Abuse in politics harms more than the victims

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/09/2022 (1138 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I guess this is what it means to be triggered. As I watched the video of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland being verbally assaulted a few days ago by a thug in Grande Prairie, Alta., memories of my own experiences of political violence came flooding back.

Freeland was ambushed while visiting the Grande Prairie city hall. She was getting into an elevator when a large, bearded white man in a torn sleeveless undershirt began yelling profanities at her.

At least two people accompanying him recorded the incident on their smartphones and posted the videos on social media as something they are proud of. The recordings are as disgusting as they are troubling.

Freeland, who has described herself as “5’2” on a good day,” was trapped in an elevator with three female staffers as they were accosted by the loudmouth. What if he had intended to physically harm them? They had no protection, and no path for escape.

It was likely that concern that caused me to recall some of the scary moments I have experienced in politics over the years.

In 2006, when I was running for mayor of Brandon, my 12-year-old son and I were installing a large campaign sign on the front lawn of a friend I had known for years. Just as we finished, her 20-something son sped up in his truck and jumped out. He started yelling profanities and then destroyed the sign we had just installed.

He pushed my son to the ground, causing him to bang his head. Then he shoved me and threatened to kill me. He was yelling at his mother and threatening her.

It happened so fast. I didn’t know if my son was hurt. I didn’t know how much more violent this unhinged man could become. I didn’t know if he was going to harm his mother, and I didn’t have a cellphone with me.

I gathered my son, quickly drove home and called the police. The man was charged with several criminal offences, including assault and uttering threats.

That was a scary situation, but it was far from the only time I’ve experienced bad behaviour during an election. I’ve worked on dozens of campaigns over the years. While door knocking, I’ve been yelled at, threatened and spit on. I’ve had doors slammed in my face and dogs “sicced” on me. I was bitten one time.

I’ve seen far worse happen to others. Women and people of colour are far too often the targets of terrifying verbal and physical abuse during campaigns.

The reality is that Freeland has likely been subjected to similar attacks before, and they were simply unreported because that form of abuse is widely accepted as a grimy part of our politics. It has been going on for many years, and is undoubtedly occurring in elections unfolding right now across the country.

Even worse is the reality that the threats and intimidation don’t stop when campaigns end. The abuse often continues for those who are elected — especially women — and for their staff, as well.

How do we end this? What can we do before somebody is seriously harmed, or even killed?

A good first step would be for us to stop accepting this behaviour as a “necessary evil” of our political process, and view it as the genuine threat it poses to our people and our democracy.

That starts with giving victims the confidence and support to step forward and expose not just how big the problem is, but who is causing it. Then we need zero-tolerance enforcement of the laws that are supposed to protect people from abuse, in all its forms.

Even more urgently, we must condemn and defeat the politicians who actively and/or implicitly encourage this behaviour from their supporters. They are cynically fueling a dangerous fire, naively thinking they can control it.

Most of all, we must recognize that all the abuse, threats and assaults are driving away thoughtful, talented people our democracy and society needs in order to flourish. They could be making important contributions to our nation, provinces and local governments, but are unwilling to expose themselves and their families to a very real risk.

That’s the real problem here. When good people refuse to participate in politics, the thugs win. And when we let the thugs win, we all lose.

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Twitter: @deverynross