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OTTAWA – MPs have been told to follow a “locked door” policy and welcome constituents only by appointment as threats and harassment of parliamentarians are skyrocketing.
This month, concerned about a series of planned protests, the House of Commons’ sergeant-at-arms told MPs to keep their doors locked and try to avoid face-to-face meetings in their constituency offices.
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“We continue to strongly recommend that constituency offices follow a “locked door” policy. If an appointment with a constituent is necessary, Members or their employees should consider virtual meetings for the foreseeable future,” Sergeant-at-Arms Patrick McDonell wrote in a memo.
The memo, obtained by National Post, was sent to all MPs. It was not the first time McDonell has encouraged the “locked door” policy, several MPs said.
Liberal MP Julie Dzerowicz’s Davenport constituency office in Toronto was vandalized early Tuesday morning with the phrase “Rahaf (sic) is burning Toronto will too,” in apparent reference to Israel’s invasion of Rafah, in the Gaza Strip.
Dzerowicz said she took the vandalism as a threat and has contacted Toronto police.
“’Toronto will burn’ is a threat,” she said.
Dzerowicz said there have been several instances of vandalism since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks against Israel and other incidents that have made her and her staff feel unsafe, which impacts her work as an MP.
“Every time there’s vandalism or my staff feels unsafe or threatened. I have to work with them to decide how we will continue to serve Davenport in a way that is safe,” she said.
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She said MPs come to the job expecting protests and difficult conversations, but what has been happening recently goes well beyond that.
“We do not sign up for our families to be threatened, for people to protest in front of our personal houses. We don’t sign up for our staff to feel unsafe and to not be able to do their jobs.”
McDonell, who also serves as the House of Commons corporate security officer, said harassment of MPs both online and in person has exploded over the last five years.
“There’s been a significant increase in the last five years in harassment of our members of Parliament, mostly online, but also in person and at events and by significant (that means) probably in the tune of 700- to 800-per-cent increase,” McDonell testified at a committee studying harassment on Parliament Hill on Tuesday. He said in addition to harassment there has been a spike in death threats directed towards members of Parliament.
He said in 2019, his office opened eight files over threats against MPs; last year, the number of files opened grew to 530. He said his office has brought on more people to deal with the rising threats and to work closely with local law enforcement.
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“There’s been a significant investment in my area in the last month to resource us up and keep our nose above the waterline and deal with the massive workload, which we are now facing,” he testified to the procedure and House affairs committee.
Conservative and NDP MPs on the committee also said they had experienced threats and harassment online.
Liberal MP Pam Damoff announced earlier this year she would not run for re-election and cited threats and harassment as part of her decision to quit. She said she has permanently implemented the “locked door” policy McDonell recommended.
“Our office is now closed to the public, it’s locked and unless people have made an appointment in advance, we don’t let them in,” she said. “People used to pop in all the time just to say hi, now we can’t do that because sometimes people use that as a ruse to get into the office.”
Damoff said because her constituency office in Oakville, Ont. is inside a larger building, that adds a layer of safety, but she is still concerned about her staff.
“They’re the ones that are there five days a week, I’m not. I’m in Ottawa a lot of the time and they are subjected to such abuse. It’s horrible,” she said. “We don’t talk about the impact on staff and people talk to them the same way they talk to me.”
National Post
rtumilty@postmedia.com
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