CAQ rejects CSDM’s offer to count veiled heads

I’ve seen a lot of pieces lately, local and international, trying to pin down and define populism. Here’s a beautiful little capsule example: the CSDM offered to do a count of its teachers who wear religious signifiers, but the CAQ, in the person of Simon Jolin-Barrette, said no. I can say confidently that research, hard facts and information are not populist, whereas coasting along on received ideas, hoary prejudices and small-town xenophobia are hallmarks of the style.

Sidelights I’ve seen lately:

BBC says China is separating Muslim kids from their parents in Xinjiang. Many of the parents have been jailed, and the children herded into huge thought camps. Echoes here of Canada’s residential schools for first nations kids, the U.S.’s border lockups, and the general idea that some cultures can and should be exterminated by fiat.

Boris Johnson, who’s set to become prime minister of the UK, says he’ll force all immigrants to learn English. Speakers of various Celtic languages are having at him on Twitter – don’t cross the Celts, Boris.

A photo of CAQ education minister François Roberge alongside Malala Yousafzai has also made the rounds on Twitter today, people rushing to point out that the young Nobel prize winner and champion of education for women would not be permitted to take a teaching job in the CAQ’s Quebec. This story has also reached the BBC.