Marchers seek apology from QS
Sunday rally sparked by MNA’s comments about ‘predatory’ investors from China
About 150 members of Montreal’s Chinese community and allies marched through the streets of downtown Montreal Sunday demanding an official apology from the leadership of Québec solidaire for what they consider racist comments by one of the party’s elected members of National Assembly.
On Feb. 13, Émilise Lessard-Therrien, QS’s agricultural critic and elected MNA for Rouyn-Noranda–Témiscamingue, gave an interview with an online agricultural newspaper la vie Agricole. Near the end of that interview, Lessard-Therrien, used the word “predatory” to describe investors from China who she said have been spotted scoping out agricultural lands in her riding and lobbying for changes to laws that currently limit acquisition of agricultural land by non-residents.
“The Chinese are coming and they have big projects and they are putting a lot of pressure,” Lessard-Therrien said. “They haven’t purchased (land) yet because there are federal mechanisms that stop them, but they are touring the country roads, they are preparing the land in order to come eventually . ... Among ourselves, we call them predators, they are predators of agricultural lands. We see them, we sense them. I am saying that undeveloped land can always be cultivated, but land that belongs to China can never nourish Quebecers.”
At a rally near QS’s Montreal office on Ontario St. E., members of anti-racism groups accused Lessard-Therrien of fanning the flames of anti-Chinese sentiment and stoking fear against those from other non-majority ethnic communities. They also called out QS leadership for refusing to denounce her words.
“A party that professes to be a progressive party is spreading lies and they refuse to take those lies back. We expect racism from the alt-right, from La Meute and the CAQ,” Delores Chew, of the South Asian Women’s Community Centre, told the gathering.
“Contemporary racism, in Quebec as elsewhere, remains such a diffuse, sly and shameful phenomenon that even our natural allies still refuse to see it and to question themselves,” said Safa Chebbi, vice-president of Alternatives, a human rights and environmental organization.
In a statement posted on Facebook on Feb. 28, Lessard-Therrien said her words have been distorted but also admitted that some of her statements were “clumsily worded.”
She said she would be happy to speak to the organizers of the rally. “I would go to meet with the organizers of the event to talk about both land grabbing and the fight against racism. Moreover, I am quite open to discussing these issues with them. It would be an interesting exchange and I’m sure we would get along. I do not wish to offend anyone with my words.”
May Chiu, spokesperson for the Progressive Chinese of Québec and one of the organizers of the march, said Lessard-Therrien’s explanation is not adequate.
“She said she was misinterpreted and she offered to speak to me personally,” Chiu said. “I wrote back to her and said anytime you want a conversation that’s fine with me but this is not an issue just between two women. The community is larger than just me. ”
In an emailed response Sunday afternoon, Québec solidaire communications coordinator Elise Tanguay wrote: “We consider that we have already responded to the concerns of activists and organizations through the statement of Émilise Lessard-Therrien, who invited them to a meeting to discuss it. Québec solidaire fully supports Ms. Lessard-Therrien’s approach.” mlalonde@postmedia.com