Canada/Western Manitoba women invited into municipal politics
The Her Seat at the Table initiative supports women in western Manitoba who are considering a seat on a municipal council, but don't know how, by offering them advice.
According to Tracy Baker, co-founder of the group in Brandon, Manitoba's second largest city, the goal is to have more women on the ballot for the fall 2026 election and on municipal councils over the next four years.
Having a gender-diverse council is important because women and men bring different things to the table, and because right now, the scales are tipped one way," says Tracy Baker, adding that "we need to balance that out.
Right now in Brandon, only one of the 11 city council seats is held by a woman. In the past 45 years, only 10 women have been elected. On two of those occasions, three women sat on council at the same time.
In Badon's entire history, only one woman has occupied the mayor's chair. That was Shari Decter Hirst, who served from 2010 until her defeat in 2014.
Members of the group met this week in Brandon with women to whom they offered advice on the procedure for running for mayor and the constraints associated with this commitment.
The most common concern was the amount of overtime everyone has to add to their day, week and months to be a municipal councillor," says Tracy Baker.
Personal attacks, a risk of political involvement
Time management is just one of the issues women face when they decide to enter politics, says Michelle Budiwski, Manitoba Liberal candidate for Spruce Woods in the 2023 provincial election.
Budiwski says her campaign posters were constantly vandalized with misogynistic slurs.
There were drawings of genitals, sexualized and gendered names, you know, a lot of swear words, that kind of thing," she laments.
I was on a telephone campaign and a man on the phone told me that the only way he'd ever vote for a woman was if she was hot and horny.
Despite her failure in this election, the ex-candidate says she still suffers abuse online and calls on political leaders to create safe spaces, like in businesses and organizations.
Someone has to stop it, and no one is coming forward to stop it," she criticizes.
The Association of Manitoba Municipalities is aware that inappropriate online comments toward elected municipal officials are on the rise, points out the Association's Executive Director, Denys Volkov.
The Association has created a toolbox with over 100 practical suggestions to help elected officials and councils respond to personal attacks.
In the last few years alone, we've seen a number of incidents here in our province specifically targeting municipal elected officials," Volkov tells CBC.
In particular, he pointed to recent threats against staff and elected officials in the rural municipalities of Alexander and Taché.
On November 5, a grader was hit by a bullet in Alexander, and in the wake of Halloween, politicians in Taché were pictured hanging from a gallows.
The toolkit will be launched on December 9 at a global summit in Toronto, when world leaders from all levels of government and social agencies will gather to address how to combat rising waves of hate and foster more resilient and inclusive cities.
Denys Volkov didn't provide too many details about the toolkit, but he did indicate that there would be a specific segment on gender and racialized people.
Because on top of all the harassment municipal elected officials face, if you're a woman, you face even more harassment from certain individuals," he says.
Association of Manitoba Municipalities President Kathy Valentino hopes the initiative will help support those who are harassed.
We're doing it because we really still think you're going to make a difference," says Valentino, referring to the women.
Source: ici.radio-canada.ca/
