Senator Paula Simons🇨🇦I have a brilliant young University of Ottawa student, a former member of the Senate page program, who works part time in my office. This morning, she answered the phone, only to face a torrent of abuse from an Albertan who was furious about Bill C-11. He apparently called me a « dumb c-nt » and she was very shaken. And I realized just how blasé I’ve become about just insults. To me, it was business very much as usual. And I felt guilty my lovely 19-year-old staffer had to be exposed to this.
Maybe feminists of my generation have failed our daughters’ generation. I take abuse and threats for granted. They were part of everyday life in my old job, and so I wasn’t shocked or upset when they happened in my new role. I laugh them off. But I can’t expect my young staffers to be as inured as I am. We have normalized this rhetoric towards women in public life, and I don’t see a way back.
Vincent St. Pierre 🇨🇦@Paulatics I remember being on the receiving end of constituency calls when working in Ottawa.
It was... bad.
Also didn't help that the parliamentary telephone team couldn't block calls then. Hopefully they can block numbers now.
I feel terrible for your team member, Senator. Please let her know that folks are thinking of her on Mastodon and wishing her well.