We must protect politicians from nasty attacks on social media

Newfoundland town hired lawyer to crack down on abuse; we should follow that lead

If city council can have an integrity commissioner such as the soon-to-be-retired Allen Sulatycky, to ensure our councillors behave ethically, then it can also look at having someone deal with the abuse of councillors on social media.

In fact, the city could develop a model based on the one being set up in Witless Bay, N.L.

Witless Bay has a not-so-dimwitted idea. Town council there is hiring a criminal lawyer to review social media posts and give advice on dealing with “accusatory messages” about council members — in other words, messages that could be libellous because they represent a smear campaign or implicate a councillor in criminal activity.

Free speech isn’t being muzzled. A lawyer can only operate within the scope of the law and would obviously know the difference between free speech and something that breached hate or libel laws, or involved uttering threats.

Witless Bay’s move could be a model for restoring some civility to the ugly free-for-all of social media, for all levels of government in Alberta.

During last fall’s civic election campaign, racist creeps targeted Mayor Naheed Nenshi on social media because he’s Muslim. In January, when the debate over naked swimming at the Southland Leisure Centre arose, Nenshi said that “some of the folks … online and in phone calls to city staff and public servants, were threatening some really unpleasant stuff.”

That “stuff ” included a bomb threat and a warning that vehicles in the leisure centre’s parking lot would have their windows smashed with a baseball bat.

Premier Rachel Notley and Conservative MP Michelle Rempel, to name just two female politicians, have also been subjected to the soul-destroying abuse that’s a specialty of social media. So have Health Minister Sarah Hoffman and NDP MLA Sandra Jansen.

Last year, Ontario MPP Laurie Scott told the Toronto Star that things are getting worse in terms of “the normalcy of the threats” — Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has been the target of homophobic attacks and rape threats on social media.

Last year too, CBC called Notley “Alberta’s most threatened premier.” Those threats included talk of assassination for bringing in Bill 6, the law protecting farm workers’ rights.

In 2016 alone, Alberta Justice revealed there were 412 episodes of “inappropriate contact and communication” with Notley, but just 26 of those were sent on to the police.

We have laws dealing with hate speech, libel and uttering threats, but those targeted tend to shrug off whatever bubbles up from the cesspool of social media and make bland comments such as: “I know it’s not reflective of all Albertans.”

Obviously it’s not reflective of all Albertans, but simply pointing this out does nothing to deter the perpetrators.

If people knew they were going to be tracked and fined, or face other disciplinary action for their vile social media posts, maybe they would think twice about threatening a politician with violence.

This isn’t about squelching free speech; it’s about squelching threats and other forms of expression that have long been illegal. We can’t keep saying, “Oh, well, it’s just Facebook,” or “That’s just how it is on Twitter.”

Why should we lower our standards so much that we accept these things as the norm?

It’s a bit like dealing with urban coyotes. The more you ignore them when they approach, the more they lose their fear of humans and the bolder they get. But when they come too close, if you stand up to them, make yourself tall and create a lot of noise, they’ll scurry away.

The people uttering threats and hate speech on social media are bullies. And bullies are cowards at heart. If you draw a line in the sand and you stamp down hard on their feet when they step over it, they’ll back off.

Witless Bay has a good idea. Civility and civil discourse are truly at a nadir. We can’t keep shrugging it off.