Gender-Based Violence in Canadian Politics in the #MeToo Era brings together leading experts to shine a light on a serious problem confronting Canada’s democracy: gender-based violence in politics. Read a Q&A with the book’s editors, Tracey Raney and Cheryl N. Collier.
How did you develop the concept for this book?
The early origins of the volume stem from a conversation we had at the Canadian Political Science Association annual conference almost ten years ago. In the fall of 2014, national news headlines revealed that the leader of the then third-largest party in parliament, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, had removed two men MPs from his caucus after allegations surfaced they had committed sexual harassment or sexual assault against two women MPs from the NDP.
These events were shocking. It was disturbing that two elected officials had engaged in this behaviour and deeply problematic that the House of Commons had no internal procedures to deal with the situation. As two feminist political scientists, we were alarmed that the legislative body responsible for passing sexual harassment laws and policies for other workplaces would have no policy of its own to address this issue between members. We knew right away that we needed to learn more about this problem in order to solve it. Since then, we’ve been very fortunate to have our research agenda funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Why should people care about gender-based violence in politics and why should they read this book?
When we first began studying this topic, we could never have predicted the global events that would unfold to make this issue as pressing as it is today. These events include the Black Lives Matter and Idle No More movements, as well as the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements that exploded on social media in 2017 after sexual misconduct allegations against Hollywood media mogul Harvey Weinstein became public. We’ve also seen growing support for right-wing populism and increased political polarization, a global pandemic, and dis- and mis-information campaigns run amok on social media platforms worldwide. These latter events have created fertile ground from which hate, misogyny, misogynoir, racism and homo- and transphobia have flourished.
While violence has always been a part of Canada’s settler colonial society and political system, the research by the authors in our volume makes it clear: this problem is becoming more commonplace and accepted as just the cost of being involved in politics. It’s also ubiquitous, with violence occurring against those representing all political parties, at all levels of office, in online spaces and in real life. Indigenous, Black, racialized and queer women face the most abuse and bear the highest costs.
Women leaders have shared heart-rending stories of sexual assault, while others have recounted the racist, sexist attacks they’ve experienced online. Earlier this year, a former Manitoba Cabinet Minister shared the professional repercussions she faced inside her party after disclosing she’d been sexually assaulted. In her farewell speech to the House of Commons in 2021, NDP MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq revealed the anti-Indigenous hostilities she’s experienced on Parliament Hill, a workplace she referred to as a “colonial house on fire.” Governor General Mary Simon has bravely spoken about the hate she’s received, some of which has been so derogatory it’s unsuitable for print.
For some people, the cost of being in politics is simply too high. In 2024 alone, three women – Gatineau’s mayor France Bélisle, Liberal MP Pam Damoff , and Alberta NDP MLA Shannon Phillips —have announced their plans to leave public office. All of them cited misogyny, death threats and/or a hostile political climate as reasons for their departure.
These women are incredibly brave for speaking publicly about their experiences, but they shouldn’t have to bear these costs alone. Without intervention, gender-based violence in politics is not just going to “go away” on its own and it will continue to erode the democratic process. Stopping the spread of hate-fuelled violence in politics is a matter of fundamental justice and equity for those who are targeted by it. It is also about preserving the democratic process for everyone. The authors in our book chart a path forward on how decision-makers can address this problem.
What do you see as the book’s main contributions to our knowledge of gender-based violence in politics?
We situate the book inside the growing field of gender-based violence in politics and violence against women in politics comparative research, which includes groundbreaking works by Bardall, Bjarnegård, and Piscopo (2019), Krook (2020), and Bjarnegård and Zetterberg (2023). Given the global interest in this topic, we recognized a need to better understand gender-based violence in Canada’s unique context as a settler colonial, federal state. What the authors in the book show in their research is that gender-based violence poses a significant threat to a well-established democracy in the global North, and that it weakens the representative capacities of Canada’s political process.
It was very important to us that the book analyse gender-based violence through an intersectional lens. Throughout the book, the authors highlight how Indigenous women, women of colour, and 2SLGBTQQIA+i people are impacted disproportionately by violence in politics. Intersectional perspectives are necessary to ensure that proposed solutions do not assume that women are a “homogenous mass” or that men are the only perpetrators of violence.
It was also crucial to us that the research arising from the book would lead towards practical recommendations on how to address this problem. Each chapter includes various “implications for action,” which are directed at lawmakers and policymakers, anti-violence advocates, academics, and members of the public. Unfortunately, there is no single solution that can magically fix this problem; what is required is an “all hands-on deck” strategy.
What can we expect if Canada doesn’t take this issue seriously?
Over the next year and a half, seven provinces and territories will be holding elections. The next fixed election date for the House of Commons is October 20, 2025. Thousands of people are about to sign nomination forms to run for office across the country, and thousands more will volunteer to help them get elected. Protections are needed now to ensure that every person who participates in Canada’s democratic process can do so safely.
In an op-ed written in a national newspaper earlier this year, Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe recently asked how long it would be before one of the threats Canadian politicians face turns into a violent physical attack.
It is our hope that this book will help ensure that this disturbing scenario does not happen in Canada in the years to come.
i 2SLGBTQQIA+ refers to those who identify as two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, androgynous, and asexual. “Two-spirit” is a term used by some Indigenous people to reflect the complex (and non-binary) nature of gender roles and identities in Indigenous communities.
Read an excerpt of Gender-Based Violence in Canadian Politics in the #MeToo Era, here.
