Racism in Quebec

Well, how about this little tidbit? After I spent a considerable amount of time defending les Quebecois against accusations of being racist and intolerant, they go ahead and admit it in a survey conducted by Le Journal de Montreal, TVA and 98.5 FM! Needless to say, I’m disheartened by this new information, especially since the same survey indicated that, collectively, the Quebecois are more racist than the rest of Canada.

According to the survey, 59% of those surveyed indicated that they were strongly, moderately or marginally racist. That’s a pretty significant number. Apparently the Arab community bears the brunt of these negative feelings, followed by the Jewish and Black communities. Surprisingly, the Asian community is barely mentioned. Now before we go tarring and feathering the ethnic Quebecois, it merits mentioning that half of the respondents who come from ethnic communities also consider themselves racist.

Apparently the respondents indicated that news coverage of the Middle East, in combination with the events of September 11, 2001, have contributed most strongly to the negative views of Arabs. The reaction to 9/11 shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but it also shouldn’t be used as a crutch 5 years after the fact to justify negative views of an entire cultural group, especially since those living here had nothing to do with it. This is making my brain hurt.

Now I didn’t participate in the survey, nor have I seen the list of questions, but I’m quite aware that statistics can be manipulated to support just about any conclusion one can think of. Remember, the survey indicates that 6 out of 10 people fit anywhere within the range of strongly to marginally racist. That’s a pretty wide berth. I’d be far more interested in seeing how many admit that they’re strongly racist. Perhaps Quebec is less ethnically diverse than the rest of Canada? Could that impact the results? Perhaps the Quebecois are more direct and honest in their discourse, admitting what those in the rest of Canada may be too embarrassed to admit? At the very least it sparks discussion. It may be nothing more than sensationalist nonsense used to drive newspaper sales or TV ratings, but if this somehow positively contributes to addressing an existing problem, then I’m all for it. Til next time…