Weil defends private hearings on racism
Minister says groups organizing testimony asked that media be excluded
Quebec Immigration Minister Kathleen Weil defended on Friday a decision to hold hearings on systemic racism in Quebec in private.
But that defence followed an earlier statement so confusing it later had to be corrected by the government’s communications office.
“What’s being proposed is that the testimony section of the hearings will be private,” Weil said at first.
“But that doesn’t mean it won’t be public. There are a lot of public events where the media aren’t present.”
That led reporters to conclude that while the media would be barred from covering the hearings, the public would be able to attend.
Weil had to return later and, with her press secretary, amend her earlier statement, saying testimony would be heard neither by the public nor the media.
The closed-door approach to the hearings has been criticized, but Weil has defended the approach taken by the province’s human rights commission, which is overseeing the process.
She said it was the community groups organizing the testimony session that sought to have the media excluded.
Weil said racialized groups support the idea of hearings that will not be totally public, adding that testimony delivered in private to the groups organizing it could be relied upon.
The hearings have been criticized by all three opposition parties, the Parti Québécois saying it will place all of Quebec on trial, the Coalition Avenir Québec describing it as an empty exercise and Québec Solidaire complaining about its lack of openness.