Toronto (Canada), Sep 1 (EFE).- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau linked a wave of threats against women journalists on Thursday to an attempt to weaken democracy in the country and asked Canadian police to act against what he sees as a deliberate campaign of intimidation.

Trudeau pointed out that he had asked Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino to meet with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police to let them know that the threats in the country against women journalists and journalists belonging to ethnic minorities, it must be tackled.

Trudeau’s statement and Mendicino’s meeting with police chiefs come on the same day that the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), along with other groups and media, called on Trudeau and the country’s other political leaders to planning for the protection of journalists.

The CAJ pointed out in a letter sent to Trudeau that in a 2021 survey of communications professionals, 72% said they had experienced online harassment and that since then the problem has only worsened with a recent campaign of threats that raise fears about the safety of journalists.

According to the organization, many of the threatening emails that have recently been directed at journalists “use similar language, language normally used by domestic extremist groups” that suggest they are part of a coordinated campaign.

The CAJ also revealed that the police acted with contempt when journalists denounced the harassment they suffered.

In response to the complaint, Trudeau said the acts of intimidation against journalists “cannot be treated simply as individual acts”, but rather as part of a “systemic approach to weaken” democracy and intimidate the journalism.