The House of Commons is offering MPs ‘alert buttons’ to increase their personal safety, following a series of threats against elected officials and growing concern over harassment of parliamentarians.
In interview at The Canadian Pressbefore Thursday’s adjournment of work for the summer, the Minister of Public Security, Marco Mendicino revealed on Monday that he himself had been targeted by death threats on social networks in recent weeks, after having filed in the Commons a bill that tightens handgun control.
Minister Mendicino said he and the police, along with the Parliamentary Protective Service, were reassessing the whole issue of MPs’ safety, after a series of incidents involving threats and intimidation.
This includes the verbal harassment New Democrat Jagmeet Singh suffered during an election visit to Ontario last month. In a video, we see Mr. Singh violently showered with insults by an individual who notably calls him a “traitor”. Mr Singh said that experience in Peterborough had been one of the worst incidents of aggressive behavior of his entire political career.
Among the measures proposed to protect MPs are these “alert buttons”, to immediately notify law enforcement or parliamentary security if elected officials are faced with a threat.
In a presentation to Liberal MPs on the new measures, the Sergeant-at-Arms, responsible for security at the House of Commons, urged them to keep the panic button on them “at all times”. The device can be used anywhere in Canada, including their riding, according to the presentation.
Training and prevention
The Sergeant-at-Arms also provides training to MPs and their political staff on how to de-escalate potentially violent situations.
Parliament also offers MPs the opportunity to have their constituency office and home security assessed, and to install alarms, panic buttons, cameras and other security measures, if necessary.
The Minister of Public Security said it was part of his mandate to “ensure that all parliamentarians have the security they need”.
Mr Mendicino said MPs were getting the support they needed and that he was working closely with law enforcement, the Sergeant-at-Arms and the Parliamentary Protective Service, as well as the Minister for Intergovernmental Affairs, Dominic LeBlanc, in order to “constantly reassess the risk to parliamentarians”.
The security assessment follows a number of threats against MPs and incidents over the past year. In September 2021, during an election campaign event, the Liberal leader, Justin Trudeau, received a handful of gravel while returning to his coach.
Mr Mendicino says he was targeted by a number of death threats on Instagram after tabling his bill in the Commons last month providing for greater gun control.
In an Instagram account titled “terrorist elite”, a message told the minister: “Someone is going to shoot you”. Another death threat contained a derogatory term towards the Italian community.
Late Monday, Instagram said it removed the account for violating its standards on bullying and harassment.
“Threats, including death threats, have no place in this debate,” Mendicino said Monday. It’s really important that we can have vigorous debates about this, but those debates need to be conducted in a civil manner and free from any kind of threats, intimidation and outright criminal behavior, which we increasingly see online . »
He said those who tried to threaten and intimidate must be held accountable or it could reduce freedom of expression, “and that’s a threat to our democracy.”
“We will obviously continue to report these criminal posts on the platforms,” he added, saying that these people should not only have their posts removed, but should face serious consequences, such as expulsion from the platforms.