NEWS A series of setbacks for diversity in Quebec
A period of soul-searching after the massacre at a Quebec City mosque soon gave way to politics as usual, explains
It was a year that started in trag- edy and ended in fake news.
The massacre of six worshippers at Quebec City’s biggest mosque in January raised searching questions about the identity debates that have gripped Quebec ever since the 2007 Bouchard-Taylor Commission on accommodation of religious minorities.
The killings caused an outpouring of grief and calls for nationalist politicians and rightwing media to tone down their rhetoric.
But a period of soul-searching was soon followed by a resumption of dog-whistle politics and alarmist reports about the threat that religious minorities purportedly pose to Quebec values.
Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault, who currently leads in opinion polls, has proposed, if elected, to make immigrants take a “values test.” He described Haitian migrants pouring into Quebec from the U.S. as a threat to Quebecers’ “language (and) our values.” He has also pledged to cut immigration and boost the birthrate among native-born Quebecers.
On Dec. 12, TVA broadcast a report claiming two mosques in Côte-des-Neiges had asked that female construction workers be excluded from a nearby work site during Friday prayers.
Three days later, the network issued an apology after the report was found to be baseless.
HATE CRIMES
On Jan. 29, a gunman entered the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec and opened fire, killing six men and injuring 19 others.
Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, a student at Université Laval, is awaiting trial on six counts of first-degree murder and five of attempted murder using a restricted firearm.
The massacre raised concerns about the role of media and politicians in fanning intolerance. Words “can hurt, words can be knives, slashing at people’s conscience,” Premier Philippe Couillard warned.
Anti-Muslim hate crimes spiked after the shooting. Montreal police received 14 calls about hate incidents in the following two days; the city’s antiradicalization centre received 24 calls within three days.
BILL 62
On Oct. 18, the National Assembly passed Bill 62, which requires people who give or receive public services to uncover their face. The law, which targets but does not name the small minority of Muslim women who wear the niqab or burqa, made headlines around the world and was decried by rights groups.
In November, opponents launched a legal challenge. Quebec Justice Minister Stéphanie Vallée has refused to rule out the use of the notwithstanding clause to protect the law.
On Nov. 12, thousands marched in Montreal to denounce Bill 62.
RACISM HEARINGS
In July, the Liberal government announced that public consultations on systemic racism would be held in September. Opposition parties quickly accused the government of putting Quebecers on trial.
After dithering on whether the consultations would be held in public or behind closed doors, the Couillard government cancelled them in October and replaced them with a one-day “diversity and anti-discrimination forum” on Dec. 5. The new immigration and diversity minister, David Heurtel, said the change was made to quash the idea that Quebecers were being put on trial.
On the same day as the forum, a coalition of more than 40 anti-racism groups announced it would hold an independent consultation on systemic racism but did not give a date.
CITY COUNCIL DIVERSITY
While the election of Mayor Valérie Plante ushered in gender parity in local government, the overwhelmingly white, francophone city administration lacks diversity.
Just eight councillors are from visible minorities — fewer than eight per cent of the 103 elected officials. Of those, seven belonged to the losing team of outgoing mayor Denis Coderre. “There’s a colour gap on city council,” said Fo Niemi, executive director of the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations.
RACIAL PROFILING
In November, a long-awaited re- port commissioned by Montreal police revealed that most officers believe crime is linked to race.
The report was completed in June 2015 but kept secret until it was released following access-to-information requests by the Montreal Gazette and a private citizen.
Alexandre Popovic, the head of the Coalition Against Police Repression and Abuse, said despite measures to change attitudes within the police department since the fatal shooting of Fredy Villanueva in 2008, nothing much had changed.
In February, the Quebec Human Rights Commission ordered Montreal police and one of its officers to pay $17,000 to Victor Whyte, a black man who was the victim of racial profiling in 2009. Police arrested Whyte, then 16, on a city bus and charged him with obstruction after he and some friends were told to leave a restaurant for making noise. The charge was eventually dismissed but Whyte said it “robbed me of my youth.”