Last year, James Maloney’s Private Member’s Bill passed designating March as Irish History Month. On March 1, 2022, MP Maloney rose in the House and dedicated March 2022 to Ukraine.
He is right: our hearts are with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people around the world. They are fighting for their lives and for the treasured democracy they have worked so hard to build. This March, as we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, and Irish Heritage Month, we dedicate ourselves to whatever we can do to help in Ukraine. To find how to help, reach out to organizations like the Canada-Ukraine Foundation.
As we watch the horrific images of Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine and its citizens, we are also worried about the war of misinformation that is going on 24/7 online. Russian citizens have been fed misinformation about Ukraine over many years, and are now being misled about the war through state-controlled Russian media.
But this is only one element of an international crisis of misinformation. We have recently seen the impact of misinformation online and in person in Canada and across North America. During the convoys in Ottawa, one story seemed to capture my fears about the fragility of our democracy here in Canada. The Toronto Star of Thursday 17 February, 2022 had the story: “Father of accused in alleged Coutts blockade murder conspiracy says son was radicalized online.”
The father, Mike Lysak, said that a few years ago, things were different: “Then came COVID and all this misinformation.” During the past couple of years of the pandemic, his son had become increasingly involved in an online world, including into the Diagolon group, where misinformation about COVID-19 ran rampant. But also the leader, Jeremy McKenzie had a goal of establishing a white nationalist state through violence. Mr. Lysak said his son would constantly watch Fox News and would go on the computer first thing in the morning to talk to others online who shared similar views about COVID-19. Two years into Covid, his son was charged with plotting to kill RCMP officers and weapons offences.
My friend Nora Spinks, formerly of the Vanier Institute, explained to me that “The pandemic has magnified, amplified and intensified what people knew and felt before Covid to a level that we can no longer ignore.”
The urgent need for populations to get life-saving vaccines is now superimposed on a pre-existing broad ant-vax movement. Never before have there been such broad conspiracy movements promulgated virally to millions of people on the internet and in social media.
Fox News and rise of social media have turned the United States into what Obama called an ‘echochamber’. No one has to listen to balance or differing views that are still present in most mainstream media; the days when everyone would tune into Walter Cronkite or Peter Mansbridge and hear the same facts seem long gone.
The online hatred is unprecedented. It has turned guys sharing their anger and frustrations over beer and wings into keyboard warriors. And now we have witnessed the in person January 6 insurrection, people throwing stones at the PM during the election campaign, numerous attacks on MP’s offices, and then the convoy blockades.
The Ottawa Occupation has been gold for the alt-right. The example of Pat King live streaming with Evan Solomon, then amplified by Tucker Carlson, has empowered those who previously enjoyed little public profile or attention, and now find themselves on the national news night after night.
The barrier to any progressive movement is a perceived paradise in the past. Misogynists and white supremacists want to go back to the past when they were in charge. They are threatened by diversity and inclusion and equality. We all have a responsibility to fight the populism that incited the convoy, a movement which started out fighting vaccine mandates, but evolved into a plot to take over a democratically elected government and replace it with their leaders. We are concerned that many vaccine hesitant and ‘fed up with Covid’ people have been weaponized to ‘follow their leaders,’ although they had no real idea what their leaders were espousing. The Fifth Estate examination of these leaders is truly worrying.
For years, it has been the goal of populist movements to ramp up cynicism in order to decrease voter turnout. Their message of ‘all politicians bad, all governments bad, pox on all their houses’ was intended to have the effect of disillusioning people to the point where they stay home on election day to the benefit of those highly motivated, profoundly angry people who always vote!
I was first elected in June 1997. I have to say that this last election was the absolute worst I have ever experienced - the lies, the hate, the anger.
Frank Graves at EKOS has evidence that shows that generalized anxiety, stress and hopelessness are elevated and have been so for two years now. Stress is linked to support for protests, economic despair and threats to one’s status.
My friend Michel Amar reminded me that we know that anxiety, stress and a sense of helplessness/impending doom makes people lash out. They blame everyone and conflate the smallest concerns into major issues. He corrected me my use of the term ‘grumpiness’, pointing out that it minimizes the salience of those feelings. They are enraged: nobody seems to be doing anything or listening to them.
I remain optimistic. We need to stay proud of our Canadian values. We need to be proud that our Parliaments and cabinets look more like Canada. We need to be more intentional about inclusion. Every one of us needs to stand up against misogyny, racism, homophobia, antisemitism, islamophobia. As June Callwood said to all of us “If you are an observer to an injustice you are indeed a participant”.
Together we have to be better able to discuss root causes. Fifty percent of Canadians have indicated that their mental health has deteriorated in the past two years. We need to help one another seek help when needed. We need to look after ourselves.
We need to better articulate the concern that vaccine hesitant people are being drawn into these misogynist, white supremacist and anti-democratic movements through misinformation and disinformation. Mike Lysak’s story will stay with me forever; for two years he felt alone, and unable to do anything to intervene in his son’s path to danger and crime.
Please join us for our Toronto St. Paul’s Summit on March 27 with our city councillor Josh Matlow, MPP Jill Andrews and School Trustees Shelley Laskin and Norm Di Pasquale as we work together with you to create a more inclusive and sustainable community.
Slainte. Slava Ukraini!