IN times of turmoil it is important to acknowledge the unexpected gifts we receive.
Mrs Bertha McDougall retiring from the public sphere and stepping down from the Board of the Victims and Survivors Service is one such moment. Her retirement is a much quieter moment than her first appearance.
In 2005, in an effort of apparent political appeasement, the then Secretary of State, Labour MP Peter Hain, appointed Bertha as an “interim Victims' Commissioner”. A Victims' Commissioner had been a demand of the DUP, and in particular Jeffrey Donaldson, as the restoration of power-sharing was negotiated.
Bertha McDougall’s husband Lindsay, a part-time RUC reservist, had been killed by the INLA in Belfast in 1981. She had founded a group called 'Forgotten Families'. Ian Paisley had given her name to Peter Hain as a prospective Victims' Commissioner. Brenda Downes, whose husband John had been killed by the RUC in 1984, was supported by Relatives for Justice to judicially challenge her appointment. Justice Girvan upheld the challenge, saying that the appointment had been “for political purpose” and criticised the “lack of candour” of the Secretary of State, who had facilitated this side deal.
The following year the Victims' Commission was properly established under the Victims and Survivors Order, and in 2008 four Victims' Commissioners were appointed, with apparently one Commissioner for each of the four largest parties. Bertha McDougall was one of the four. In subsequent years, Bertha proved herself to be a woman of merit. She far surpassed Ian Paisley's or Peter Hain’s assessment of her.
I remember the rainy day in County Clare when Relatives for Justice faced a crisis which there seemed little appetite to resolve. Bertha was on the end of the phone to find out what was going on and she committed to roll up her sleeves and help.
The process that first appointed her was wrong, but this woman was right. She quietly and assiduously worked to ensure that all victims and survivors were afforded dignity and respect. She challenged everyone in every room, bringing to bear her experience, extraordinary intellect and immensely impressive instincts. She made private phone calls to individuals facing deeply difficult days, to understand what they faced and find practical pathways to support.
I remember the rainy day in County Clare when Relatives for Justice faced a crisis which there seemed little appetite to resolve. Bertha was on the end of the phone to find out what was going on and she committed to roll up her sleeves and help. And she did. She faced into debates that have been heart-breaking and difficult with courage and tenacity and the single vision that compassionate hearts develop.
She is a feminist who will always seek out the disadvantaged voices of women who have suffered egregiously and whose needs are regularly essentialised but rarely understood. And she challenges assumptions all of the time. She will ask uncomfortable questions in ways that can cause silence but demand answers, because her integrity shines through. Hers may have initially been a political appointment, but she was never a political puppet.
Above all of that, Bertha McDougall is a kind person who richly deserves peace and happiness. In recent years she remarried and when she speaks of her family her eyes dance and her infectious smile beams. I have been with Bertha on many days when she sits amongst the families who gather, reflect and share their experience. She listens without judgement and with unforced kindness. She becomes in that moment and for all days to come the most welcome of friends.
We should all give thanks for her immense contribution.
