Canadians must get serious about combatting hate speech and gender violence

OTTAWA—Belatedly, but importantly, the city of Montreal last week marked the 30th year since the murder by a Quebec man of 14 women at the École Polytechnique by officially naming the incident for was what it was—an attack on feminists. The type of semi-automatic weapon used by the woman-hating assailant, who separated women from men before committing the worst mass shooting ever in Canada, will finally be banned under the new Liberal government’s tightening of gun control laws. That’s a welcome development, but it’s only a small part of the overall effort Canadians need to undertake on an urgent basis if the country is going to confront the rise of violence and hate-mongering, particularly against women, being experienced here and globally. There’s a direct line over the decades connecting the Montreal massacre to the outpouring of sexualized hate and threats that forced the government to give Catherine McKenna, the former environment minister, a security detail earlier this year. The verbal attacks on McKenna echo a worldwide phenomenon. No doubt U.S. President Donald Trump’s vilification of his opponents—as in suggesting rival Hillary Clinton should be jailed or maybe shot—has given licence to extremists everywhere. Globally, illiberal populist strongman governments in Poland, Brazil, Turkey, the Philippines, and other countries have flourished as they built various strains of anti-feminism into their policies. The overall picture is deeply disturbing. According to the World Health Organization, one-in-three women globally, and one-in-five women in rich countries, have experienced sexual and/or physical violence from a partner or sexual violence from a non-partner. In Canada, a trial is still pending for the Toronto man charged with first-degree murder after a van attack last year that killed 10 pedestrians, including eight women. The alleged killer told police he was avenging his status as an incel (involuntary celibate), a term for men who blame society for their failure to attract women. The alleged killer paid homage to a California man who left a misogynistic manifesto in 2014 after killing six people. Some analysts see anti-feminist messaging as a prime gateway for alienated young men transiting into the wider realm of extreme racism and potentially violent behaviour fuelled by conspiracy theories prominent on the web. Speaking at the UN following the Christchurch, New Zealand, terrorist attack in early 2019, then-foreign affairs minister Chrystia Freeland said “neo-Nazis, white supremacists, incels, nativists, and radical anti-globalists who resort to violent acts are a threat to the stability of my country and countries around the world.” The upsurge of extremism in Canada has gained momentum from the angry reaction in the West to the economic downturn in Alberta caused by the enduring oil price slump and resentment of non-Prairie Canadians’ attitudes on climate change, pipelines, and oil and gas development. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has politically weaponized these hard-done-by feelings, accusing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of purposely and systematically putting Albertans at a disadvantage. Part of Kenney’s communications is an attempt to demonize environmentalists as foreign-backed interlopers out to destroy his province’s economic mainstay. Whipping up this kind of rancour has consequences. Environmentalists are dealing with a new level of anxiety since Kenney created a $30-million “war room.” Reinstating initiatives from the Harper government, it is meant to confront what Kenney says are myths and lies about the energy sector being spread by greens. Tzeporah Berman of Stand.Earth told a reporter several months ago that threats and attacks against her have worsened since she was named in Alberta’s “war room” dispatches. In this context, Kenney and Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer might want to think twice about their strategy of blaming Trudeau for all of Alberta’s problems in the most personally vituperative manner possible. This kind of language obviously breeds hatred among alienated, angry people—the kind who call the prime minister a traitor or think it’s cute to wear T-shirts bearing threats to lynch him. Despite the power of the gun lobby, the new Liberal government is promising to outlaw military-style rifles, empower cities to ban handguns, and introduce a $400- to $600-million program to buy back as many of the 250,000 semi-automatic assault rifles legally owned by Canadians as possible. Conservatives will oppose these tighter controls. The Throne Speech also took note of gender-based violence and the need to create a national action plan to confront this hate-driven reality. An effective response will have to be wide-ranging, including support for women’s shelters, improved legal protections, a crackdown on online hate speech, education of judges in sexual assault law, and continued efforts to curb workplace harassment. There’s a long way to go. A woman or girl is killed every 2.5 days in Canada, according to a report last year by the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability. And 90 per cent of the accused in these cases are men. Les Whittington is a regular columnist for The Hill Times. The Hill Times