Kathleen Wynne Gave A Moving Answer When Asked About Her Experiences With Sexual Violence

"Sometimes it's the near misses."

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne got choked up during a press conference Thursday when asked about her experiences with sexual violence.

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Wynne was visiting a sexual assault support centre in Guelph, where she announced more funding for such centres across the province. During the question-and-answer session, a reporter asked whether she had ever experienced sexual violence.

Wynne said she had, and that her experiences are far from uncommon.

"Um, yeah. I mean, I've never — I don't think I have ever talked to a woman, in my experience, who doesn't understand what it means to be pushed aside because you're a woman. Or if not physically assaulted, then verbally assaulted. If not verbally assaulted, then passed over," she said.

"I mean, I think there are, there's a whole continuum of treatment — I don't want to speak for other people, but like I say, I've never met a woman who hasn't had some version of that experience."

Wynne said she was "privileged" not to have experienced serious sexual assault, but she said it was difficult for her to talk about.

"We all have experiences that we can go back to and say, 'Was that my fault? Could that have been different?' And, 'Boy I escaped that one!'"

Wynne said "sometimes it's the near misses" and recounted a story from her early 20s, when she was working at a remote site with some older men, one of whom was notorious for the way he behaved around young women.

Unbeknownst to her, some of the younger men started keeping a watchful eye on her to make sure she was all right — something she only became aware of later.

"I had no idea until they told me that he had a reputation," she said, noting that she never got to thank them.

"That's the kind of world I want to live in, where people look after each other."

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