Running for office: 31 women on Calgary ballot, where their biggest challenge may be online hate
Jan Damery is running for mayor. But some people apparently aren't happy about it.
Her campaign team is displaying some of the abusive messages they've received online.
"I HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU" reads one.
"F**K OFF LADY" reads another.
"YOU ARE DILLUSIONAL!! Idiot b***ch" reads another (sic).
Damery said she doesn't take it personally. She believes the online trolling is symptomatic of a population stressed out by the pandemic and everything it's brought.
"Ultimately I just see fear when I read those things," said the economist, one of four women running for the city's top job, "I think it reminds me how people are struggling in the community with their mental health."
Jan Damery, July 27, 2021 in Calgary, Alberta
31 WOMEN RUNNING
31 women are running for either city council or the mayor's chair this year - coincidentally, 31 is also the total number of females who've been elected to council in Calgary's history. No woman has ever been mayor here.
While the number of females running is on the rise, so is the hate directed toward them.
"It's hard to deal with," said Grace Yan, also a mayoral candidate, "you have to be very mentally strong to run, that comes with running a campaign. There is abuse."
Ask Her YYC is an organizations dedicated to preparing women who aspire to public office.
Calgary mayoral candidates Zane Novak, Jan Damery and Virginia Stone at a press conference outside City Hall Thursday, Oct. 14
While that used to mean advising them on how to fundraise and formulate policy, it now also includes how to deal with constant attacks on social media.
"The terrible reality is that women experience misogyny sexism and harassment, particularly when it comes to social media and online," said Gillian Hynes, who leads the organization. "It's the norm but I don't think it's fair. "
"Men experience it as well," she added, "but I do believe women experience it to a different degree. It's not acceptable that people are subjected to that because the bravest thing you can do is put your hand up to run for office."
Calgary mayoral candidate Grace Yan, Oct. 15, 2021
Hynes said women face other barriers to running as well, including family obligations and a possible lack of political contacts to tap into.
She said she's encouraged by the relatively high number of candidates this year. So is Frances Wright, who runs the Famous Five Foundation.
"Women are thinking of entering politics and indeed are running for politics because the encouragement they are receiving from their families, their friends, from men in general and woman as well," Wright said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.