When Discimination Becomes Law in Canada

 

The question to Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet created a controversy in Quebec, taking on a narrative and a legend of its own. It led the National Assembly to censure me, cartoonists to ridicule me and party leaders to demand an apology. So here was the question: 

I turned off the English Federal party leaders debate before the Canadian election in September -- remember, we had an election? -- because the format was so frustrating. It really wasn't a debate at all in my estimation, although one question to Parti Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet by moderator Shachi Kurl caught my attention:

“You deny that Quebec has problems with racism. Yet you defend legislation such as Bills 96 and 21, which marginalize religious minorities, anglophones, and allophones. For those outside the province, please help them understand why your party also supports these discriminatory laws.” 

Blanchet made a big deal over his offence at this question and milked it for all it was worth in the days after the debate.The press in Quebec also did a lot of woofing about their indignation.  In my recollection only Green Party leader Annamie Paul had the courage to suggest that this was a valid line of inquiry while the others fell over themselves to say that Quebec is not racist. Ms Kurl was asked to take the question back but she has defiantly stood behind it, and I'm glad.The attempts by other leaders to distance themselves from this question in the days following was frankly shameful. 

Obviously not all Quebeckers are racist,  and I actually think it is a marvelous province in so many respects. At the same time we are allowed to wonder how legislation which overrides the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is anything but racist and designed to marginalize certain religious groups, particularly Muslim women. 

Since last month's election an inquiry into the death in a Quebec hospital of an Indigenous woman. Joyce Echequan, stated bluntly that if she had been white she wouldn't have died. When Echequan was in serious pain she was mocked by nurses rather than treated with compassion.  Why can't leaders in Quebec concede that systemic racism exists in the province or that legislation which supposedly upholds cultural values is discriminatory?

When our son Isaac began ministry in Quebec, where he attended seminary, he showed me an editorial in a local newspaper while we were visiting. He actually had to read it to me because it was in French, and I was astonished at what a vile and ill-informed attack on Islam it was. He loved living in Quebec and enjoyed the culture, but he was jolted by this sort of open hostility. 

Human Rights Watch has raised red flags about the treatment of Indigenous peoples in Canada and the violation of religious freedoms inherent in Quebec's new laws. https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/canada

Surely more direct questions need to be asked about discriminatory legislation and attitudes, and our Prime Minister needs to be amongst those asking them.