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THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
A transgendered student at Aurora College in Fort Smith has laid a human rights complaint against Thebacha MLA and Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger.

Gabrielle Landrie, who identifies and lives as a female, but was born male, said she was "humiliated and hurt" when approached several times by Miltenberger, who told her to leave the college during a visit by Governor General David Johnston on Dec. 9.

According to Landrie, she was talking to another student - in a corridor the Governor General was to walk through - when Miltenberger passed by and gave her an angry, disgusted look.

A few minutes later, she said Miltenberger returned.

"He looks at me straight in the eye and I look at him, and he says, 'You got to leave,'" Landrie claimed. "And I said, 'Oh?' He goes, 'You spooked the Governor General, so you got to leave.'"

Landrie brushed off the comment, and said Miltenberger went away, apparently angry.

The student said Miltenberger returned a couple of minutes later and again told her to leave, claiming the route of the Governor General was going to have to be changed because of her presence.

Landrie said Miltenberger, who again walked away, was getting angrier by the minute.

Because she didn't want to see any disruption to the Governor General's visit for the college's students and staff, Landrie decided to leave with her friend.

"I figured if I'm not going to get a chance to see him, why ruin it for anybody else?" she said.

However, while walking past the computer lab, she went in to transfer a homework project to a computer.

Landrie said she was in the computer lab not bothering anyone when Miltenberger entered.

"And he looks at me once again. You could taste the anger," she said. "He goes, 'I thought I told you to leave. I want you to leave the premises now.' And I looked at him and I said, 'I'm doing my homework.' He goes, 'No. I want you to leave now.' I said, 'My homework comes first.' And he stormed off."

Although she recalled feeling like she was being treated like a "mutt," Landrie said she finished her homework, went to her locker, got ready and left the building.

"Nobody deserves to be treated like that, no matter who they are," she said of the incident.

Landrie, 42, is particularly disturbed that Miltenberger is an elected official who should represent everyone and treat all fairly, not show disregard and disrespect to someone.

"He did not have the right to do that," she said.

Landrie noted she is accepted as a female at the college and even by the territorial government, which has issued her a driver's license with her gender listed as female.

As it turns out, the Governor General did miss one event scheduled at the college - an address to students gathered in the campus foyer.

However, a statement from the Governor General's office in Ottawa stated that was because of a timing issue.

"Their Excellencies visited Aurora College in Fort Smith where they took part in a roundtable discussion on the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative, which went longer than expected," the statement reads. "As a result, the activity planned in the college foyer did not take place and a shorter route was taken to exit the building, in order to get to the next event on time. During events or visits conducted by the Governor General and/or his wife, the itinerary often changes on short notice."

For his part, Miltenberger declined to comment on Landrie's accusations.

The transgendered student has sent a complaint to the NWT Human Rights Commission.

She wants an apology from Miltenberger, to be offered publicly at the college.

"It would set a lot of things right," Landrie said.

Since the incident, she has been concerned by rumours in the college and the community that her presence disrupted the Governor General's visit.

"A lot of blame was put onto me, saying that I was the cause of it. No, I wasn't the cause," she said.

Landrie said the Governor General's security detail did not appear to have a problem with her presence.

"His guards treated me like a lady," she said.

On the day of the Governor General's visit, she was wearing a black lace dress and high heels for a mock job interview, which is part of her studies in business administration.

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