Ottawa-Vanier Liberal MPP Nathalie Des Rosiers has apologized for a tweet, sent from her account Wednesday night, which took a stance the Abdirahman Abdi case that Des Rosiers has since called "inappropriate."
The tweet read, "My thoughts are with Abdi's family & friends murdered by a careless police officer. Be strong!" A similar tweet in French was also published.
Des Rosiers says the tweets, which have since been deleted, were written and published by a staffer, without her knowledge.
“I did not pen that tweet. I was asleep when it was tweeted,” Des Rosiers told CFRA’s Ottawa Now. “But, I take full responsibility from the fact that someone did use my name and my account to issue the tweets, and they were inappropriate. It’s inappropriate to comment on an ongoing judicial process.”
Ottawa Police Cst. Daniel Montsion is facing a charge of manslaughter, as well as aggravated assault and assault with a weapon, in the case of Abdi’s death. Montsion’s trial is not slated to begin until February of 2019.
Des Rosiers said she initially thought she had been hacked, when she first woke up and noticed the tweets.
“It turned out it was a young member of the team that made a mistake,” she said. “Certainly, we’re looking at our protocols here to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
She said her password has been changed.
She also said she made contact with police to apologize for what had happened.
“Once I realized what happened this morning, I deleted the tweet and reached out to Chief Bordeleau and President of the [Ottawa Police Association Matt Skof], to express my apologies.”
On Twitter Thursday afternoon, Skof responded to Des Rosiers’ comments.
Thank you for clarifying @ndesrosiers Good to see these comments and ownership of the issue. @OTTAWAPAca @PoliceAssocON #ottawa https://t.co/4V9FD0kIyT
— Matt Skof (@OPA_President) July 27, 2017
But Des Rosiers would not comment on what kind of discipline, if any, the staffer would face.
“This is going to be an internal matter for us, and we’re looking at ensuring the protocols are done properly,” she said. “I want to reassure the public that obviously it was inappropriate, and we should not continue to repeat this. The important thing here is to display confidence in the judicial process. I believe in the presumption of innocence. We should all believe in the presumption of innocence.”
She repeated that it will be "an internal matter" when asked if her staff would be limited in access to her account.
Des Rosiers added she’s not worried that the tweet will have a negative impact on Montsion’s trial.
“I think the judicial process is very strong,” she said. “One tweet, that is then removed, and is quite identified that it’s a mistake and that it was inappropriate, I think the judicial process will not be affected by this.”