Outgoing Waverley West councillor Janice Lukes is reflecting on her 12 years at Winnipeg city hall: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
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“I’m ready to go, I made up my mind, so I’m excited.
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It’s like a new beginning for me,” Lukes told Global News.
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She says a lot has changed since she first started as city councillor.
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“The world has become very polarized, everything is black and white now it seems.
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Very different even from 12 years ago when I started.
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I attribute it to a lot of it to the orange man down south and the disrespect(ful) language that he uses,” she said, adding that economic instability, global conflict and mental health issues all play a role.
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“There’s a lot of upset people, a lot of unrest, a lot of polarization, and people take that out on elected officials, (while) driving, people at Tim Horton’s, wherever.
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Lukes says while she hasn’t had many issues with the residents in her ward, the increased cases of threats and hostility often come with chairing a committee and being involved with broader decision making at city hall.
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“People coming into this role have to understand very clearly that you’re not going to make everybody happy at all,” she said.
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“And you’re making decisions that impact people’s lives, income, (and) livelihoods.
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You’re making very big decisions here at city hall and not everybody is going to agree with that, so it makes you a target for comments and feedback and probably some other things.”
Lukes has taken her own safety precautions.
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year, she hired private security to attend a community event following concerning comments online.
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She’s also consulted with police to know what to do in the event of an emergency at city hall.
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“I met with a police officer.
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We sat down in my office and he told me what to do if there is a shooting or a break in or whatever,” Lukes said.
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“So I am mentally all prepared for all that, I have my baseball bat, I know what window to jump out of.”
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While it may be amplified in recent years, hostility towards elected officials isn’t new, if you ask former Winnipeg mayor Susan Thompson.
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She says during the 1990s, security measures at city hall were nearly non-existent.
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And I mainly had to handle them personally, and that’s not right,” Thompson said.
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“It was not until I got a bomb threat, and my car keyed, and tires slashed, and death threats that (security) began to evolve.”
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Last year, Manitoba NDP cabinet ministers Nahanni Fontaine and Bernadette Smith had their constituency offices set on fire.
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A man was arrested and charged in that case.
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Kelly Saunders, a political science professor at Brandon University, says social media has played a role in heightening hostility, particularly towards marginalized communities.
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“Women politicians, people of colour – those politicians are unfortunately experiencing even high threats of violence compared to everyone else,” Saunders said.
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She also says it’s having an impact on how many people want to run for office.
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“It really has a chilling impact,” she said.
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“I mean how many people are willing to subject themselves and their families to this kind of vitriol of hatred, of violence.”
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“Always be aware of your surroundings, know that you’re not going to make everyone happy, know that the world is unstable, that people are unstable,” she said.
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“You have to think about these things, because you are making decisions that are impacting lives, and that’s very big stuff.”
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