Yukon NDP candidate harassed with 'lewd' messages during election forum
Someone posed as another candidate and sent private messages to Katherine McCallum during online event
Police are investigating after one of Yukon's federal election candidates said they received offensive sexual texts during an online election forum on Wednesday.
The incident disrupted the forum, hosted by the Yukon Chamber of Commerce, forcing it to end earlier than planned.
The chamber said in a news release on Thursday that someone posed as another candidate during the event and sent "private and harassing, disturbing messages" directly to NDP candidate Katherine McCallum.
"We condemn the behaviour of the false participant, and for making the candidates feel unsafe and forcing good dialogue to end," the chamber stated.
The chamber said that it blocked the false participant, ended the forum early and reported the incident to RCMP.
"We are immediately working to trace the identity of the participant and will investigate all possible channels to prevent this from ever happening again," said chamber chair John Campbell in the statement.
In a separate statement on Thursday, McCallum described the messages she received as "lewd and disrespectful texts of a sexual nature."
"All my life I've been sexually harassed, and it chips away at you. It's intimidating, demeaning and it makes you feel unsafe," McCallum said.
"It is this behaviour that keeps the many voices that make up our community out of the conversations that are important to us."
RCMP confirmed on Thursday that they are investigating the incident but provided no other details, "as it is an ongoing investigation."
McCallum, in her statement, thanked the chamber and others for their "wonderful messages of support and solidarity" after the incident.
"I will not let this experience take my power away, nor should you. If anything, this has made me proud to put my name forward as a political candidate," she wrote.