Twitter dispute between activists and Environment Canada lands gently

Timing, (many say about many things) is everything.

So you know things aren’t going all that well for Catherine McKenna, Canada’s minister of environment and climate change, when her official Twitter feed blocks a young climate action group at the start of a week when her Liberal Party unveils its environmental election promises and Greta Thunberg arrives in Montreal to keynote a giant rally.

Climate Change Canada, a network of young people inspired by Thunberg, says it was blocked from McKenna’s feed late Monday night following an exchange with McKenna, who began the dialogue by congratulating the group for their activism, saying Canadians have a moral obligation to future generations to listen to them.

Apparently, that was not what one of the users of Climate Strike Canada’s Twitter account wanted to hear.

The unknown tweeter responded by referring to McKenna as “Cathy” and telling her to “stfu” –an acronym for the phrase “shut the f— up” — because the tweeter was unhappy about the government buying the Trans Mountain pipeline.

But hold on.

This is a Canadian story, after all.

McKenna’s campaign spokesman, David Taylor, told CBC News the group was blocked by mistake and the block was reversed Tuesday evening.

Climate Strike Canada’s Ontario co-ordinator, Emma Lim, says she’s not sure who delivered the Tweet, explaining that the account has many users, some of them in elementary school.

“In the future, we will use more appropriate language,” Lim said.

McKenna (or at least her staffers) may be forgiven it they are on edge these days following verbal and physical threats that prompted the government to provide her with a part-time security detail.

“I think it is horrific that Catherine McKenna is receiving threats,” says Lim.

“We are students, we are also receiving threats and it’s a scary situation to be in, but so is the climate crisis.”

With files from CBC