member should be reminded of what is appropriate and to control his camera,” she said in French.
Shortly after, a screen shot which shows Amos standing in his office naked, with his groin area covered by what appears to be a cell phone was leaked and circulated widely on social and traditional media outlets. The photo was first posted by Sun Media columnist Brian Lilley.
The story was picked up by a diverse array of major publications, from the New York Times to People Magazine and The South China Morning Post. Some ran the original photo, while others opted for various degrees of censorship.
In a statement released on social media Wednesday evening, Amos apologized and offered an explanation.
“I made a really unfortunate mistake today & obviously I’m embarrassed by it. My camera was accidentally left on as I changed into work clothes after going for a jog. I sincerely apologize to all my colleagues in the House. It was an honest mistake + it won’t happen again,” he wrote.
THE EQUITY requested further context on the mishap from Amos’ office.
“MP Amos was in his Parliament Hill (Wellington Building) office and had accidentally left on his desktop camera prior to going for a run,” Amos’ executive assistant Francis Beausoleil wrote in an email. “When he returned from his run he did not realize it was still on, as he thought he had turned it off before leaving for his run.”
The following day, Chief Government Whip Marc Holland released a statement calling the dissemination of the photograph “a terrible violation.” It notes that it is forbidden for MPs to take screen shots of the non-public portions of their meetings and called for an investigation into who leaked the photo.
“This is not within the scope of normal or acceptable partisan politics,” the statement reads. “This was a cruel, mean-spirited and potentially criminal act. We call upon the assistance of all Parliamentarians in finding out who is responsible and for them to be held to account.”
Speaking to the New York Times, Andrea Slane, a professor of legal studies at Ontario Tech University said that she didn’t believe sharing the photo violated the law, since Amos’ genitals were obscured.
The statement from Holland also insinuates that the leaker was a member of the Conservative Party, as it mentions the Bloc and NDP whips had “made compelling cases that this breach of privacy did not happen from within their offices.” It adds that the image was distributed by Post Media [sic] and Sun Media.
In a statement sent to CTV News, Conservative Whip Blake Richards took issue with the implication.
“We have no reason to believe that a member of our caucus was involved,” he wrote. “In fact, as soon as we became aware that the Member was on camera, my office informed the Liberal Whip’s office. I was hoping that could be the end of it and I’m disappointed that the issue was raised publicly in the House by the Bloc, drawing attention to it and setting off a media frenzy.”
Several Conservative MPs, including Pierre Poilievre and Garnett Genius had shared the photo on social media with jokey captions referring to “transparency” and a “Liberal cover up”. The tweets were later deleted.
In an email sent on April 15, Pontiac Conservative candidate Michel Gauthier declined to comment on the story.
“This kind of unusual incident always finds its way into the official media, when the person at the center of the story is a public or political figure,” he wrote. “Although I am a former journalist and editor, I will not comment further on this situation, simply because I am the Conservative candidate in Pontiac. Under the circumstances, I don’t intend to pass judgment on this story.”
Amos was interviewed by several media outlets following the incident, and spoke about how his first thoughts were for his family.
“The conversation [about the incident] with my wife, which I’d been sort of delaying, had to happen right away,” he told Joan Bryden of the Canadian Press. “And then you start thinking about your parents and your in-laws and your relatives…. Your mind is racing.”
“I’m resolutely not casting myself in a victim posture here … I made a mistake,” he added. “I’m accountable for not being aware that my camera was on … I have to integrate that into the rest of my life.”
Elsewhere in the article, which was published on April 17, Amos called the act of sharing the photo “corrosive” and said that it might discourage participation in politics or reduce trust in democratic institutions.
