Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante's public opposition to the CAQ's secularism bill has made her the target of increasingly violent threats.

After the provincial government tabled Bill 21 last month the Mayor spoke out against the legislation, saying it did not reflect Montreal's values. She later said she had received hateful comments for her stance against the bill.

An aide to the Mayor told CTV Montreal those threats have been escalating of late, with many of the private messages sent to Plante's social media accounts and email being violent and sexist in tone. They also use derogatory terms to describe Plante and include threats to her personal safety.

The most extreme messages have been sent to Montreal police.

The Mayor's office said some of the threats originated from computers in Montreal while others came from outside of the country.

Along with the threats, the Mayor has been the subject of false information being shared on social media. Most recently, a post on the 'Non à l'injustice au Québec' Facebook page by one user claimed Plante was at a rally against Bill 21 alongside controversial Montreal imam Adil Charkaoui. The post has been shared more than 4,000 times.

However the Mayor was more than 9,000 kilometers away in Buenos Aires, Argentina at the time of the protest.