Rascism : Made In Quebec

Is it possible to ask a question about racism in Quebec without setting off an earthquake, without
being called paranoid, and especially, without revealing yourself to be racist? The discomfort the
subject causes doesn’t encourage anyone to say much about it. Personally, I don’t agree with
those immigrants who see racism everywhere. I reject the use of racism as a pretext to justify an
unwillingness to integrate. Racist behaviour is produced, not from ignorance, but worse, from a
lack of curiosity about others.
I am a Muslim. I don’t practise Ramadan. A native Quebecer once said to me, no doubt thinking I
would be pleased, “But you—you’re a more civilized Muslim.” That happened towards the end of
Ramadan, during the daytime, in one of Montreal’s Arab restaurants. After inviting the man to join
me at my table, I gave him a Ramadan 101 course, explaining that it is precisely during Ramadan
that the world’s billion-and-a-half Muslims are most civilized. Ramadan is the month of pardon,
courtesy, and sharing. In Muslim countries, it’s the month when crime rates are at their lowest.
Knowing that I would soon be on a television talk show (Il va y avoir du sport ) to talk about
racism, I asked my new friend quite simply if he believed racism existed in Quebec. He stood up
abruptly and disappeared from my view without a word!
What we have in Quebec is a “made in Quebec” form of racism. It’s a racism without racists! A
racism that is so insidious and unobtrusive, it dare not speak its name. There’s no place for a
Jean-Marie Le Pen in Quebec. Reassuring, isn’t it? But does a faceless racism hurt less or have
fewer victims? I’m not so sure. While the legal institutions, charters of rights, and companies
protect individuals from racism and discourage its institutionalization, racism nonetheless mutates
into certain behaviours, some of which require quite a talent. The art of being racist without ever
looking like it! Appearances are kept up, social peace is maintained and everyone agrees on
Quebec’s reputation as warm and welcoming. So if I want to keep the peace, I shouldn’t mention
the subject. But at least once in a while, let’s talk about it anyways. In any case, appearances are
not what they seem and social peace can’t live long on lies .
In Quebec, no one cultural group has a monopoly on racism. Nonetheless, the balance of power
tilts in favour of those who wield political power, media power and the power to employ. Despite
efforts undertaken to improve employment policies, it is still harder for immigrant s to find jobs that
meet up to their qualifications. It’s very hard for immigrants to rise to positions of power. And in
prison, there are still too many blacks! Racism really hurts when it affects people’s dignity and
labour. Unfortunately, not all victims of workplace racism can afford to embark on the long, painful
course of legal action.
As a result of the systematic use of the terms “cultural communities,” “ethnic minorities,” and
“visible minorities” by the media, researchers, pollsters, and politicians, we have roped off
territories in our minds that are similar to ghettos, even though they don’t really exist in reality.
What draws Haitians, Indians and Arabs to the Parc Extension neighbourhood is not so much any
particular desire to gather in one spot as the low rent. Cultural communities do not exist. What
does exist are men and women from different countries and cultures. The association directors
who speak on their behalf do not represent all immigrants and it’s a lie to imply that one
immigrant has the legitimacy to speak for all immigrants. The Islamic Court in Toronto, which
some would like to see imported to Montreal, is the work of 30 people (29 men and 1 woman).
Beneath its image as a noble protector of the rights of “minorities,” the Canadian government
creates a cultural communitarianism with its multiculturalism policy; this means that even
immigrants who don’t want to fit into the mould are forced to. That explains the discomfort felt by
Wajdi Mouawad in presenting his film Littoral as part of the Festival du Monde Arabe de Montréal.
That also explains why his film was (wrongly) criticized for the use of Quebec actors to play Arab
roles. Racism in Quebec is also fuelled by this ambiguity between diversity and cultural
communitarianism.
All this has repercussions on some people’s perception of others and behaviour towards them. Is
it possible to be named Mohamed, to be a Quebecer of Arab-Afro-Muslim descent, and to neither
practise Ramadan nor eat couscous every Friday night? The answer is yes.
Am I the only person who thinks that 2004 should be the year of three blacks in Quebec?
Between June and November 2004, Maka Kotto became the first black francophone elected to
the House of Commons, Yolande James became the first black woman elected to the National
Assembly and Luck Mervil became the first black Quebecer named patriot of the year by the
Société St-Jean Baptiste.
