In an interview with Kori Sidaway that recently aired on CHEK News, Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps talks about harassment and the pandemic, saying she welcomes feedback but harassment isn’t helpful.
Help’s comments come after she was heckled and verbally harassed during an interview out front of city hall.
“It’s unfortunate that people feel the need to yell in a public space at a public figure but I guess it comes with the territory,” Helps told CHEK News on March 20.
Victoria’s mayor says the pandemic has made people more on edge but isn’t entirely sure whether harassment has gotten worse.
“I don’t know if it is better or worse but the biggest worry for me is young women,” she said. “The biggest worry for me is about young women. When young women look at me and see myself and other women politicians and [they] think why would I ever would do that?”
“I welcome criticism, I actually like criticism because it helps me think differently and I get a lot of criticism and a lot of thoughtful criticism … there should be a difference between criticizing and providing new ideas with just like random heckling and yelling,” Helps said. “My message to those folks is, this is not really productive, you’re not really helping if you just come and stand and yell.”
Watch the full interview above.
CHEK News
