Racism probe sparks debate
Left said to be divided over ‘ideology of victimhood’
MONTREAL — Quebec is being widely criticized for its plan to launch public consultations on systemic racism, even by those who agree visible minorities face many structural barriers in the province.
The debate has highlighted a deep divide among Quebec’s political left, with some people saying the consultations encourage an ideology of victimhood and demonize the province as inherently racist.
Some civil rights activists argue the consultations are meaningless unless the government is prepared to hold its institutions accountable for failing to uphold racial diversity.
Moreover, activists say they will increasingly use the court system to push through changes in society regardless of what comes out of the government’s consultations.
Michele Sirois, a political scientist and president of a women’s rights organization, believes there is no systemic racism in Quebec.
That concept, she explained in an interview, is imported from the United States, which has a history of structural racism against people of colour.
“The Americans had a slave trade,” she said. “We didn’t. Our problem is about the full integration of immigrants.”
Sirois recently penned an opinion piece in Le Devoir, a left-of-centre newspaper, and wrote that the term “systemic racism” reflects “an ideology of victimhood” and promotes the idea that only white people can be racist.
“The left is divided in Quebec,” Sirois said in the interview. “And there is an increase of people on the left who are saying, ‘stop these consultations, which will only increase racial tension in society.’ ”
Only discussion on discrimination involving race, colour or ethnic and national origin will be allowed when the hearings begin in September.
The goal, the government said, is to forge “concrete and durable” solutions in order to “fight these problems.”
The Canadian Press attempted to contact provincial Immigration Minister Kathleen Weil, whose office is leading the consultations, but was told she would not be available to comment.
Weil said in July, when she first made the announcement, that the consultations “are an occasion to mobilize all of civil society ... to propose actions to eliminate the obstacles towards full participation of all Quebecers.”
Fo Niemi, executive director for the Montreal-based Centre for Research Action on Race Relations, said those on the right and the left who deny the existence of systemic racism aren’t looking hard enough.
One clear example, he said, is that Quebec’s human rights commission is so understaffed, it can render decisions only many years after a complaint is lodged.