A setback for Quebec
In the wake of the terrible massacre at a Quebec City mosque this year, Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard spoke about the need for his province, like all societies, to grapple with its “demons,” the “xenophobia, racism, exclusion” within. He said it was time to “act together to show the direction we want our society to evolve.”
This week, by foiling a proposal for a Muslim cemetery near Quebec City, a handful of residents in the small town of Saint-Apollinaire made clear the disgraceful “direction they want their society to evolve” — one where the demons that Couillard described are nourished rather than attacked, and where the Muslim community, in a moment of growing vulnerability, continues to be victimized and excluded.
Clearly, the 19 voters who rejected the cemetery do not define the province. Nor does La Meute, the fear-mongering far-right Facebook group that led the campaign against the proposal. But what Quebecers do now matters. They should stand together in condemning the vote. And their leaders, including Couillard, should consider the role they have played in stoking fear and hate in the province.
It’s hard to read the vote as anything other than yet another expression of a growing anti-Muslim feeling in this country, and in Quebec in particular. In that province, a decade of toxic debates about supposed threats to Quebec values has taken its toll.
Hate crimes in Canada against Muslims have tripled over the past three years, and in Quebec the rate is even higher. For this, the province’s leaders, who have too often pandered to baseless fears and unjustified resentments, own much responsibility. Not a week after the massacre, the premier was pushing a bill to ban public servants from wearing face coverings at work.
The premier understands the power of politicians’ words to shape public consciousness. He knows better than anyone that disgraceful displays like the one in SaintApollinaire will continue until he and his colleagues have the decency and courage to put crass political considerations aside and stand up for all Quebecers — regardless of their religion. Toronto Star