Blanchet is the one who should resign
After receiving an apology from Amira Elghawaby for her comments made in a 2019 newspaper column about racism in Quebec, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet declared that the apology was not enough and that the federal government’s new position of special representative on combating Islamophobia should be scrapped.
Clearly the issue for the Bloc leader was never Elghawaby, it was the perceived political advantage of dismissing any claim of racism by haranguing a woman of colour, who wears a hijab, no less.
His approach is beyond contemptible. It is dangerous.
I spent 12 years studying and working in Quebec. I can say without reservation that the majority of Québécois are not racist and are champions of human rights. However, there are those in Quebec, as there across Canada, who see Muslims and other minorities as a threat, rather than the valuable contributors to our society and economy that they truly are.
The evidence is clear that stoking Islamophobia by word and deed can have deadly results.
The leader of any credible political party has an obligation to consider the consequences of their words. Blanchet’s comments came just days after the sixth anniversary of the mosque shooting in Quebec City, which took the lives of six people. His comments also follow the sickening murder of four members of a Muslim family who were run down by a truck in London, Ont., in 2021.
A national summit following these incidents — and other hate crimes — resulted in the recommendation to establish a national position on Islamophobia. Yet Blanchet doesn’t think it’s needed. What further proof does he want? How many people have to be hurt or killed?
What concerns me greatly about Blanchet’s latest comments is that we have heard this before.
Two years ago I wrote him after he said that federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra should not be in a position of authority. Blanchet made a never-substantiated claim that there were “questions” about Alghabra because of his former position as head of the Canadian Arab Foundation. Not surprisingly, I never received a reply or even an acknowledgment from Blanchet.
Blanchet’s verbal attacks on prominent Muslims are not a coincidence but a pattern of behaviour. Look no further than Bill 21, prohibiting the wearing of religious symbols such as hijabs and turbans by government employees deemed to be in positions of authority. This law is a cloud over Quebec and the country. Bill 21 is not my Canada.
I know many in Quebec agree and I am heartened that 30 prominent Québécois have come forward to declare that Elghawaby should be given a chance in her role. It confirms my observation about the majority of the people of Quebec.
It also confirms for me that if there are to be calls for a resignation over this issue, those calls should be directed at Blanchet, who has proven himself unworthy of leading a major political party.