Former MP says hate mail similar to her experience
Nobody should be receiving this: Lenore Zann
TRURO - A former MP is speaking up after seeing a rise in extremist and violent hate mail to politicians, which she says resembles the work of similar groups who targeted her.
Suspicious packages recently mailed to politicians in Nova Scotia are reported to contain anti-vaccine messages and references to the hanging of Nazi Germany leaders following the Second World War.
Lenore Zann was the NDP MLA for the Truro area for 10 years and was for two years the Liberal MP for Cumberland-colchester until she lost the vote last fall to Conservative candidate Dr. Stephen Ellis.
After the federal government announced the ban on 1,500 types of semi-automatic weapons in May of 2020, which had been on the Liberal Party’s platform before the mass attacks in Nova Scotia, a “barrage” of extremist mail and messages were sent to her office on Inglis Place in Truro.
“People sign on to be civil servants and public servants because we want to try and make life better for people,” said Zann. “All of us want to try and do that. And I don't think anybody deserves these kinds of threats. When you're just trying to do your job, it doesn't matter what party you belong to, nobody should be receiving this.”
Last week, 20 unmasked protesters showed up at the Pictou County constituency office for Federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, MP for Central Nova, referencing the Nuremberg trials.
Yvon Grenier, a political science professor at St. Francis Xavier University, said that targeted attacks on politicians have always existed, from extreme messages to assassination attempts. But the recent rise of anti-government or authority rightwing populism has resulted in more violent and concerning threats, going beyond a healthy democracy with disagreement and debate.
“This is not normal partisanship, we're talking about a completely different atmosphere,” he said.
RELENTLESS EXTREMIST MESSAGES, SAFETY
Zann and her staff were targeted with violent hate mail, phone calls and social media posts and messages for up to eight months. These contained Nazi symbols such as swastikas and death threats, as well as envelopes, both mailed and hand-delivered. Some were leaving constant voicemails with men screaming obscenities and misogynistic slurs directed at Zann and her staff, with the Nazi anthem playing in the background.
Zann said they focused on their job at the time, but she wants to speak up now that other politicians are seeing similar attacks. One staff member suffered a stroke, which Zann believes was brought on by the stress.
Although she cannot say for certain, if the same people are sending the current hate mail regarding COVID measures, the groups are both of extremist nature considering the violent nature and symbolism contained within them.
“It was a very, very tormenting and troubling time ... now that there are other politicians who are also receiving the brunt of this maelstrom,” said Zann. “It's like a rightwing maelstrom of anger and rage and viciousness just trying to claw out and take down anybody in their path. And it's scary. It's a scary thing for ordinary Canadians to witness. And I am seeing that people are saying, OK, enough is enough. We're not America.”
What is becoming more of a reality in Canada is more policing around government buildings and politicians.
Grenier said it takes “some guts” to be a politician these days and would not be surprised to see bodyguards around them after these latest packages. A rise in these attacks could deter some people from wanting to run for office.
“I think that there's something more there that I think is frightening,” said Grenier. “The politicians will need more and more security details … this will be more and more the reality, which is unfortunate because we want parliament, national assemblies, politicians to be as accessible as possible. But there are people out there, I think, whose threat should be taken seriously, at the very least.”
RCMP recently reported that suspicious packages were received by constituency offices of all government levels in Nova Scotia. Some contained substances that could cause illness, which is the primary focus.
“The investigations are primarily related to the substance, if any, included within the packages, not the propaganda included within them,” said RCMP communications officer Cpl. Chris Marshal, in an email. “To my knowledge, we rarely have this type of mail reported to us, unless the content includes threats of harm, or are suspicious in nature.”
For Zann, the threats became so extreme that she installed a security system at her home. The House of Commons Sergeant at Arms was notified and she communicated with Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) about the mail.
One constant attacker said the streets would “run with blood” and he could find where she lived. Police confirmed that he was an EX-RCMP officer but could not charge him because he had not committed a crime yet. Despite police advice not to contact him, she did meet with the man six months later, trying to “find a middle ground” but said it did not end in a resolution.
“I feel for law enforcement because they have to enforce the law,” said Zann. “And it's a fine line between what is an actual threat … they can't really do anything when somebody is being threatened, even publicly on social media, because the person hasn't actually done anything yet, anything physical. But again, what does it take?”
VARIOUS MOVEMENTS
Grenier characterizes the right-wing populism in Canada as a “significant minority.” While movements and events in the U.S. are an influence, the trend is far less prevalent in Canada, and weakest in the Maritimes compared to elsewhere in the country.
“What is going on these days, I think, is part of a deterioration of political discourse, where basically, adversaries become enemies,” said Grenier. “The political scene is increasingly polarized.”
He said social media has encouraged silo thinking where, thanks to algorithms, individuals choose only what they want to read or hear, creating an echo chamber.
“Rather than having a public space, is that you have a multitude of smaller public spaces and horizontally not really connected very well into each other, and where maybe extremist positions, which had no place to go before, and no place to express their views, then suddenly they have plenty of places to express their views and exchange views,” said Grenier.
Some of the most heated topics in the U.S. bringing out attacks on politicians include COVID mandates, gun control and abortion, said Grenier, and these movements can encompass all socioeconomic backgrounds.
“They perceive this as an attack against them as a group in society, and they react like that … anything that sends a signal that your group is under attack, and you have to defend yourself.”
The hate mail has not just been sent to one particular party, but without a clear way to track these incidents, beyond the recent packages, a comparison is difficult to draw between factors such as party, gender and race.
Zann said in her 12 years in office, she never faced anything as “vicious” and “relentless” as at that time.
“It's sad to see this happening here in Canada, and especially here in Nova Scotia,” she said.