***
Without making a huge fuss about it and without believing that one day, we’ll simply be done with
racism, we must nonetheless keep an eye out for it, in institutions, in workplaces and even on the
streets, while maintaining a sense of humour at times . I often think fondly of my old neighbour.
She was 75 years old and had lovely blue eyes. One day, when I ran into he r at the corner of St-
Zotique and St-Denis streets, she yelled at me, “When are you going back home? Job stealer!”
After being neighbours for two years, that was the first time she had responded to my greeting.
“But that’s what I’m doing, my dear lady, I’m on my way home, just down the street. Will you do
me the honour of joining me for a mint tea or a coffee?” I can’t help it—show me a pair of pretty
eyes and I turn into Jean Gabin. I believe I zapped all trace of xenophobia out of the woman, who
died a few months after our meeting and to whom I said something she had never heard from her
late husband: “You know, you have beautiful eyes.”
Here are a few signs and symptoms that may point to a “made in Quebec” racism:
· Most of the Arabs and blacks who compose 85% of the taxi drivers in Montréal have
university degrees.
· According to a study in the magazine Découvrir, 15 years after arriving, 23% of
immigrants have left the province.
· According to the inmates themselves at Bordeaux prison, one of every six inmates is
black.
· Too many blacks in prison means too many blacks who grew up here are deported to
their country of origin!
· Among poor women, black women are even poorer.
· For many parents (including some immigrant parents!), private school is a way to avoid
having their children attend a school with a “high ethnic concentration.”
· The Société St-Jean Baptiste’s naming of Luck Mervil as the first black Patriot of the Year
is pure political recuperation unless it is accompanied by actual measures that tackle the
overrepresentation of blacks in prison and the excessive deportation of young Haitian
men.
· The Journal de Montréal asked a white journalist to disguise himself as a black to assess
racism among Quebecers. That’s because the Journal de Montréal doesn’t have a single
black journalist! Nor does Le Devoir.
· The media silence surrounding the Guitouni affair is troubling. On October 10, 2000, the
Superior Court of Quebec ordered broadcaster Radio-Canada to pay Moncef Guitouni a
compensation of $635,355 with costs, for character defamation on the program Le Point.
A slanderous news report, broadcast in August 1994 just before the provincial elections
(and a year before the 1995 referendum) had caused Guitouni to be expelled from the
presidency of the ADQ. The details of this affair are set out in Daniel Martin’s book Le
complot, published in 2002. Neither the Court’s decision nor the scandalous revelations
in the book caused the slightest uproar. Nothing in the way of a response, much less an
apology. Through their silence, are those responsible for this affair confirming the
existence of a “made in Quebec” racism?
You can only say that racism exists in Quebec if you say it in a certain way. Because racism is a
form of violence, you can’t respond to violence with violence. But that’s no reason not to keep an
eye on it. A symptom of something bad is not necessarily bad itself. But from time to time, it’s
essential to do a diagnosis. What if the headache hides a tumour? Things are changing quickly in
Quebec. No diagnosis is permanent. Parizeau’s famous outburst made less of an impression on
me than the clearly racist reaction of certain immigrants towards native Quebecers. If there was a
contest for the best racist, who would have won? If there had been more of them in power, it
would have been the immigrants! And it’s PRECISELY because there are not more of them in
power that Parizeau said what he said. Like all Quebecers, Parizeau follows the news. He, too,
had gotten the idea of “ethnic groups ,” as he himself called them, into his head and placed them
in a mental space that doesn’t really correspond to reality. As Premier of all Quebecers, he made
a blunder. But on that night in 1995, Parizeau had seen the title of “father of Quebec sovereignty”
slip from his grasp. As a citizen of Quebec, I’m not excusing his blunder. But he’ll never make me
an “ethnic” or a foreigner, much less a racist. In my opinion, the best way for certain immigrants to
prove him wrong is not so much to call him a racist as to engage in political action on the
provincial and federal levels. They are starting to do so, but it’s just a beginning—the fight must
go on.
When will a newspaper name Maka Kotto, Yolande James and Luck Mervil the men and woman
of the year?

Source : Mohamed Lotfi, Journalist & Producer of the radio program Souverains Anonymes