Rise in political violence threatens the rule of law

Opinion

“We need as Canadians to open our eyes and recognize that political violence is not something that just occurs somewhere else, but that it is happening here in our own communities.”

— Former federal public safety minister Marco Mendicino

One of the dangers facing anyone who decides to stand for public office in today’s highly polarized political climate is that sooner or later someone will take exception to something they say or do, and decide to act out.

And depending on how controversial the actions or comments, or how ferocious the public sentiment against an individual may be, that action can manifest in varying degrees of violence.

Someone may send hostile emails to a government minister, calling them names or threatening violence against their person or their family. Some politicians get stalked by crazed individuals, or have their windows broken or property damaged.

Last month, police said an arsonist started a fire at Manitoba Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine’s Winnipeg-based constituency office, just one week after the windows of the same building were smashed in.

While no one was injured as a result of the vandalism to the building, police are still looking for the perpetrators. But it seems clear that the targeting of Fontaine’s office was an intimidation tactic against the families minister.

A recent CBC story also noted that the constituency office of Point Douglas NDP MLA Bernadette Smith, who’s also the provincial housing minister, has been hit by four fires since the start of August.

While the attacks against these two ministers has been characterized as gender-based violence — and there is certainly a ring of truth to that assertion — violence against politicians of all stripes and genders has been rising over the last decade.

In 2016, former Alberta NDP MLA Sandra Jansen was given a temporary security detail after receiving threats following her decision to cross the floor from the Progressive Conservative Party.

Last year, a man who sent an email in late 2020 threatening Alberta NDP MLA Marlin Schmidt and his family with assassination was sentenced to four months in jail.

Earlier this year, an explosive device was set off outside B.C. Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma’s constituency office in North Vancouver. This followed threats of death and sexual violence to both B.C. United MLA Elenore Stark, who later joined the Conservatives, and former NDP cabinet minister Selina Robinson — both of whom recounted their experiences in 2023.

According to a report by the Vancouver Sun, Robinson said she received emails nearly every day for several months with the subject line “I will kill you Selina Robinson,” and threats to cut her genitalia.

In April of this year, Liberal MP Pam Damoff joined other Canadian women MPs in warning that growing threats and harassment were driving them out of politics.

A January story by Global News recounted that the House of Commons’ sergeant-at-arms office had opened eight files on threats against MPs in 2019. But that number rose to 530 in 2024. The Crisis Management Cell through the federal Privy Council Office noted that in just the first half of 2024, it had tracked 26 death threats made against former prime minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet.

Members of the federal opposition, too, have faced their own threats, with former NDP leader Jagmeet Singh at one point assigned round-the-clock RCMP protection. And in the wake of the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in the United States, federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has even expressed concern for his family as political violence grows in both Canada and the United States.

“I think all the political leaders and ministers who face real threats, according to the RCMP’s assessment, they should have protection so that something like this does not happen on our turf,” Poilievre told CBC last month.

Such violence is one of the main reasons that far too many good candidates are taking a pass at running for office. Who wants to attract such unwanted and often dangerous attention from faceless individuals who feel emboldened to do harm?

There is a real danger to the rule of law when society at large begins to think that intimidation and threats have any place in modern political discourse.

No matter how much we may disagree with each other, no one should have to endure violence and fear just because of the colour of their politics or the nature of their opinions.