That being said, Canadians realize that racism is not politically correct and dare not express these sentiments in print, on television and over the radio waves, unless they are eager to suffer the fate of the late aboriginal leader David Ahenakew, whose life was destroyed after he made some racist public remarks about Jews, a few years back. Charged with promoting hate he was put through a long and debilitating judicial ringer which no doubt contributed to his death.
In Canada, making negative statements in public about identifiable groups is pretty much verbotten. Amazingly, making positive statements about identifiable groups is also pretty much frowned upon, that's how sensitive to race we've become.
Making statements like 'Blacks are better athletes than whites" makes people uncomfortable because of the slippery slope it infers. If you can make good generalizations about a group, then you can make bad ones too, so we generally frown on these comments.
Somehow all these rules don't seem to apply to Quebec where negative stereotyping is a
There is a great divide when it comes to attitudes over race in Quebec and the Rest of Canada.
Over the last couple of months I've posted a bunch of stuff on the subject and if you haven't seen it, I think you'll find the stories interesting.
Latent Racism in Quebec a Sad Reality
Here's a video of Radio-Canada bashing immigrants who can't speak enough French. The video is, as is freely admitted by the commentator, unscientific and unrepresentative of the immigrant community but it makes for good TV.
These type of stereo-typical portrayals are de riguer on Quebec TV, even on networks funded by taxpayers.
And you thought the role of the CBC/Radio Canada was to foster understanding among Canadians!
Here's a video of Radio-Canada bashing immigrants who can't speak enough French. The video is, as is freely admitted by the commentator, unscientific and unrepresentative of the immigrant community but it makes for good TV.
These type of stereo-typical portrayals are de riguer on Quebec TV, even on networks funded by taxpayers.
And you thought the role of the CBC/Radio Canada was to foster understanding among Canadians!
Today, an egregious story of overt racism continues to play out in the mainstream press, not in the obscure pages of vigil.net or some other extremist web site.
Talk of 're-conquering' Montreal by francophones is a subject that is splashed across mainstream media with the underlying theme that ethnics and Anglos are an evil presence to be rid of, like vermin.
"We must work to develop policies to keep Montreal francophones from leaving the island and create conditions for more Francophones to return." Pierre Curzi - PQThat francophone writers bemoan the fact that the island of Montreal is lost to the 'heathens' doesn't seem to strike anyone here as the least bit racist. Not at all.
When commentators tell us that there are not enough native francophones on the island of Montreal, what they are trying to say politely is that there are too many Anglos, Blacks, Jews, Greeks, Italians, Chinese, Indians, Latinos, Hispanics, Africans and Arabs. etc.
The same story is now being repeated in Laval. Le Mouvement Laval français was created to stop the spread of 'insipid multiculturalism.' Link
Could you imagine a Toronto newspaper calling openly for more Whites to move into predominantly Black neighbourhoods in order to restore the demographic superiority of Whites?
Could you imagine an Ottawa newspaper calling openly for more Anglos to move into predominantly French neighbourhoods in order to restore the demographic superiority of the English?
In Quebec, under the guise of protecting French language and culture, the most racist and hurtful notions can be bandied about and this in the mainstream press.
