A recent campaign video posted by a candidate vying for a seat on Kitchener City Council has become a lightening rod for online hate. “It’s not something you would wish somebody would say about another person,” said Ismail Mohamed, a first-time candidate who is among six people campaigning to represent Kitchener’s Ward 3. A campaign video posted on Sept. 8th has garnered more than 400 comments. Most of them are racist and vulgar. The video is a typical campaign promotion featuring a group of young volunteers. Mohamed, who has worked for the City of Kitchener for the past 12 years and has lived in Canada for 40 years, said he is doing his best to not let the comments bother him. “We don’t pay any attention to it. We just keep on going and counting our blessings.” “Impacts on communities’ perception of safety” At the Centre for Mutual Wellbeing, they are disheartened, but not surprised, by the racist attacks. “It’s becoming very, very difficult - there are impacts on people’s mental health and impacts on communities’ perception of safety,” said Fauzia Mazhar, the executive director of the Centre for Mutual Wellbeing. She said Mohamed is not alone, and many other racialized candidates are facing similar attacks. Mazhar, who ran for local office in 2022, said the constant attacks can impair a candidate’s ability to run a campaign. “From my own experience, it impacts the mental health. It erodes the confidence in some cases. I remember I was as afraid at times to knock on doors and talk to people - I had experiences after the door opened that were frightening and I was alone most of the time,” said Mazhar. While it appears most of the comments originated outside the community, some posts came from local people. Mazhar said these issues are present in Waterloo Region. “[Racist commenters] are trolls, but they are not bots, these are real people. They may be your neighbour, they may be in your country, and if they have such hate towards you, how do you feel safe?” Mazhar questioned. The Centre for Mutual Wellbeing offers an online tool to report hate. “We have a lot of youth who are seeing what is happening online and the hate comments and the messages that we have been receiving. So, I’m, more concerned about our youth who are participating in our civic engagement,” Mohamed said. Who else is running in Ward 3? Other candidates running in Kitchener’s Ward 3 include Shawn Bradshaw, Joanne Delaney-Fraser, Jason Deneault, Lurdes Jordao and Matt Parker. As the election draws nearer, CTV News will be reaching out to local candidates to hear about their priorities. The election is scheduled for Oct. 26.
