Greater Sudbury’s Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée said she expected to receive some hassle from community members, perhaps a little anger at political choices, or even personal ones.
But said it wasn’t until she realized that she was changing her life to avoid the man who had been harassing her since she was elected that she realized the situation had gone too far.
Then, he showed up at her home.
So she went to Greater Sudbury Police, who began investigating May 16, helped her understand that the harassment had risen to a criminal level, and charges needed to be filed.
That criminal harassment charge was announced May 21 against an 81-year-old man who lives in Capreol. His information has not been sworn through the court process as yet, so no name can be released, but Sudbury.com will be following the story through the judicial process.
Labbée said she is doing fine and feeling strong, but felt the need to ensure that this behaviour did not continue.
Though she was warned about this man by outgoing ward councillor, Mike Jakubo, she said it never escalated for him to the point it’s at now.
That might be because he knew where she lived, while he did not know Jakubo’s address. Statistics show it could also be escalating because she is a woman.
Labbée said it began as emails to her council email, also cc’d to countless others she both did or did not know.
The emails were, at first, about issues this person was having with the city, but the diatribes were filled with racism and homophobia, as well as attacking her for her French last name and for her involvement with the provincial Liberal party.
“I was responding and saying, ‘I understand your concerns,’ but I gave him an opportunity several times to watch his language with me, and to leave out his racist, homophobic, prejudiced, disparaging and hateful words,” Labbée told Sudbury.com. “I explained to him that if he would not do that, I am not under any obligation to continue communicating with him.”
Sadly, it got worse from there, she said.
The man began following her social media, where she often posts about her involvement in the community. He would photoshop her photos, or comment on them in emails to her and several others.
At one point, after posting photos of her participation in a religious procession by the Sikh community of Sudbury, he railed on her in an email using deeply racist comments about the Sari she was wearing, and began altering photos of her in an unsettling way.
She said she didn’t want to block him as he was routinely posting new information about her, and asking others to do so as well, and she wanted to keep an eye on what he was posting.
“It's just become very targeting in nature; it was sporadic, now it's more regular, and it was escalating weekly,” she said. “Almost every day, receiving an email, and sometimes up to six times in a day. It's hundreds, hundreds of interactions. And not all of them focused on me, but all of them, full of racism, prejudice, homophobia and disparaging comments.”
At first, she said she just dealt with the emails, figuring criticism was part of the job. “I’d just been shrugging it off,” she said. “I’ve got strong shoulders and this is not a person I have control over.”
But it was the moment he came to her house, disparaging her to contractors working on her home before yelling at Labbée’s partner, she decided enough was enough.
She had reached out to police when the emails began, just to alert them, and when she reached out again, they asked if she had been changing her life because of this person.
She realized she’d stopped posting about her community engagements on social media.
“There's so many great things going on in our city, volunteers are putting their time in for great causes and initiatives,” she said. “And it's important to them that we can publicly recognize the work they're doing in the community.”
She had also begun changing her behaviour in the world.
“I'm watching over my shoulder, and every time I leave my house, if I walk down the street, I'm trying to get to my house quicker to avoid confrontation,” she said.
And while that hadn’t happened, judging by his escalating behavior, she wanted to avoid it at all cost. “This has become an unhealthy obsession, where I no longer feel safe,” she said.
Speaking out publicly was also a chance for Labbée to call attention to the harassment that public figures, especially women and people of colour, can face.
In fact, while studying how violence and harassment act as barriers that keep women and underrepresented people out of politics — and the effect this is having on people, politics and democracy — Tracey Raney, a professor of in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Toronto Metropolitan University, found that that women (and especially racialized women) are disproportionately targeted by violence and harassment.
More than that, the problem is ubiquitous throughout Canadian politics: it happens at every level of government and in every party, regardless of political affiliation.
Labbée said there are enough challenges ahead for people stepping into leadership roles, without adding harassment to the mix. “If you look at trends across the province, even since the election in 2022, a lot of officials are stepping down, and many of them are women,” she said, pointing to online harassment.
“There's so much sacrifice that we have to put into doing the job and I think most people don't realize the amount of time that we dedicate to doing our best,” she said. “We sacrifice that time away from family, especially those of us that have a full-time career outside of this work.”
And while she said she is strong, and brave, and this won’t stop her, she is concerned the threat of harassment may discourage highly-qualified individuals from running for politics.
“We're going to miss out on a lot of really great people that would love to lead our city, but they may not be putting their name forward,” she said. “That has to stop because we need strong leadership in our city. We need to have good, honest people that are willing to put in the time to make those tough decisions that no one else wants to do. If these kinds of things keep up, we're gonna keep losing really good people.
“But you're not losing me, because I'm not going anywhere,” said Labbée.
The accused will appear in court on June 19. Sudbury.com will be following this story as it moves through the justice system.
Jenny Lamothe covers court for Sudbury.com.
