[LINK] "Jian Ghomeshi, Rob Ford and the cost of Canadian politeness"

[rfmcdonald]

Twitter pointed me towards Madeline Ashby's opinion piece in the Ottawa Citizen, one noting the ways in which famed Canadian politeness actually manifests more like indifference where the fate of women is concerned.

As the stories about Jian Ghomeshi grow in number and deepen in depravity, Canadians have asked themselves painful questions about how and why his alleged behaviour went ignored for so long. But if the history of Rob Ford is any indication, Torontonians are experts at not asking questions about a charismatic man’s treatment of women. And while the allegations against both Ford and Ghomeshi have not been proven in court, this reluctance to even talk about it suggests the famous Canadian politeness might give men cover for how they treat women.

It may seem strange to compare Ghomeshi with Ford. On the surface, they appear to be polar opposites. While Ghomeshi gleefully exploited his hipster cred among left-voting CBC listeners, Ford gorged himself on their frustration. But beneath their brands, the stories about them are disturbingly similar.

While Ghomeshi was allegedly busy intimidating his co-workers, assaulting his dates, and playing with his teddy bear, Ford was welcoming Toronto police officers into his home to deal with domestic disturbance complaints. In 2008, Rob Ford was arrested for assault and allegedly making a death threat against his wife. The charges were later dropped, because the Crown found his wife Renata Ford’s account to have “credibility issues.” In 2011, Ford’s mother-in-law called 911 to tell them Ford was taking his two children out of the country without their mother’s consent. The Ford family said the police had it all wrong, that everything was fine, that “a lot of people you know have problems behind closed doors.” But those problems continued: in 2012, police found Renata Ford with bruises and contusions on her face and body. When asked about the possibility of abuse, she refused to cooperate.

[. . .]

As the stories about alcohol and drugs and secret videos mounted, Renata Ford’s story slipped through the cracks. It’s not that it the public didn’t know there had been interactions with authorities — journalists at multiple Toronto newspapers knew and some even published stories about it. It’s that the public simply did not care. A mayor who smoked crack was a tragedy. The woman who lived with him was just a statistic.