It’s an exchange that has since gone viral: a group of Alberta citizens verbally harassing Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.
It’s an exchange that, according to Equal Voice’s executive director, Eleanor Fast, is an all-too-familiar occurrence for women in politics.
“We do know that there is misogyny in Canadian politics, and women receive gender threats and harassment related to being women,” she says.
Former Kingston and the Islands MPP Sophie Kiwala says she experienced something similar during her time in provincial office, and notes that occurrences like these can make women not want to follow a career in politics.
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“We have to try and mitigate the damage, because it’s damaging,” Kiwala says.
“I mean, good leaders leave politics because of this kind of thing.”
It’s a claim, Fast says, that they have the statistics to back up.
“We asked women about their opinions about being in politics, whether they would like to be in politics, and 65 per cent of the respondents told us that they would be worried about their physical safety,” Fast says.
Politicians from all parties have spoken out against the harassment, but Kiwala says just speaking out isn’t enough.
“It’s not just enough to put something out on social media and get the soundbites when things like this happen,” she says.
“What needs to happen is that we need to unpack it, we need to understand why it’s happening, we need to do everything in our power to make sure that it’s not happening in the future.”
While Kiwala’s incident ended with an apology, the RCMP says it will be investigating the incident involving Freeland, and if the threshold is met, it may end in arrest and charges laid.
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