Quebec communities outraged by Premier’s multiculturalism stance

Communities in Quebec are speaking out as the province’s Premier said he and his party oppose multiculturalism.

Quebec’s Premier François Legault said recently that he and his party oppose multiculturalism adding that in Quebec there is only one culture that is the Quebec culture – leaving many communities calling the statement and the CAQ out of touch with true Quebecois culture, one that thrives on diversity.

“It’s all the cultures coming together…that’s what makes Quebec,” says Harginder Kaur Vice President of the World Sikh Organization of Canada. “Quebec has always been an open state, an open province. That is not Quebec the way that they’re painting it. That’s not Quebec.”

Lina El Bakir, Quebec Advocacy Officer at the National Council Of Canadian Muslims, says growing up she was lucky to see so much diversity in Quebec, “I feel like the core value of Quebec is diversity. To share generosity, hospitality and this is not reflected in our government.”

Legault’s comments continued to say that different cultures have different values and that it was important that we don’t put all cultures at the same level.

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“Essentially what the premier is saying to racialized Quebecers is that your culture is below ours, that Quebec Francophone culture is superior and we want to maintain that superiority,” says El Bakir.

For many marginalized groups in Quebec, this isn’t the first time the need to preserve the Quebec culture has come up.

Bill 21 which prohibits those in positions of authority – like teachers, judges and police officers from wearing religious symbols while on the job and Bill 96 – Quebec’s French Language Law.

Kaur says there needs to be another way.

“Canada is powerful because of all the cultures and religions that come together. I think it’s one of the only countries in the world that accepts all these cultures so well and Quebec being part of Canada and having such a different mindset is just throwing everybody off. There are better ways.

El Bakir added, “you cannot preserve your culture at the expense of another […] it just creates more division and says to people that aren’t part of the majority group that they’re marginalized and basically that they don’t matter. This is not a society that will thrive. It’s a society that is all too destructive.”