She is the first ever female mayor of North Grenville and is here today as an adviser.
Founded in 2001, Equal Voice is a national, bilingual, multi-partisan, not-for-profit organization dedicated to electing more women at all levels of government in Canada.
We are very concerned about how online hate is negatively affecting women's participation in politics.
I would like to begin by bringing to your attention a study commissioned by Equal Voice in November 2018 called “Votes to Victory”. The study, conducted by Abacus Data, examined barriers to women's participation in politics. This study was wide-ranging and, while not focused directly on online hate, had some relevant findings. For instance, the study found that 76% of men and 79% of women think that women politicians are treated differently then men, and 84% of women felt that politics is not friendly, which tied for the top reason women gave for not wanting to be involved in politics, along with time away from family. I believe that this perception of unfriendliness is in large part due to the online interactions involving women politicians that people observe far too often.
This leads me to my second point—to highlight the online hate experienced by women elected officials every day. Many brave women from all parties have spoken about this openly, or posted about it, including MP Rempel, MP Cesar-Chavennes, MP Ashton, and the Honourable Catherine McKenna, to name just a few. Unfortunately, the list gets longer every single day. The gender-based online hate they have experienced simply for doing their jobs in unacceptable. If we want more women in Parliament and in legislatures across Canada, which is what Equal Voice is working towards, then we need to strengthen protections for women politicians and for women candidates.
The issue of women in power, or those running for office, being attacked online is not a new one. In politics, it is important to have online fora where people can have heated political debates, and places where people can disagree with one another.
However, as social media evolves, so do the hateful attacks, bringing forth challenging times and a need for our laws and policies to evolve with them. There is no doubt that Canada needs to enact and enforce stronger consequences for initiating or participating in online hate.
Mr. Chair, I would now like to discuss a few of the ways that Equal Voice is working to combat the issue of online hate directed at women politicians and those aspiring to be politicians.
In 2014, Equal Voice launched its #respecther campaign, to expose the everyday sexism experienced by women politicians across Canada. Events were held around the campaign to equip women on how to address these attacks, and to discuss what can be done to eliminate them.
Recently, in April 2019, Equal Voice launched a modern safety guide developed in partnership with Facebook Canada, available to everyone on our website. It is particularly relevant for all current and aspiring politicians. The guide provides practical advice on how to stay safer online by using existing tools that many of us are unaware of. We hope this guide will be particularly useful in the upcoming federal election.
Earlier this year, we partnered with the Public Policy Forum on an event discussing online hate. Conclusions from that discussion were clear. We must work with governments and the social media industry to find better ways to reduce online hate.
Finally, through our Systemic Change initiative, Equal Voice is working to change the culture within legislatures themselves. This project is focused on working with provincial legislatures across Canada to reduce barriers to women's participation. Many of the tools developed for this project, such as sample anti-harassment policies, are also relevant at other levels of government.
We are proud of the steps that we have taken at Equal Voice, but the actions of small not-for-profit organizations like Equal Voice will never be enough. We need the government to act to combat online hate.
Equal Voice thanks the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights for taking on this important study. We look forward to your report and to assisting you in whatever way we can.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, for this opportunity to give these opening remarks. I look forward to the committee's questions.