Skip to main content

Outcry grows over violent online threats against women, racialized journalists

An Lakota woman with long, dark hair and glasses stands in Canada' House of Commons, speaking passionately and gesturing with both hands
“The source of this violence is misogyny, racism rooted in white supremacy, the rise of right-wing nationalism, and far-right rhetoric," NDP Leah Gazan said in a statement. Photo courtesy of Leah Gazan

Support strong Canadian climate journalism for 2025

Help us raise $150,000 by December 31. Can we count on your support?
Goal: $150k
$36k

Warning: This article contains mention of abuse, harassment and rape and death threats.

An ongoing pattern of abuse and threats directed at female journalists and female journalists of colour has reached such a crescendo, it's drawing condemnation from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and an NDP MP.

“The pattern of harassment of journalists is incredibly alarming and completely unacceptable. This type of behaviour has no place in our society. No journalist should ever be threatened for doing their job,” Trudeau tweeted late Wednesday night.

The media resource for URL https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau/status/1562637576540139522 could not be retrieved.

NDP MP Leah Gazan also took a stand against the harassment in an emailed statement: “Recently, it has come to our attention that female journalists, primarily members of the Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC), who are simply doing their job have been subjected to abuse and violence that include rape and death threats.”

@LeahGazan issued a strong statement of support for journalists on the receiving end of an uptick of hate mail. Unlike Trudeau, Gazan acknowledged that those being targeted are primarily female and/or racialized journalists.

The ability of journalists to report transparently and hold powerful people and institutions to account is a key pillar of a functioning democracy, and “harassment, abuse, and any other forms of violence is a direct attack on that fundamental right,” said Gazan’s statement.

In recent weeks, many prominent Canadian journalists have tweeted out screenshots of hate mail they received, rife with slurs, references to physical and sexual violence and even rape and death threats. Some hate mail referenced a wall with printed photos of “all the Canadian media c—s that need to be boogaloo’ed the f— out of Canada,” and names Toronto Star podcast co-host and producer Saba Eitizaz, Global News reporter Rachel Gilmore and Erica Ifill, a columnist with The Hill Times and co-host of the Bad + Bitchy Podcast.

The media resource for URL https://twitter.com/wickdchiq/status/1562124318607294467 could not be retrieved.
The media resource for URL https://twitter.com/sabaeitizaz/status/1555228906390753280 could not be retrieved.

“The source of this violence is misogyny, racism rooted in white supremacy, the rise of right-wing nationalism, and far-right rhetoric that is emboldening people to lash out primarily at BIPOC journalists for doing their job to objectively scrutinize and report activities coming from these movements,” Gazan’s statement reads.

It is “a relief” to see a strong statement of support from Gazan, Ifill, one of the targeted journalists, told Canada’s National Observer.

“Violence is permissive. If you say nothing, people get more emboldened.”

Importantly, Gazan’s statement acknowledges how journalists with intersecting identities — namely women and Black, Indigenous and women of colour — are most often the target of racist and misogynistic threats and abuse, said Ifill.

Trudeau’s statement, on the other hand, is “generic” and ignores female journalists and female journalists of colour, she said.

“The prime minister took three weeks and came up with that? Oh my gosh, he really doesn't care,” she said with a short laugh.

Journalists across the country are speaking up about the uptick in threats and abuse and sharing their hate mail to draw attention to the issue.

Anna Junker, a reporter for the Edmonton Journal, recently tweeted out screenshots of hate mail she received which reference “psychological warfare,” a “summer hit list” and the need to start “prosecuting, wrecking and silencing the little criminals of the organization.”

The media resource for URL https://twitter.com/JunkerAnna/status/1560327818805882880 could not be retrieved.

Late last night, Gilmore tweeted that “someone who clearly owns guns directly threatened and harassed my entire family,” and that her loved ones are being forced to take precautions.

The media resource for URL https://twitter.com/atRachelGilmore/status/1562450522325389314 could not be retrieved.

Over the nearly three weeks of near-constant harassment, Ifill said her biggest sources of support have been the other women being targeted, her friends and Twitter followers.

Strong public statements of support like Gazan’s are important because for those being targeted, it's a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation,” she added.

“If you don't say something, it's gonna continue and you'll get zero support, right? If you say something, you'll get more support but more people will come after you.”

Ifill, Gilmore and Eitizaz have all reported threats to their local police. The Canadian Association of Journalists wrote a letter to the Toronto and Ottawa police chiefs asking that they review and improve their processes for making complaints of hate speech and harassment.

Natasha Bulowski / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer

Comments