Yukon MP Brendan Hanley was badly shaken following an arson incident at his residence on the outskirts of Whitehorse in March.
“It was a shock, I can tell you,” he told The Yukon Star on Wednesday.
While he was attending the Arctic Winter Games, someone torched his garage, leaving extensive damage behind.
The fire, which may have been politically motivated, is still under investigation by the RCMP. Consequently, the first-term Liberal MP was reluctant to provide a lot of details.
“I can’t say a lot about it,” Hanley said. “It was suspicious circumstances. I’m not going to speculate on why it happened.”
He wouldn’t confirm whether his family was home at the time of the blaze, but he was upset at the possibility that his political life could be infringing on his personal life.
“I signed up for this,” Hanley said. “My family and staff and my neighbours didn’t.”
Hanley said the garage was destroyed, along with two cars, a motorcycle, “many bikes” and other items.
He didn’t put a dollar value on the damage, as the claim is still being processed by his insurance company.
There’s only a concrete pad left where the garage stood.
Hanley said it’s a bit of a sign of the times.
“(This kind of thing) has happened to other politicians,” he said. “I’ve always conducted myself with a certain amount of caution, and more so since.”
“But there are ways to have conversations with me, even about things you disagree with me about, without it coming to this.”
The Hootalinqua Volunteer Fire Department declined to offer any comments on the fire. It referred the matter back to the Yukon Fire Marshal’s office – which did not respond either.
Hanley said his downtown Whitehorse constituency office has had a “locked-door” policy for some time as a security precaution.
“It’s been working very well.”
John Streicker, the territorial minister of Tourism and Culture, was the victim of spraypaint vandalism at his home last month.
Government spokespeople said he wasn’t available to speak to The Yukon Star on the issue.
Both the NDP and the Yukon Party were asked if their members have any concerns about the rise in violence against politicians.
Only the Yukon Party replied.
“It takes a lot for someone to put their name forward for office representing any political stripe,” the official Opposition said. “That step taken into the public limelight puts their work under intense public scrutiny.
“Any act of violence against an elected official has no place in Yukon politics, or politics anywhere,” the statement from the caucus reads.
“Politicians should never be subject to personal attacks involving their families or their home. Canada and the Yukon pride themselves on being a respectful democracy, and any targeted action against someone holding office is wrong,” the Yukon Party said.
“While there are disagreements over policy, this should never extend to the personal level.”
Floyd McCormick, a former clerk of the Yukon Legislative Assembly, had some thoughtful insights on the matter.
“In terms of hostility towards politicians, I think one thing politicians have to do is look at how they treat each other both inside and outside their assembly. If they are disrespectful towards each other this will encourage their followers or others to do the same. That doesn’t cover the problem entirely, but I think it is part of the problem.”
“And this is connected to the ways in which politicians and political parties generate support. The people who are mostly likely to donate money to, or otherwise support, a politician or party are those who are really riled up about something or someone. Politicians can stoke that fire by demonizing or dehumanizing their opponents. Their motive may just be to raise funds or get people to work for or vote for their candidates. The problem is that once you put those messages out to the public you never know how far an individual is going to take that.”
McCormick continued to elaborate on this theme.
“Of course some individuals are self-motivated because of some bias they have towards other persons based on gender, race, ethnicity, etc. Increased diversity of politicians can motivate people to act upon their prejudices by harassing or being violent towards politicians. This is combined with a sense on the part of the people who do these actions that they will not be caught. Or if they are, they won’t face any real penalties. Online harassment is a case in point. A lot of it is done anonymously. It is difficult to catch and prosecute those who do it.”
As for what can be done about the growing abuse, McCormick suggested “ensuring the safety of politicians is complicated by the fact that politicians should be, and want to be, available to the public. During my time at the Yukon Legislative Assembly there were a couple of incidents in the building where members of the public acted in a threatening manner. But the MLAs were reluctant to bring in the kind of increased security measures that are common in other, larger assemblies. There was a sense that this would create distance between them and the vast majority of the public who they interact with and don’t cause problems. This is true, of course. But in a number of jurisdictions it is seen as necessary.”
“As far as actions go Quebec has recently adopted legislation to fine people who harass politicians and the head of the RCMP has talked about amendments to the criminal code to make it easier to charge people for threatening politicians. But measures like this also run into resistance from those who argue that such laws violate guarantees of free speech. It’s not an easy problem to solve but if it is ignored parties are going to find it increasingly difficult to recruit candidates and retain those who get elected.
