Western Standard - October 20, 2021


EXCLUSIVE： Chu vows not to resign, apologizes and speaks out on allegations


Episode Stats


Length

4 minutes

Words per minute

165.79599

Word count

804

Sentence count

44

Harmful content

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Calgary Councillor Sean Chu says he's got no intention of resigning, but he has apologized to a woman he had a sexual encounter with 24 years ago. Chu served as a Calgary police officer from 1992 until he was elected in 2013.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Hello, I'm Dave Naylor, the news editor of the Western Standard.
00:00:10.560 Embattled Calgary Councillor Sean Chu says he's got no intention of resigning,
00:00:15.360 but he has apologized to a woman he had a sexual encounter with 24 years ago.
00:00:20.000 Quote, I'm sorry, I didn't mean any harm,
00:00:22.800 Chu told the Western Standard in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.
00:00:27.120 City officials confirmed Chu had won the election race in Ward 4 by a mere 52 votes after allegations
00:00:35.120 surfaced last week of his involvement in August of 1997 with a girl who was just 16 at the time.
00:00:42.320 This was nothing but a political assassination, Chu told me.
00:00:45.440 Chu, who has represented Ward 4 since 2013, also fired back at some media reports which he claims
00:00:52.560 were completely wrong. Chu said he met the unidentified girl at a pub on McLeod Trail near 94th Avenue South
00:00:59.760 and not the Husky House restaurant downtown where some media had reported.
00:01:04.960 Because it was a licensed establishment, I thought the girl was at least 18 years old,
00:01:09.040 said Chu, who was in his uniform and with his partner at the time.
00:01:13.840 I was single and I thought some girl liked me, Chu said.
00:01:17.120 The Western Standard cannot confirm at this time if there is a documentary evidence of the encounter,
00:01:24.000 that the encounter was at the Husky House or at the pub on McLeod Trail.
00:01:29.120 At some point in the interaction, Chu caressed the girl's leg, an incident that later earned him a
00:01:35.440 letter of reprimand on his file. Chu said the girl seemed interested in him, so when he was off duty,
00:01:42.080 he went home, changed into civilian clothes and went back to the pub to meet her. The evening
00:01:48.000 continued with Chu and the girl eventually heading to his house. Once there, the pair started, quote,
00:01:56.320 kissing and hugging. But there was no intercourse, said Chu. He did admit there was some, quote,
00:02:01.920 touching beneath clothes. Chu told me she then said she wanted to go home and I drove her straight there.
00:02:08.400 Chu denied media reports that a gun had been produced during the evening at the home.
00:02:13.120 He said he had checked his service weapon in at the police traffic office when he signed off duty.
00:02:18.720 At one point, Chu said he owned a shotgun but denied that weapon was ever produced or shown
00:02:24.400 in any way that night. He told me, quote, if there had been a gun involved, there would have been
00:02:29.200 charges against me. The Western Standard has not seen any documents that indicate the presence
00:02:34.560 or absence of a firearm on the evening in question. Chu says he does not drink but added he did not know
00:02:41.040 if the girl had been drinking that evening. After the incident, the girl reported the case to city
00:02:46.480 police claiming she was sexually assaulted. That led to nine years of investigations, court battles and
00:02:53.200 appeals, with news of the case only leaking last week, days before the election. There was never any
00:02:59.040 sexual assault or weapons charges laid and Chu says the letter of reprimand was the only discipline
00:03:05.120 that came out of the entire process. That stayed on his file for five years and was eventually removed.
00:03:12.160 Documents obtained by the Western Standard and other media indicate that the woman claimed the whole
00:03:17.360 process was, quote, a cover-up. Chu served as a Calgary police officer from 1992 until he was elected in 2013.
00:03:25.040 Chu is now at the center of a political storm, with friends and supporters deserting him.
00:03:30.640 Calgary Nose Hill MP Michelle Rempel-Garner tweeted her disgust at the incident. She tweeted, quote,
00:03:36.800 I have supported Mr. Chu in the past, but firmly withdraw all such report in light of these reports.
00:03:42.880 Believing the women means walking the talk. She continued, in light of the disciplinary action as a 1.00
00:03:48.400 result of inappropriate contact with a minor, MP Rempel-Garner is formally withdrawing
00:03:54.240 her endorsement of Councillor Sean Chu and he will no longer be a member of her community association.
00:04:00.800 Now Chu is looking at his legal options and a possible defamation lawsuit over what he calls some
00:04:06.880 of the false reporting. He told me, I have always told the truth. My reputation is important to me
00:04:13.200 and now my family is hurting. Chu said he wouldn't comment on remarks made by New Calgary Mayor
00:04:18.480 Jyoti Gondek that she will try and have him removed from Council. He said, quote, I will continue to tell
00:04:24.640 the truth at Council and will be a fiscal hawk. The most important thing is I told the truth and the
00:04:30.400 truth will prevail. It appears any bid to try and remove Chu from Council would fail because he was not
00:04:36.400 charged or convicted criminally. For the Western Standard, I'm news editor Dave Naylor. Good afternoon.