'I shouldn't have to feel uneasy where I live,' Sudbury councillor speaks up about criminal harassment

It did not take long hateful messages to start landing in Natalie Labbée's inbox when she was elected to represent Ward 7 on Sudbury city council in 2022.

One correspondent had a particularly threatening tone. 

"I reached out to this person politely several times. As things started to escalate, there was stronger language, racism and horrible comments," she said. 

Labbée says the person in question then started telling her she needed to toughen up, and she wasn't cut out for the job. 

"It got to a point where I blocked him on social media," she said, adding that the 81-year-old man would share pictures of Labbée attending cultural or community events accompanied by racist and homophobic comments. 

"Then he started mentioning the street I live on, the vehicle I drive, how much it's worth," she said. 

According to Labbée, the person then started keeping track of her movements, driving by the house and taking note if her car wasn't in the driveway, asking her where she was.

She started feeling uneasy. "I changed my behaviours, coming home and looking over my shoulder and wondering if he's watching me." 

She decided to report him to the police when he visited her home twice in one day. A few days later, criminal harassment charges were laid.

'I'm not going to allow this to happen anymore'

Labbée says the experience was unsettling, but won't stop her from doing her work as a city councillor. 

"I have pride in the work I do. I take it very seriously," she said. "I'm using the tools that I have to stay strong and stay focused.

And by imposing this charge of criminal harassment, I'm hoping it's sending a clear message that we're not going to take it and we shouldn't have to," she said. 

Labbée's colleagues on council Eric Benoit and Mike Parent both say they've experienced unpleasant interactions, but not on that scale.

"What Councillor Labbée experienced did cross that line and I am happy that it has been taken seriously and that hopefully [she] can feel safe serving the people she was elected to serve going forward," said Benoit. 

Ward 4 councillor Pauline Fortin says that while she hasn't received the kind of harassment experienced by Labbée, she was on the email chain where hateful comments were being shared. 

"It's very alarming," she said. "We are all doing our best and debate, discussion and dialogue is all good but the constant bashing is unpleasant and you need a thick skin."

"On the bright side I ran for office to serve the people and I am grateful that the positive feedback I receive far outweighs the negative," added Fortin.

Wider pattern of harassment of politicians

In recent years several politicians at various levels of government have been targeted with harassment. That includes former Sudbury Mayor Brian Bigger (although the charges were later dropped) or Nickel Belt MP Marc Serré. 

While authorities have taken steps to increase security for politicians, there are several challenges, including the anonymity of the internet.

Charlie Angus, MP for Timmins-James Bay, has been in court twice over cases of harassment by a member of the public in recent years. He says it's an exhausting process. 

"It was very stressful trying to get restraining orders, trying to get the police involved to recognize it," he said. 

Having been in politics for decades, Angus says he's noticed a worrying trend of increased harassment of those in public life in recent years. 

"It's really concerning change in in Canadian society that this kind of menace to public life is becoming normalized," he said.

"We just can't allow our social system and our public engagement to be undermined or threatened by a very small number of people who feel entitled to threaten and intimidate and harass," he added.

He thinks some tools and laws are needed to address the problem. 

"I think an online registry could help," he said. "What I've seen in my office is sometimes it begins with someone writing or calling and it escalates into a pattern of increasing severity and threat." 

He says something like an online registry could potentially help keeping track of where the threats are coming from and how they evolve over time.