News & Events Event Reports

North America Regional Hub: Practical Recommendations for Canadian Municipalities Facing Anti-Government Hate and Harassment

Publication Date:

30/01/2026

Content Type:

Event Reports

Share:

Tags:

Association of Manitoba MunicipalitiesCanada Webinar SeriesCrisis ResponseNorth America Regional Hub

— 10 minutes reading time

This report provides a summary of discussions during the webinar and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Strong Cities Network Management Unit, Strong Cities members, event sponsors or participants.

Summary

On 30 January 2026, the Strong Cities Network North America Regional Hub hosted the second instalment of its Canada Webinar Series, which focused attention on a number of new resources to support local elected officials and municipal staff across Canada in preventing and responding to rising anti-government hate and harassment. This series provides Canadian municipalities and community-based partners with evidence-based insights, emerging research and practical tools to strengthen local prevention and response ecosystems.

Speakers:

• Denys Volkov, Executive Director, Association of Manitoba Municipalities
• Kari Kruse, Project Manager, Prince Edward Island Coalition for Women’s Leadership
• Brenda Orchard, President, Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators, and CAO of Lennox and Addington County

Key Takeaways

1. Municipalities need dedicated resources and support to implement anti-harassment recommendations. Survey data from Manitoba revealed that 90 per cent of respondents indicated there was no training available to help them handle hate and threats, and most smaller municipalities lack the capacity or expertise to address these issues alone. Moving forward, there is interest in exploring stronger legal protections for municipal officials at the provincial level, as current legislation does not adequately protect them.
2. Practical frameworks for public meetings can help municipalities manage disruptions while protecting free speech. Many municipalities have not yet implemented measures such as codes of conduct for public behaviour at meetings, time limits for speakers, or alternative venues for resident input. Putting these frameworks in place proactively allows officials to point to established best practices, rather than appearing to target specific individuals when issues arise.
3. Technology-facilitated violence is a significant barrier to equitable representation and civic participation. One of the primary barriers preventing women and gender-diverse people from running for office in Prince Edward Island is the fear of repercussions from technology-facilitated gender-based violence, which disproportionately affects those with intersectional identities. To help make these communities feel supported, education and tools like incident reporting logs are essential to increase the likelihood that cases are investigated fully.
4. Support networks and peer learning are critical for municipal leaders navigating incivility. Chief Administrative Officers and elected officials experiencing harassment often have no one to speak with who truly understands the pressures they face. Confidential peer support programmes, such as groups connecting leaders across provinces, provide a safe space to share experiences and strategies without fear of local repercussions.

The Association of Manitoba Municipalities

After an introduction from Eric Rosand, Executive Director, Strong Cities Network, Denys Volkov, Executive Director, Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM), played a video message from AMM President Kathy Valentino. Councillor Valentino from the City of Thompson in northern Manitoba, outlined the challenges facing municipal leaders across the province: “Over the years, AMM has seen a growing trend: municipal leaders facing harassment and threats, simply for doing their jobs. From online hate to disruptions at council meetings, and even some extreme acts like threats or vandalism, these incidents are real and they are impacting our communities”. Valentino emphasised that the problem extends beyond isolated incidents, noting that “experienced officials are stepping down, lifelong public servants are leaving, and in some cases, the very functioning of local government is at risk”. To better understand the scope of the problem, AMM partnered with Strong Cities, holding listening sessions with more than 100 mayors, reeves, councillors and municipal staff, and commissioning research to identify gaps in training and support.

Survey data collected during the toolkit’s development revealed that 90 per cent of respondents said there was no training available related to handling hate and threats. The most commonly reported issues included harassment through emails and phone calls, misinformation on social media and online comment pages, personal information being posted publicly, disruptions at council meetings by individuals or groups and direct threats made in public settings. The toolkit was developed in partnership with Strong Cities and the University of Manitoba’s Centre for Social Science Research and Policy, with support from the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region, the Association of Manitoba Bilingual Municipalities and Manitoba Municipal Administrators.

