Multiculturalism, Bernard Landry and Quebec values

Re: “When you change country, you change country” (Gazette, Aug. 28) Bernard Landry, as always, has auspicious timing! Who else but our former premier would make a statement about the threat of multiculturalism on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech? I guess that Mr. Landry does not share the late Dr. King’s thought that all men are equal and should be judged by the content of their character rather than their race, or in current Quebec terms, their cultural and/or religious beliefs.

Words of hope, understanding and acceptance will and should always trump those of division, mistrust and exclusion. This anglo Quebecer is and will probably always be a believer in the ideal of a multicultural society.

Kyle Brown Dorion-Vaudreuil

Bernard Landry should thank the British parliament of 1774 for ensuring the survival of the French culture in Quebec by passing the Quebec Act. Otherwise, Mr. Landry, his grandparents and his grandchildren would all be anglos.

After 1759, Quebec was handed over to the British from the French. Isn’t that changing country? And, by establishing the two predominant cultures in Canada, English and French, couldn’t that be considered multiculturalism?

Accommodations were guaranteed for the French culture way back in 1774. Could not the same spirit of generosity be maintained today? Robert Anstee Montreal

It is fortunate for Premier Pauline Marois that Bernard Landry wasn’t one of the first settlers to arrive in Quebec. Had he been here to sound the cry “When you change country, you change country,” the PQ would now be defending the Mohawk language with the same fervour and zeal that it expends on the French language. Dawn Brunelle Ste-Geneviève

I suspect that Bernard Landry’s complaint that the English media have been “pathetic” in its coverage of the PQ’s now-infamous pending plan restricting public employees’ right to wear religious clothing refers to the many letters and opinion pieces English media have published that are strongly against this controversial new proposal.

Over the past year, one cannot help but wonder, have these opinion pieces and letters to the editor made a difference?

I truly believe that because enough people were able to express their outrage at what they felt was wrong via the English media, children are now allowed to wear turbans when they play soccer, we can now eat antipasto in peace and a $219 fine was rescinded.

Much to Mr. Landry’s disappointment, English media are far from pathetic! Nathan Friedland Roxboro

We are all most comfortable with people who look like us, dress like us, share our language and beliefs/values. It’s only human nature to be wary of “the other.” That’s why Canada and all advanced countries have legislated human rights to, yes, force us to be more tolerant than we might otherwise be (“notwithstanding” our baser instincts!).

What Bernard Landry is missing in his defence of the péquiste position is not that the government has not welcomed “the other” into the National Assembly, but that it still believes it can legislate against human rights (most notably freedom of expression).

Sheila Sim Lac-Brome (Knowlton)

Re: “Charter based on ‘universal values’: Marois” and “Searching for a way to effectively fight bullying” (Gazette, Aug. 27)

If we go on the assumption that people who bully have been or are being bullied themselves, it is quite ironic that the article on Pauline Marois’s “universal” values appeared on the same page as the article “searching for a way to effectively fight bullying.”

As a psychotherapist, I believe there are always good reasons why people do the things they do, and if they receive the understanding and compassion they need, they can learn to recognize how they are hurting others. This is especially true of children. Unfortunately, I do not think there is much hope that Marois and her team will ever realize how they are bullying the Quebec populace.

The solution to Quebec’s identity insecurities and the solution to school bullying is not more bullying by people with more power and authority, but more openness, sharing, seeking to understand and compassion by and for all. Karen Aronoff

Montreal

I am neitherga French Quebecer nor a member of the Parti Québécois. I am a Canadian Quebecer who immigrated from a Middle Eastern country 50 years ago.

I believe that a charter based on universal values, as proposed by the PQ, will bring people together. By the word “people,” I mean those who really feel like Canadian Quebecers — not those who have been living here for years but still feel that things should be like in the countries they came from. Aram Melikian Montreal