Hamilton teen takes a stand while sitting in MP's chair

Turning her back on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, walking out on Andrew Scheer, and standing up for her female role models — these are a few of the experiences 18-year-old McMaster University student, Deanna Allain had in Ottawa last week.

"I was hopeful for gaining some kind of takeaway from the event, I didn't really know exactly what it was," said Allain.

Daughters of the Vote was organized by Equal Voice Canada, giving 338 female delegates ranging from 18-23 years old the opportunity to represent their riding with a front row seat to political life in Ottawa. 

Allain, a lifetime Hamilton resident, was chosen to represent the riding of Hamilton Mountain, keeping MP, Scott Duvall's seat warm.  

"We have this incredible opportunity to claim space in the House of Commons, in chambers and sit in our MP's seats," said Allain. 

A 'dream' opportunity

For the teen from Hamilton studying political science — who has already had a start in community engagement with an aspiration to do more, this experience was the right fit.

"As someone who has been following politics for like 10 years now, this was a dream to be able to be in this kind of space."

On Tuesday evening Allain and other delegates were at dinner when they learned that both Jody Wilson-Raybould, MP for Vancouver-Granville and former minister of justice and attorney general, and Jane Philpott, MP for Markham-Stouffville had been ejected from the Liberal caucus.

Allain had just met Wilson-Raybould the night before after waiting in a line with other young females, who wanted the opportunity to meet Wilson-Raybould.

The teen organized a photo of herself and about 20 others in front of Parliament Hill as a sign of solidarity for Wilson-Raybould and Philpott.

Turning backs on the prime minister

"These women, they exemplify exactly what I aspire to be in politics, in life. To be able to risk everything. Risk your career, risk your reputation, risk all of this political backfire and onslaught from your former friends, your former colleagues, simply because you know it's the right thing to do. That is all I ever want to see when I see women in politics," said Allain.

On Wednesday they filled the seats of their MPs in the House of Commons. Trudeau spoke to the crowd, starting off by mentioning the sentiments from his decision to expel the two ministers out of caucus the previous day.

"I need to tell you that this is part of what politics needs to be about — hearing different voices, listening, learning from each other, growing together and figuring out a path forward and it's not going to be easy and it's not going to be simple and quite frankly, it's never going to be obvious what is the right path, or how to do things" said Trudeau.

Many of the young leaders decided to turn their backs to Trudeau, including Allain.

"What we knew in that moment was that this was our platform, this is our chance to send a message and it was exactly what we had to do at that time." 

When it came to Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer's speech, Allain and others walked out of chambers.

"I know that it was my responsibility, my duty."

Allain says she felt Wilson-Raybold and Philpott were in turn supporting them when the two women were in the House of Commons gallery listening to speeches made by the Daughters of the Vote.

'Not a gender issue'

Filomena Tassi, MP for Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas and Minister of Seniors, told CBC News that it's important that women feel empowered to express themselves, but says the expulsions are not about gender. 

"With respect to Deanna expressing her view, I think she needs to have that opportunity for sure. In terms of my own opinion, my opinion is different than Deanna's on this issue," said Tassi.

Tassi says that the prime minister respects opinions coming from men or women.

"For me, as a woman at the cabinet table, the prime minister has always shown respect for the voice that I have offered as a woman." 

The minister also says Trudeau has shown "very strong leadership" throughout the scandal over the past couple of months. 

"So for me this comes down to a breach of trust that resulted and so it is not a gender issue. Now do I think that women should have the right to speak their mind on their views? Absolutely. We have to empower women." 

"I'm proud of Hamilton and I look forward to in the future Hamilton producing a lot more strong female voices."

Allain says her hope after her experience in Ottawa is to build on the connections made with women from across the country.

"I hope that the women MP's know that and know that they're going to continue to have this kind of support from young women engaged in politics."