Racism in Montreal North: workers impatient
Two studies earlier this year clearly delineated racist attitudes and practices in city works in Montreal North. Now its workers are getting impatient with the lack of action from the city despite promises made at the time.
M. Legault, if you needed an example of systemic racism, here it is. The city was blind to the racist actions in the borough until they were identified and called out by external investigators. Now they are very clear. But what makes this systemic racism is that it’s ingrained. It’s not written down – it’s understood. When a Black worker applies for a promotion for which their experience and skills make them eligible, yet a white person is appointed above them, not once but repeatedly in different situations over years, that’s systemic racism. There’s no official policy saying to do this – a requirement you have repeatedly claimed is needed to qualify actions as systemic – but it’s a deeply ingrained part of the culture.
In the reports, remember that not only the city itself, but the union too was also called out as oblivious to the racist culture, permitting it to go on unchallenged.
The city needs to act on this, but so does the union.
Meezly 12:06 on 2021-11-01 Permalink
We recently had dinner with parents of my kid’s friend. The dad was well-read and educated was seemingly able to back up his arguments with facts. He patiently explained how systemic or institutional racism will never be accepted by the Legault government. This is just a good exercise for me to remember his points of argument, so if anyone actually reads this or has thoughts of their own, that would be a bonus.
Systemic racism is a myth. He brought up two black American intellectuals, whom I unfortunately didn’t retain their names, who argue that relying on systemic racism as a blanket term is unhelpful in combatting racism. But then he brought up statistics and asked me, how many black American were actually shot and killed by police this year? He mentioned a ridiculously low number, like 18.
Also much of our education on racial inequality is formed by American activists, like CRT, which can’t be applied the same way for Quebec. Yet no one reads about Quebec history, how the French were oppressed by the English. Even though Quebec came into power during the Quiet Revolution, there has always been anti-Quebec sentiment being perpetuated outside of Quebec by English Canada and that itself is a form of racism.
Even if systemic racism is real, the ‘system’ that francophone Quebec is dealing with was inherited by the English, so the systemic racism that we have now was due to British colonialism. The French didn’t write the Indian Act, it was the feds who forced Quebec to have reservations and residential schools. Even though the CC was involved, Quebec have been working towards ridding the Chuch’s influence via their Laïcité laws. Quebec actually contributes millions of dollars to First Nations, much more than the feds, but are limited in what they can do by the feds.
He went on to say that the Quebec nation is still relatively new and that they have done a lot of work to create a social democratic society but they are often limited or hamstrung by the federal government. One example is immigration policy. The only things that Quebec has any control over are schools and healthcare. (he knew we were going to bring up those flaws, but he argued that Quebec control has been relatively new – while I’m thinking, is it still ‘relatively new’ when it’s been like six decades?)
He truly believes that Bill 21 isn’t inherently racist. If we look at the history of Quebec, the CAQ is only continuing the laïcité reforms that was started during the Quiet Revolution. However, I had to point out that Quebec during the 60’s isn’t the same Quebec today, which relies on immigration, and some people are from countries where religion and culture are deeply intertwined. He did agree with me that Bill 21 isn’t fair to those who may have to compromise a part of their cultural identity and that is problematic, but he insisted that Bill 21 is a law that aims to benefit the whole of society because religion in Quebec has been a source of historical conflict. He also went on to ask how many Muslim women actually left Quebec because of Bill 21 ? Again, he produced a ridiculously low number, like 12. This person worked with data and statistics, so I wasn’t sure how accurate he was or what his sources were.
He goes on to say, with all due respect, that as an Anglo, I only see one side of the story from English media. The rights of minorities in Quebec have received attention and support in the English-language media within and outside of Quebec, but the same cannot be said for the rights of the Quebec majority. French-speaking Québécois face a lot of discrimination and racism outside of Quebec, but this often does not get any attention.
I do agree with many of his points. French-speaking Québécois have become in some ways like how Germans were regarded in post-WW2. I remember talking to a francophone Quebecer who was a student in Professor Amir Attaran’s class. He would often single her out as a racist without any consideration that she had been educating herself on racial issues. Attaran is an extreme example of someone who has weaponized anti-Quebec sentiment, but this sentiment does exist and is very damaging.
This made me realize one major difference between English and French attitudes: francophones believe that immigrants should assimilate into their dominant society while anglophones tend to favor integration. This difference in mindset generally makes anglophones more tolerant towards other cultures and minorities. The irony I see that, even though anglos are often accused of colonial brainwashing, the concept of assimilation itself is a colonial policy!
I originally thought that Legault’s systematic denial of systemic racism was a political tactic, but now I realize that’s only part of it. He really does believe that systemic racism doesn’t exist in Quebec for ideological reasons. They are philosophically and psychologically hampered by their own ideology, which partly consists of an ongoing perception of victimhood and the shifting of blame. For me, this reaffirms that non-francophone and/or non-white Quebec minority rights will continue to be at odds with what the white francophone Quebec majority wants.
CharlesQ 12:36 on 2021-11-01 Permalink
The number of african american killed by police in 2019 was 329 (https://www.statista.com/statistics/1124036/number-people-killed-police-ethnicity-us/), nothing close to 18.
Kevin 15:20 on 2021-11-01 Permalink
@Meezly
That’s a wonderful example of flooding the zone with bullshit based on a false premise.
I ask those presenting such arguments: do the people working in the power structures reflect society? If not, then regardless of intent, the system is producing a discriminatory result.
Meezly 19:02 on 2021-11-01 Permalink
@Kevin, yours sound like such a reasonable and simple argument and it’s something that my partner had brought up, but I think it was countered it with a comparison, like Quebec has fewer cases of racial profiling, hate crime etc. compared to other provinces. Every argument was countered with a comparison or deflection. It’s a nationalism not much different from pro-China advocates whom I’ve encountered. Any criticism of China and/or the CPP is automatically Sinophobic and a result of brainwashing by Western imperialism. There is really no arguing any sense into the discussion.
Kevin 22:53 on 2021-11-01 Permalink
Meezly
Pointing out something is bad elsewhere does not negate the bad impact here. That is, again, just flooding the zone (and it’s a common right-wing tactic).
I like to interrupt these people and tell them what there saying isn’t relevant to our discussion. Limit it to one thing and one thing only.
What matters with systemic racism is the result, not the intent.