Ottawa Election Signs Get Vandalized With Slurs & 2 Female Candidates Are Responding

At least two female candidates in Ottawa have seen their provincial campaign signs vandalized this month. While one reads “witch,” more have been spotted in various areas of the city.

On May 13, Ontario NDP Kanata-Carleton candidate Melissa Coenraad was passing through Constance Bay just outside of Ottawa city centre. That’s when she noticed that her bright orange signs looked a bit different.

Signs that she had placed along a suburban area road had black graffiti scrawls on them. Next to the word “witch,” an angry smiley face was drawn. While another read "b*tch."

Coenraad took to Twitter that day, saying, “I know that art comes in all shapes and sizes, but campaign signs aren’t canvases."

Coenraad, who is on her third campaign, says that although sign damage is common during election periods she feels that this year’s graffiti could be gender-based.

“It’s happening to what appears to be female candidates in different ridings in Ottawa,” Coenraad told Narcity. “You never want to label it, but it definitely feels gender-based this year, which hasn't been something that I felt in the past.”

Sign defacement has happened to at least one other female candidate in the region.

Ontario Liberal Ottawa-Vanier candidate, Lucille Collard, says she had at least four of her signs vandalized and took to Twitter on May 8.

Collard’s bold red campaign sign shows her face graffitied with a short black moustache above her lips.

Collard first noticed the signs during a trip to the grocery store on Mother's Day. She adds that she believes the drawing was of a Hitler moustache. "That was a little bit shocking," Collard says.

"It's okay to disagree but it doesn't have to be done that way," the Liberal candidate adds. "There are other ways to voice your disagreement."

Collard says she's had to repair or replace four of her signs so far.

Twitter responses have been "really positive"

Coenraad says she’s trying not to take any sign damage personally, but that at times it can be challenging.

“It's hard for sure,” she tells Narcity. “When you feel targeted in your riding it's a little more challenging, but my team and I have taken it from the perspective of, ‘we're doing something right.'"

Some real estate agents messaged Coenraad, saying they also have had their signs vandalized, Coenraad says. But the NDP candidate says she has also received messages denouncing the graffiti across party lines.

“The support that came from Constance Bay was a little bit overwhelming,” Coenraad says. “I didn't expect it—it was really positive.”

While Collard says that some people have since offered to replace her vandalized signs.

Sign damage has happened in other regions across Ontario. On May 16, Ontario Green Party candidate Krystal Brooks, who is from Rama First Nation, shared a video on social media showing how her signs were vandalized with the words, "go back to the reserve B*tch."

On the same day, Peel Region Police said they had charged two men in their 20s with damaging and stealing campaign signs in Brampton, Ontario.