(Ottawa) Federal Justice Minister Arif Virani says the demonstrators who brought their demands to his home this weekend have crossed the line.
Posted at 5:09 p.m.
Stephanie Taylor
The Canadian Press
A few dozen pro-Palestinian demonstrators showed up at Mr. Virani’s Toronto-area home on Saturday, waving flags and signs with his photo near his entrance.
Mr. Virani told reporters as he headed to a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that he believed in the right to “lawfully and peacefully demonstrate,” guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
But he said he considered the protesters to be overstepping the mark by showing up at his home, saying his wife and children “did not deserve to be harassed.”
The minister said the same goes for his neighbors and if people have a problem with him, they should come to his office and leave his family alone.
“It’s my name that appears on my ballot,” Mr. Virani said Tuesday. They should come to my office. They should leave my family out of this. »
People also protested outside Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly’s home earlier this year, which MPs also condemned.
NDP MP Heather McPherson published on the X network that the demonstration at Mme Joly was “terrible”.
“People don’t have to agree with politicians and elected officials, but harassing them in their homes is completely unacceptable,” she said in January.
Independent Toronto MP Kevin Vuong criticized the protest at M’s homeme Joly in January and said on Saturday on X that Mr. Virani’s home was not the appropriate place to demonstrate. He called on the police to take action.
Toronto police said over the weekend that they were aware of a protest taking place in the area for a short period of time, but that no arrests had been made.
Winnipeg Liberal MP Ben Carr said he found the news that protesters had visited Virani’s home on Saturday “disturbing,” adding that it amounted to “harassment.”