The resulting toolkit contains 130 actionable recommendations organised across seven topic areas: the causes of anti-government sentiment, protecting candidates for local office, harassment of municipal officials, online harassment, online misinformation and disinformation, meeting disruptions and identity-based hate. Volkov highlighted several practical recommendations that many municipalities have not yet implemented, including adopting a code of conduct for public behaviour at meetings, providing residents with different venues and opportunities for giving input, and enforcing time limits for speakers. He emphasised that the toolkit is designed to be practical rather than theoretical, providing concrete steps municipalities can take in each area. It is not designed to be a one-time read; it is a reference tool municipalities can use as issues arise. As Owen Foster, Canada Coordinator, Strong Cities Network, noted, the toolkit includes quick reference guides, an issue index and frequent internal hyperlinking so users can quickly find relevant recommendations in the document.

Volkov concluded by noting that the toolkit’s release has generated positive media coverage and public response, and that AMM will continue promoting it as the 2026 municipal elections approach. When asked about barriers to implementation, Volkov identified the lack of dedicated resources and expertise as the primary challenge, particularly for smaller rural municipalities that lack the staff capacity to work through the recommendations on their own.

Prince Edward Island Coalition for Women’s Leadership

Kari Kruse, Project Manager, Prince Edward Island Coalition for Women’s Leadership, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to advancing women’s leadership in political, civic and democratic life on Prince Edward Island (PEI), introduced the Digital Self-Defence Toolkit, a guide for understanding and reporting technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV). Kruse emphasised the importance of precise language when discussing TFGBV, explaining that terms like cyberbullying can sometimes downplay the seriousness of what is occurring. “It’s important to name what is actually happening as violence”, she said, adding that technology-facilitated violence exists on a spectrum and is used as a tool to silence, harass, intimidate and limit a person or group’s full participation in society. The toolkit provides definitions for over 30 terms related to technology-facilitated violence, including cyberstalking, doxxing, deadnaming, impersonation, image-based abuse, mobbing, cyber extortion and altered media or deepfakes.

In conversations with women who are considering running for office, Kruse reported that “the number one thing they say that is preventing them is the fear of repercussions and impact from technology-facilitated violence”. She shared Canadian statistics demonstrating the scope of the problem. These showed that 61 per cent of women and gender-diverse people in Canada have experienced gendered digital harm compared to 53 per cent of the general population, young women aged 16 to 29 are nearly twice as likely to experience online harassment as young men in the same age range, and 80 per cent of two-spirit, transgender and non-binary working professionals surveyed had experienced transgender online hate directed at them or their organisation. Kruse also shared a quote from a candidate in the 2023 PEI provincial election who received thinly veiled physical violence threats via email and was told to “maybe call the RCMP, but nothing further. It seemed like no one knew what to do”.

A central feature of the toolkit is the reporting log, which allows individuals to document incidents systematically. The log includes fields for the victim’s contact information, perpetrator information including legal name and usernames, incident details such as when and where it occurred, the technology devices and platforms involved, personal consequences and emotional impact, and details of any help sought. Kruse emphasised the practical value of this documentation, noting that “police will take your case more seriously if you can demonstrate a pattern of behaviour and repeated incidents”. The log also serves as a personal record for potential future contact with authorities, a place to compile receipts for any money spent responding to incidents and a repository for supporting documents such as screenshots and audio recordings. Kruse concluded by advocating for municipalities to establish clear rules of engagement for their social media platforms, making explicit that harassment will result in removal.

Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators

Brenda Orchard, President of the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA) and Chief Administrative Officer of Lennox and Addington County in Ontario, presented the Standing Strong Toolkit, a resource designed to help municipal staff maintain professionalism amid growing incivility. In 2025, Orchard and CAMA Executive Director Jennifer Goodine interviewed elected officials across Canada who were experiencing incivility, followed by three sessions in September with more than 50 Chief Administrative Officers facing hostility from the public or their councils. “We heard a lot of pain”, Orchard said, noting that incivility comes from multiple directions, including public to councillor, councillor to councillor and sometimes staff to councillor. Stories included elected officials who attend meetings only virtually because they do not feel safe in person, officials who have suppressed their voices because they are uncomfortable participating and Chief Administrative Officers who experienced death threats at their homes. “Then you do not get healthy debate, and you do not have a good democracy”, she said.

