Canadian police authorities including the Canadian Mounted Police refer to stalking as criminal harassment. There are several questions that they ask people who may be criminally harassed to ask themselves. "Is someone repeatedly following me or someone known to you from place to place?" Repeatedly is more than one time and does not have to be for an extended period of time. Lynda Elstad's @lyndahere Twitter page and webpage document her travels stalking Alan Doyle and Great Big Sea consistently. The most recent included following, documenting, videotaping and photographing his first solo tour across Canada and American over three weeks. In the past six months she has attended charity events, hockey games, public appearances and performances.
The second question "is someone repeatedly communicating with you, either directly by telephone, in person, leaving a message on answering machines, or sending unwanted gifts, notes, letter or emails". @Lyndahere contacts Alan Doyle nearly every day on Twitter and his official site. I have not viewed the band’s Facebook or other social media outlets. Indirect contact is between the stalker and people the victim knows having messages sent through them or by them making repeated unwanted inquires." @lyndahere also contacts other members of Great Big Sea and his new band and a range of other people who have contact with him.
The third question is about "the stalker watching the victim’s home, place of work or continually be close by". @lyndahere has followed Alan Doyle to all the places he works. This includes any public event. A comprehensive list is available on her webpage and her Twitter posts. It is difficult to know if while she is in Newfoundland whether or not she watches places they may be.
The Canadian Criminal Code...
The Canadian Criminal Code states of criminal harassment “(1) No person shall, without lawful authority and knowing that another person is harassed or recklessly as to whether the other person is harassed, engage in conduct referred to in subsection (2) that causes that other person reasonably, in all the circumstances, to fear for their safety or the safety of anyone known to them".
Prohibited conduct (2) The conduct mentioned in subsection (1) consists of (a) repeatedly following from place to place the other person or anyone known to them; (b) repeatedly communicating with, either directly or indirectly, the other person or anyone known to them; (c) besetting or watching the dwelling-house, or place where the other person, or anyone known to them, resides, works, carries on business or happens to be; or (d) engaging in threatening conduct directed at the other person or any member of their family.
Punishment (3) Every person who contravenes this section is guilty of (a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years; or (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction”. In most cases in particular in North America stalking laws require that the perpetrator make a credible threat of violence against the victim or their family while others state the alleged stalkers conduct constitutes an implied threat. The advice given on Wikipedia (2012) states that “while some conduct involving annoying or menacing behaviour might fall short of illegal stalking, such behaviour may be a prelude to stalking and violence and should be treated seriously”.
Cyberstalking “is the use of the Internet or other electronic means to stalk or harass an individual, a group of individuals, or an organization. It may include false accusations, monitoring, making threats, identity theft, damage to data or equipment, the solicitation of minors for sex, or gathering information in order to harass. The definition of "harassment" must meet the criterion that a reasonable person in possession of the same information, would regard it as sufficient to cause another reasonable person distress. Cyberstalking is different from spatial or offline stalking. However, it sometimes leads to it, or is accompanied by it (Wikipedia 2012).
The impact of criminal harassment...
Research shows there are many psychological and emotional symptoms of stress for any victim of stalking. They include self-reproach, a tendency to downplay the impact of the stalking, stalking is a private matter, a sense of betrayal and stigma, anxiety and fear due to the unpredictability of the stalker’s behaviour, feelings of being helpless and unable to control their lives, inaction, due to a lack of awareness that the conduct is criminal and denial or embarrassment (Canadian Justice Department 2012).
The current statistics on males victims 4 in 10 (39%) were criminally harassed by a casual acquaintance, while only (13%) were stalked by a current or former intimate partner. Although victims almost always suffered emotional harm physical injury was recorded by the police in less than 2% of all cases.
