A video released online over the weekend shows Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland arriving at City Hall in Grande Prairie, Alta., on Friday and then confronting the man as he approached and entered an elevator. Trudeau addressed the incident during an announcement in Ottawa about funding for an action plan to support LGBTQ communities. He said what Freeland faced is not isolated and is seen with increasing frequency by people in public life, especially women and minorities. “Threats, violence, intimidation of any kind are always unacceptable and this kind of cowardly behavior threatens and undermines our democracy and the values, openness and respect that Canada was built on,” Trudeau said. The incident prompted current and former politicians from across the spectrum to denounce the incident and speak out against the harassment faced by public figures. The identity of the man in the video has been widely circulated online, but efforts by the Canadian press to contact him have so far been unsuccessful. Trudeau characterized the controversy as a “backlash” of a type that has been growing on social media for years, where every time a woman speaks on social media, she is subjected to harassment and toxicity to the point where her voice and the right to free expression is reduced. “As leaders, we need to call it out and take a united stand against it, because no matter who you are, who you love, the color of your skin, how you pray, where you’re from, your gender, you deserve respect,” she said. “You deserve to live in peace without fear of threats of violence.” Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek agreed that what happened in Freeland is not isolated. In a series of Twitter posts posted on Sunday, he recounted several incidents in which he said he was afraid. In one incident during a campaign in 2017, he said he received a phone call from a man who said he knew where he lived and that he should “be careful.” “He then confronted me personally in a public debate. He was about 6’2″, 200 pounds,” Gondek wrote. “In an open area full of people, he yelled at me to whistle that he had made this phone call and was going to make sure I lost the election. Then he sat in the front row and hijacked me for the entire event.” Gondek also said protesters came to her home in January to voice complaints about public health measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. She said they were standing in her driveway, but she didn’t realize they were there until she opened the garage door, sending them running into the driveway. Gondek said her mother was with her at the time, adding that they quickly closed the door and went back inside. “My mom still looks nervously down the road every time we have to drive somewhere,” Godek wrote. Grande Prairie Mayor Jackie Clayton said in a video posted online Saturday that the Freeland incident was “a disgusting display of hatred and abuse.” She expressed her gratitude to the municipal staff who “calmly de-escalated the situation and acted in a highly professional manner despite the stressful situation”. “The confrontation at the town hall that was caught on video does not reflect the welcoming spirit our region is known for. We don’t have to agree on every issue to treat each other with basic respect,” Clayton said. “No one should be subjected to abusive behavior.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 28, 2022.