The Standing Strong Toolkit contains 15 chapters covering strategies, tools and case studies to help staff navigate hostility while also supporting their councils. To illustrate the toolkit’s content, Orchard shared ten tips for preventing incivility and fostering respectful relationships with elected officials: setting boundaries early, having a solid employment contract, building strong relationships, maintaining open communication, documenting interactions, utilising support networks, promoting a culture of respect, implementing clear policies and procedures, using proactive communication strategies and focusing on self-care while being ready for formal action. She emphasised the importance of comprehensive council orientation at the beginning of a term, noting that orientations should go beyond procedural matters to include communication expectations, information-sharing boundaries and expectations for decorum. “If you clarify that up front during orientation, you can circle back and say, hey, remember orientation”, she said. Orchard also highlighted the value of establishing frameworks for public hearings, noting that smaller rural communities in particular struggle when residents view any attempt to set boundaries as an infringement on free speech. Municipal leaders told CAMA that “it would help if the best practice was set external to them, so that they could reference it”.

Orchard concluded by outlining several additional toolkits CAMA is developing based on feedback from the research, including a refreshed council orientation toolkit, a guide for leading effective council meetings with practical phrases for chairs to use during difficult moments and a guide for residents explaining how municipal government functions and how to engage productively. “Our concern was that there seems to be a skew in the public where they think fighting for your community means fighting with your community”, she said. “And that’s not it, supporting healthy debate is”.

Potential Action Items

• Use the practices contained in these toolkits to build prevention capacity and consult the toolkits’ response tactics as incidents of anti-government hate and harassment arise
• Consider adopting a code of conduct for public behaviour at council meetings to establish clear expectations before issues arise
• Explore providing residents with multiple venues and opportunities for giving input beyond traditional council meetings
• Evaluate public content policies for municipal social media platforms to ensure they prohibit hate and harassment and set guidelines for removal while respecting freedom of speech
• Review council orientation programmes to include communication expectations, information-sharing boundaries and expectations for decorum
• Develop incident reporting logs for documenting patterns of harassment, including details of platforms, personal impact and help sought
• Create new and take advantage of existing confidential peer support networks that connect municipal leaders across regions to share experiences and strategies
• Provide education on technology-facilitated gender-based violence to help municipal staff and elected officials recognise and respond to these forms of harassment

Next Steps

The Canada Webinar Series will return on 17 February for a session on Foreign Information Manipulations and Interference presented by experts from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which hosts Strong Cities. RSVP for the event here.

Additional Resources and Previous Canada Webinars

Toolkits

• A Toolkit for Manitoba Municipalities: Addressing Anti-Government Hate and Harassment, Strong Cities Network and the Association of Manitoba Municipalities (December 2025)
• Digital Self-Defence Toolkit, Prince Edward Island Coalition for Women’s Leadership
• Standing Strong Toolkit: A CAO’s Guide to Professionalism Amidst Incivility, Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators

Further Resources

• North America Regional Hub: Enhancing Local Efforts to Address Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) and Misogyny as Drivers of Social Polarisation and Violence, Strong Cities Network (January 2026)
• A Guide for Mayors: Preventing and Responding to Hate, Extremism & Polarisation, Strong Cities Network (updated March 2025)
• A Guide for Cities: Preventing Hate, Extremism & Polarisation (see Navigating Difficult Issues), Strong Cities Network (updated March 2025)
• A Ten-Step Roadmap for Enhancing City-Led Support for Community-Based Programmes to Address Hate and Extremism, Strong Cities Network (February 2025)
• Countering Hate Speech in Times of Crisis: Considerations for Mayors and Local Governments, Strong Cities Network (December 2024) 

Contact Information 

For more information on this event or Strong Cities North America programming, please contact the North America Regional Hub at [email protected].

News & EVENTS

Stay up to date with recent news, articles and event reports

News & Events

Looking for something in our Resource Hub?

Or explore all resources

Nominated for Best Animated Short at Cannes

Watch now

Join US

Looking to become a Strong City?

Get in touch