Bittle receives death threats
St. Catharines MP Chris Bittle says he is not backing down, despite stirring up outrage and death threats after he called a group of protesters white supremacists.
“If the intention was to change my mind or intimidate me, it’s the exact opposite,” he said Friday, a few hours after the protesters returned to his office.
“I will continue to stand up against racism, intolerance and hatred.”
So, too, will members of the Niagara Anti- Racism Coalition, who also gathered outside Bittle’s office for a counter- protest.
Bittle said the people who suggested he “should be killed” are “ultimately cowards sitting behind their keyboards.”
He said the threats began following a Jan. 2 protest in front of his Geneva Street constituency office, when protesters carried signs demanding that ISIL fighters returning to Canada be jailed.
“I guess it was a demonstration on immigration policy. They wish to see all Muslims banned from this country, and based on their social media posts they believe violence is an appropriate way to deal with that,” Bittle said.
Following the protest, Bittle posted a message on his Facebook site saying: “It was shocking to me that in 2018, white supremacists would stand up in public in St. Catharines to promote their hateful, racist views …”
He also posted on Twitter, saying: “When white supremacists schedule a protest at your office you know you’re doing something right.”
More than 7,000 comments were since posted on his Facebook site — almost all from people who “were quite angry towards me, and a few of them went beyond that,” Bittle said.
“They took issue with me calling them white supremacists, even though they post white supremacists’ garbage on their social media profiles,” he said.
Several times among the thousands of posts on his Facebook page, Bittle pointed out that some of the protesters self- identified as white supremacists.
“They post to Facebook and I spoke to people there. As well, they have a history of white supremacist protests in the region. Why are you so eager to defend them?” Bittle wrote in one post.
In another he added: “The fact the individuals want to ban all Muslims and admitted today to being white supremacists was the reason for the comments.”
He said the issue also attracted the attention of “alt- right circles” on websites, and “that frothed things up so to speak.”
Among the protesters were members of groups called Suffragettes Against Silence SAS- Canada and Stand Up For Freedoms.
In a video posted on the SAS group’s Facebook page, a member says they, too, will “not be quelled.”
“Silencing accusers enables abusers. You posted on social media that those like myself are phobic and racist because they don’t wish war criminals in their society — war criminals, Bittle, war criminals. Let that sink in your delusional head before you try to coin another illegitimate phrase like ISIS- phobia towards us,” says the woman who does not identify herself.
The groups did not respond to emails and messages asking to speak to representatives prior to the newspaper’s deadline.
Bittle said he reported the threats to federal security officers in Ottawa to investigate. He said his office is also only a few blocks away from the St. Catharines Niagara Regional Police detachment, affording himself and his staff a feeling of safety.
“I haven’t felt unsafe and I haven’t changed my routine, but it is concerning and it is shocking anytime someone suggests that you should be killed,” he said. “I leave the security to the experts, and I always feel safe.”
He said his office staff would be advised to take further action if security staff believed the threats were serious enough.
Bittle said the protesters returned to his office Friday morning, and were again met with counterprotesters from the anti- racism coalition as well as local labour groups.
“Today, the counter- protesters outnumbered the protesters probably six- to- one or seven- to- one,” he said.
“It shows where Niagara’s heart really is and it’s heartening to know that there were far more people who were willing to stand up and say no to hate. It makes me feel better about my job and it makes it easier to stand up and condemn hatred and racism when I see it.”