Gatineau politician says it’s possible the Earth is flat
Former deputy mayor questions state of free speech in Quebec after demotion
A Gatineau councillor already under fire for denying the existence of Islamophobia is drawing new scrutiny for comments questioning whether the Earth is round.
Nathalie Lemieux created controversy last week after she told a reporter the word Islamophobia doesn’t exist for her.
On Monday, she apologized and was stripped of her title as deputy mayor of Quebec’s fourth-largest city.
In an interview Tuesday, Gatineau Mayor Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin said the city’s swift action to dissociate itself from Lemieux’s comments about Islam would limit the damage to the city’s reputation. But he declined to comment on another eye-opening remark from Lemieux, reported this week by Le Droit newspaper.
In an online comment two weeks ago, Lemieux suggested there is a conspiracy to eliminate evidence that the Earth is flat.
“Who decided that the Earth is round, and why should we believe it?” she asked.
“The first question to ask” she wrote, “is now that people realize that it’s possible that the Earth is flat, why do they want to hide the explanations that prove it.”
She also wondered how much money is diverted to NASA and said she does not believe anything on the news, preferring to conduct her own research.
“The world is a stage and several actors are amusing themselves at our expense thinking they are more intelligent than us,” she wrote.
Lemieux’s assistant confirmed Tuesday that the councillor made the comments, which appeared under a news article about YouTube clamping down on videos promoting conspiracy theories. She said Lemieux was not available for an interview.
Lemieux entered the spotlight last week when she told Le Droit that Islamophobia is a problem invented by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and added: “These people do a lot of things wrong, with their trucks and all that, it’s normal to be scared.”
Pedneaud-Jobin said Lemieux, who was elected to council in 2017, is a good person who didn’t appreciate the effect of her comments.
“For me that’s what is very serious — to make a connection between Muslims and all terrorists — mixing up things doesn’t make sense,” he said. “It’s dangerous, because it prejudges and makes life difficult for the Muslim community.”
Lemieux said the loss of her deputy mayor title makes her wonder whether freedom of expression is in danger in Gatineau.