With discussions afoot on immigration, on the federal government cutting back on student visas, Isabelle Hachey shines a light on Quebec’s dependence on cheap foreign labour, spinning her column off a Journal article this week about the growing numbers who prop up Quebec’s economy, “these thousands of workers who pick our vegetables, pluck our chickens, sort our waste, deliver our goods, wash our parents…” as Hachey puts it. That these people are often on closed visas, making them perilously close to indentured labour, is not tenable, and allows Quebec to go on preening itself on “francisation” of immigrants while living off the avails of people whose language does not concern it.
Updates from January, 2024 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
A recent study shows that public high schools in Montreal tend to break along language lines – some are majority Arabic‑speaking, at least one being Chinese. The report suggests that francophone families are choosing private high schools in growing numbers, so that kids in public high schools aren’t exposed to Quebec culture very much.
I wonder whether the francophone kids in private schools are more keen on Quebec culture, or if it’s just an assumption.
Kevin
Some francophones seem to be waking up and realizing that the threat to French language and culture is coming from their own actions.
Francophones choosing private schools. Francophones leaving Montreal.
If they want a French city, they’re going to have to work for it.
David S
Montreal is legitimately a bilingual/multilingual city/region in spite of the fact that many of our institutions are not reflective of this reality. Dispossessing ourselves of the notion that the city “should” be a French monolith would be a great step in the right direction, but the tail continues to wag the dog in this case, which is unfortunate.
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Kate
A man was stabbed late Monday evening on a moving metro train on the orange line. The aggressor fled.
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Kate
A class action lawsuit against certain CHSLDs for negligence in care during the first waves of Covid has been greenlit by a judge.
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Kate
Despite announcing a plan to have the Quartier
Latinde la Francophonie open 24/7, the city has cut funding to nightlife organization MTL 24/24. They held a protest Monday evening.Is the city going to try to replace the activities of this group with its own internal office?
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Kate
Some SPVM cops have been seen around town sporting the Thin Blue Line patch, so the force has announced it’s going to make a decision about it by spring. They’ve apparently been pondering this since at least 2022.
I don’t get it. They have rules about uniforms. They passed a law that shut down the camo pants protest. The SPVM simply needs to ordain that the uniform doesn’t include a gang patch, so knock it off.
Update: Québec Solidaire is pressuring public security minister François Bonnardel to act on this matter, after the minister chose to leave it up to individual police forces to decide whether to permit the patch. If Bonnardel wanted to indicate that he’s scared of police intransigence, he could not have found a better way to do it.
jeather
The problem is that the decision makers agree with the patch and don’t want to ban it so they keep “considering” forever to kick the can down the road.
CE
I saw an SPVM cop with it once. It was a black and white Canadian flag with the blue line. It was a bit jarring, kind of like you said, felt like a gang patch.
Nicholas
That law was struck down in August as a violation of their right to free expression. It’s now unclear if any uniform for any person is constitutional. Not sure if the province appealed, but they must have.
jeather
Ok, wait, how is it unconsitutional to prevent cops from wearing clown pants but NOT unconstitutional to prevent teachers from wearing hijabs?
Ian
Because only one of those things is perceived as a threat by ethnonationalists.
rob
Were’t they suppose to get this settle by last summer, then by new year? “espère statuer d’ici la fin du printemps “ don`t hold your breath, I expect more delays.
Bunch of racist hypocrites. ACAB.
jeather
I understand how the politics of it work, I wondered how the legalities did.
Ian
In this situation it’s kind of the same thing, the hijab law is against “visible religious symbols” but really only applies to non-christian religious symbols like turbans, kippah, and hijab – but mostly hijab. The theory is that these “visible religious symbols” threaten the hegemony of “real” Quebec culture.
The “thin blue line” patch asserts the “us vs. them” police mentality that actively supports the hegemony of an exclusionary view of what counts as “us”.
It’s essentially two different facets of the systemic racism inherent to the Quebec legal system.
Kate
Jonathan, does that actually mean that cops can credibly claim that wearing their uniform while on duty is a violation of their right to free expression? What about the public’s right to feel confident that this person claiming to exercise authority on behalf of civil society is actually a cop, and not some random goon?
H. John
As Nicholas pointed out, the Superior Court struck down the provisions of the Police Act forbidding uniform alteration.
It’s a well written, interesting analysis of labour rights:
FÉDÉRATION DES POLICIERS ET POLICIÈRES MUNICIPAUX DU QUÉBEC …
The court was not looking at racist patches. It was considering camo pants as a trade off in negotiating rights where strikes have been banned.
The government doesn’t seem to have appealed.
steph
Unions are only allowed to strike (means of pressure) once their convention have expired. The current SPVM convention is in place until 2026. Comparing the patch to camo pants (which was a means of pressure) is a moot point.
Couldn’t the cops just come up with a new symbol as to not confuse their “fraternity symbol” with “racism”? I can only imagine racists opposing that idea. I guess that’s why we’re still debating this… they’re actually a bunch of racists.
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Kate
A power move by the ARTM led to the transit controller withholding millions from the STM and other transit commissions for a period of time last year. Allegedly this was because the STM was holding back data about transit use, according to the original La Presse story, but it doesn’t even name the other commissions or even attempt to explain why they would have done this.
Apparently it’s all tickety-boo now.
DeWolf 20:13 on 2024-01-23 Permalink
This is the CAQ’s deal with the devil. It allows them to give their xenophobic base the appearance they are tough on immigration while exploiting an ever-increasing number of migrants who are essentially indentured servants. It’s very difficult for TFWs to become permanent residents and their situation leaves them vulnerable to abuse.
It’s the Singaporization of Quebec: a seemingly rich and prosperous society based on the exploitation of permanent foreigners.