So Louise Beaudoin says out loud what most of the PQ has been saying – openly or not-so-openly – for years: We only care about one culture, and that’s pure laine quebecois, and everyone else can shape up or get out.
Okay, not in so many words, but that was the gist of the Pequiste leader’s remarks to the press after a group of Sikhs were denied entrance to the National Assembly. They were there to speak out against Bill 94, a racist piece of claptrap that would deny services to Muslim women wearing face coverings, for instance, and is supported by an overwhelming 95% of Quebecers. This law as written won’t impact the Sikh community specifically, but the people who came out to speak up were there to represent the 5% of people who disapprove of the Quebec government’s attempt to further infringe on religious freedom for xenophobic reasons.
Now, there is a very legitimate question about the kirpan, and whether any kind of weapon – ceremonial or otherwise – should be permitted past security screening at the National Assembly. Beaudoin could have taken the high road, saying “we would like to hear from all Quebecers, and we invite the views of the Sikh community on this issue, and we regret that security concerns did not allow us to admit them” or something to that effect. It wouldn’t have solved the tricky kirpan debate, but it would have signalled an openness to at least discuss it.
But Beaudoin chose the low road. Specifically, she said that:
“Religious freedom exists, but there are other values,” she added. “Multiculturalism may be a Canadian value. But it is not a Quebec one.
“And we haven’t signed the constitution of Canada because it contains this notion of multiculturalism.
“I think we can be different.”
If by “different”, she means “more xenophobic”, then she’s hit the nail on the head. At least there’s no hypocricy in Beaudoin’s position. It’s getting harder to call racism one of Quebec’s “dirty little secrets” when it’s being promoted so openly. Quebec has never wanted to be pluralistic, accepting or tolerant. If the disastrous reasonable accommodation debates showed us anything, it’s that most people in Quebec would prefer us to turn into France and do away with religious freedom altogether.
Meanwhile, the Liberals missed an opportunity to take a strong position against Beaudoin and company. Charest’s team waffled on the issue, staying quiet and basically stumbling through an attempt to walk the fine line between not pissing anyone off and not pissing anyone off. All of that to cover the dirty little secret that, if it weren’t for the fact that the Liberals rely on the “ethnic vote” to get elected, most of them would be as opposed to multicultural values as their Pequiste compatriots. That’s some strong leadership we’ve got in Quebec City, folks.
My logical follow-up question to Louise Beaudoin is therefore this: If multiculturalism isn’t a Quebec value, how can we change that and turn it into one?
I think this statement by Louise Beaudoin proves the pure racist position of the PQ. They will not accept anything that is not pure laine at its about time they be exposed for what they are. A racist nazi like group full of hatred and anger who are not willing to move on and accept the multicultural nature of Quebec Montreal and its future which must rely on immigration and immigrants to survive. Enough is enough and I cant believe how they can get away with this no one is saying anything. The PQ must be exposed for their hatred pure hatred of the English language, immigrants, and multiculturalism. Culture and language is actually preserved within the family not by laws and removal of rights and freedoms of other cultures and languages. We dont need laws and language police we need families to teach their culture and language and Quebec needs to wake up and get out of the dark ages!!!!!!!!!!!
This is pure and outright racism and its out in the open. Remember Mr. Parizeaus comments money and ethnics??? The PQ hates ethnics and their cultures values and languages they are attempting to destroy other cultures and languages thinking their culture is the only one that should be allowed to survive and eradicate other cultures. This reminds me of the Nazis and their ideas. Mr Landry also made similar comment to a hotel clerk after the referendum. I am sickened by this and the truth needs to come out. This is a party of French Canadian Supremisists who want to keep Quebec down. The PQ is sucking the blood of this province. Because of the seperatist threat Quebec has remained poor slowgrowth investments immigration etc etc. Toronto and the rest of Canada have benifited from this. Go see whats happening in Toronoto Montreal is a joke in comparison. This issue must be laid to rest for good now. Quebec must accept the world is changing they must embrace immigrants and multiculturalism and be proud to be an open minded and accepting society. ZThen you will see how this province will thrive. You cant fight change progress and evolution forever and unfortunately the French language will become obsolete in Canada and Quebec eventualy as the world evolves and grows. But thats just the way things are thimgs change evolve and we must accept those changes and embrace them instead of resisting them and blamoing others for our situation. Quebec lets go dive into the future. All Quebecers must be bilingual anyways lets embrace that and stop resisiting. PQ go home.
Bergeron you are one naive little man. We need immigration to thrive? What kind of moronic thought process is that?
Immigration doesnt help with anything on a per capita level. If we had no immigration whatsoever, sure the total GDP might be a bit lower, but it would be as good if not better per capita. look at any arab or black country, they all suck and are certainly not up to par with the canadian quality of life. You think if they come here they’re gonna magically integrate and, ON AVERAGE, contribute just as much as a white canadian to society? They just wont; their bad countries and lower IQ (scientifically proven) is proof of that.
Just look at asians, they’re actually as smart as whites and it certainly shows through their countries and how they contribute to society (and how they contribute less to crime…). Even then, they just isolate themselves and fragment society, so whats the point? Different cultures and races simply dont mix well, integration is a very stupid and naive concept. Homogeneous societies of smart people always do well (japan, south korea, scandinavia before immigration, etc.) and thats not coincidence you gullible sheep.
Shut up all you liberals who encourage multiculturalism, it’s the worst thing that’s ever happend to canada. I actually respect the French for what they are doing, they are standing up for their OWN culture so that Quebec always remains culturally french. What’s wrong with that? They are protecting their heritage and culture. Quebec has always been French and I hope they always will be. You wouldn’t go to China or Pakistan and demand multiculturalism, they would kill you at the the very thought of the idea, because they know that would lead to their culture being pushed aside so others with different world views can tell them what to do. Don’t be pushing your views on Quebec, this article was completely biased towards favoring multiculturalism when most quebecers do not want multiculturalism.
It is a retarded thing to say it’s wrong to expect cultural tolerance in Quebec because you wouldn’t see it elsewhere in the world like China anyway. China is not a developed and democratic nation but Canada is. We are supposed to be better and any true Canadian would know that.
This is the responsible way to run your nation, province, state etc. QP are standing up for preservation of Quebec’s cultural, national and social values and hats off to them. They are in every right to deny people immigration status into Quebec if they can’t follow those. Quebec has been a highly intriguing region to me for sometime and should I ever feel the desire to migrate there, I will do so with a conscious will to adopt their cultural, national and social values. I think every other migrant should do the same. Assimilation? YES THANK YOU VERY MUCH!