Long before I was executive director of ACHK, I was a local organizer in Ottawa, where I organized a couple of protests, and we were invited to speak to the press. I found that soon after I had spoken to the media, I would get hundreds of messages on my social media. These were very explicit messages, anywhere from calling me “democrazy” a pun on democracy—to [Technical difficulty—Editor] to rape me and my mother like pigs and slaughter us in our sleep. It's been very tough being an activist and speaking about Hong Kong issues when these are the kinds of threats I face online. Despite this, online harassment, as we know, is not widely addressed by the police agencies.
The last time I was at committee, I also spoke about when I travelled to Vancouver, where a teammate had booked my hotel room. However, two days after we had done the launch of Alliance Canada Hong Kong, a strange man called my hotel room, identified me by name, identified me by my room number and said they were “coming to get” me. Those were the exact words being repeated. I did what I was supposed to do. I called the Vancouver police and said, “I feel in danger, and I don't feel safe.” They said that they would send officers to my location. They did. I never met the officers. They were dismissed at the hotel lobby because it was not a real threat; it was not an issue they would address because it was not criminal. I called again, and there was no follow-up.
Even today, I cannot forget those words that were said to me on the phone: “We are coming to get you.” It was very explicitly a form of intimidation, but it was very carefully crafted because it was not criminal in intent, and that is how they're able to get away with it.