Sarnia City Councillor Bill Dennis says his Twitter account was hacked.
He made the public statement after an image saying "Show me a Liberal and I will show you a liar, a pervert, a coward, a hypocrite and a traitor." was posted to his social media account on Tuesday.
In a lengthy interview, Dennis told Sarnia News Today he didn't publish the post and was "embarrassed" and "mortified" when he saw it.
"One hundred per cent it was not me," Dennis said. "My great grandfather was a Liberal MPP for the area, my family was Liberals, I have many friends who are Liberals. That post was very offensive. It described Liberals in a very derogatory manner. I do not agree with what was said in that post."
A removed post from Sarnia Councillor Bill Dennis's Twitter account. March 2022.
Once he realized what had happened, Dennis said he immediately froze his account and tried to change the password.
He said he was not required as a councillor to report the hack to the city's information technology (IT) department.
"The city has nothing to do with my social media, at all, period. Again, I'm not very tech savvy, I leave that to my wife. My wife is the brains. She tried to get a hold of Twitter and all that kind of stuff."
Dennis claims the Twitter hack is just one of many things he's been subjected to in what he calls a "smear campaign".
"Photoshopped pictures, fake (profiles on) dating sites, numerous fake Facebook accounts, fake LinkedIn accounts, fake Snapchat (accounts.) I've had numerous hate mail sent to my house. I've received numerous calls all through the night, my cars have been vandalized, (more) hate mail including a death wish to my dog. It's absolutely horrific."
Dennis said he's filed a report with Sarnia police in the past.
"As a matter of fact when my car was keyed, the first time, there was a report done with Sarnia police. It's been done numerous times, even at my house as well."
Sarnia News Today has asked Sarnia police to confirm that a report was made and is waiting for a response.
In one case, Dennis said his photo from visiting The Leaky Tank in the fall was even photoshopped to include a recent controversial post on the restaurant's menu board, which stated that Russia was not occupying Ukraine, it was "de-Nazifying" Ukraine.
"The way it was photoshopped made it look like I was there on the day that crazy message was posted. Everything is so high-tech nowadays there's some professional hackers, professional photoshop people, it's so high-tech."
In a public statement, Aamjiwnaang's Band Council called The Leaky Tank's Facebook post of its menu board February 25 offensive.
"The Chief and council of Aamjiwnaang want to make it clear that we do not condone the message that was delivered, and those values are not in line with our council and a large majority of the community we serve," said the notice. "Our thoughts are with those in Ukraine who are suffering and at risk, and we are praying for peace."
The restaurant's post was eventually removed, and replaced with an apology, which was also removed after a few days.
Councillor Dennis said most of the vitriol he receives is through fake accounts, and he admits to blocking accounts from viewing his social media.
"There's a reason why people are blocked from my account, because they say nasty things. I'm about positivity and I'm not going to put up with this crap. When I was in real estate and people came into my open houses, if there's honest criticism that's fine, but I'm not going to put up with someone that comes into a house and is highly critical of the house and is destructive, I'm going to tell them to leave."
Dennis said his mental and physical health has been impacted by the vitriol.
He said he was recently in hospital for treatment of his kidneys, saying it was "100 per cent stress induced."
Despite that, he indicated no plans to deactivate all of his social media accounts, saying "it's a tremendous tool."
"I have almost 4,600 followers on Facebook. You have no idea how many people private message me with concerns. I screenshot those concerns and I forward them off to the appropriate people in the city."
Dennis said he also uses social media as a sounding board and admitted that while he has some very strong opinions, and conservative views, he understands those views are not shared by everyone.
When asked what he's learned from the hack, Dennis said this.
"Some people are slime. It's ridiculous. No one is going to thwart my freedom of speech. I will say whatever I want to say. As far as people making comments about my opinions and things, that's my opinion, I don't care."
Dennis said he's since reviewed his Twitter feed and some of his retweets, likes, and other posts he doesn't recall doing.