[17] Nonetheless, Meredith had supported New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament (MP) Bill Siksay's private member's bill[18] to add gender identity to the list of distinguishable group traits protected from hate speech by the Criminal Code and to allow judges to take into account whether crimes were motivated by hatred of transgender or transsexual people when determining the offender's sentence.

[19] In opposition, Stephen Harper had opposed Siksay's predecessor, former NDP MP Svend Robinson's successful private member's bill that added sexual orientation to the law in 2004.

[20] Meredith was appointed to the Canadian Senate on 18 December 2010 on the advice of Prime Minister Harper, and joined the Conservative caucus.

In September 2012, Meredith was criticized for attending a cultural event at Carleton University organized by the Iranian embassy at a time when the Canadian government was urging a boycott of Iran.

Two years later, in February 2015, Quintet Consulting Corp, a third-party firm, was hired to investigate because Pierre Claude Nolin, the Speaker of the Senate of Canada, had noticed a higher than usual turnover rate in Meredith's office.

The ethics investigation included allegations of unwanted sexual advances, innuendo, and rude behaviour from eight women: four of Meredith's former staffers and four Senate employees.

[2] The woman said that Meredith "continually encouraged her to be in a relationship with him" and that he frequently masturbated on-camera during video chats while he was in his GTA Faith Alliance office.

Meredith repeatedly apologizing for his "moral failing" and begging forgiveness but refused to step down, while taking sick leave on doctor's orders.

He claimed to be a victim of racism in this affair, with his first lawyer Selwyn Pieters suggesting "his client was being portrayed as a "sexual predator" because he is an imposing black man".

[31] Although the Senate has no explicit power to expel a member, a situation unprecedented in Canadian history, the Ethics Committee "accepted the legal opinion of the law clerk and parliamentary counsel to the Senate that the Constitution gives the upper house the same privileges enjoyed by the United Kingdom's House of Commons, which can permanently eject a member".

[32] In his resignation letter he stated that "the path of expulsion being considered by [his] colleagues will have major implications for the Senate of Canada" and that "this is a constitutional fight in which [he] will not engage.

In September 2020, following recommendations in a report by former Quebec Court of Appeal judge Louise Otis [fr], the Senate internal economy committee authorized financial compensation for Meredith's victims.