Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek has said in a long series of Twitter posts that she has been the target of threats during her political career.
It was the media coverage of the verbal harassment suffered by Federal Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland that prompted her to testify. The facts took place on Friday. As the Minister of Finance was about to board an elevator, a man approached her vigorously, shouting to her: “Get out of this province! “.
“Some have asked me why I did not make a public statement about the attack on our Deputy Prime Minister, wrote Ms.me Gondek on Sunday, two days after the fact. To be honest, I had to think for a few days. Because this incident is not isolated and it brings up too much pain. And of fear. Yes, fear. »
1/I have been asked by some people why I haven’t made a public statement about the assault on our Deputy Prime Minister. To be blunt, I had to sit with my thoughts for a couple of days. Because this incident is not isolated & it brings up too much pain. And fear. Yes, fear.
—Jyoti Gondek (@JyotiGondek) August 28, 2022
In 2017, while Jyoti Gondek was campaigning for the municipal elections, a man, who said he knew her address, showed up at a debate to threaten her and tell her that he would “make sure that[elle] lose the election”. The man would then have sat “in the front row” to “eye her for the duration of the event”.
Mme Gondek also said he repeatedly feared for his family’s safety. “In January 2022, protesters came to my house to express their dissatisfaction with the sanitary measures. They stayed in the driveway [de ma maison] until I opened the garage door, after which they rushed out into the street. »
The scene traumatized the politician’s mother, who was present that day and “still looks nervously down the aisle every time we have to go somewhere,” laments the mayor.
Four months later, in April 2022, a “false horse’s head” was placed outside her home at night, and “we know very well what a horse’s head symbolizes”. In movies, like The Godfatherthe severed horse’s head symbolizes a death threat.
Women and diversity more often targeted
The event on Friday sparked a wave of reactions among politicians, allies or opponents, who condemned the situation and called for greater security for elected officials.
Sunday, Justin Trudeau recalled that the event involving his Deputy Prime Minister is not isolated and occurs more and more often within the political class. According to the Prime Minister, women and elected representatives from diverse backgrounds are even more often targeted by this type of attack.
“The reality is that we all know the Deputy Prime Minister will be targeted again. We know I will be targeted again. […] And the next time, it could end in injury, or death, ”warned the mayor.