Latent Racism in Quebec a Sad Reality

What can you say when even those who write newspaper articles in sympathy and support for Haitians and their plight, descend into antisemitism without even thinking about it. The reference below is from an article in the Quebec daily LE SOLEIL, that reinforces the stereotype that Jews are exploiters of the poor, a myth that is so ingrained in Quebec culture that it even passes unnoticed by editors, who should keep this kind of stuff out of their newspapers.

"...On one certain Christmas Eve, I volunteered to bring the poorest families in Montreal-Nord, some of those famous food baskets that we received from generous donors. I remember entering an apartment, as big as my hand, where two or three families lived in close proximity, their many young barefoot children dressed only in underwear and who threw themselves upon the gift boxes as if they were full of treasures. I also remember that the living rooms were small sewing workshops, where women spent long hours sewing clothes for Jewish entrepreneurs from Saint-Laurent Boulevard and who were obviously underpaid with cash paid under the table........" -Victor-Lévy Beaulieu, Trois-Pistoles

Of course the writer offers nothing but assumptions in his piece, assumptions that are unfortunately widely shared in Quebec society. The fact that the article made it to print without any editor asking if the writer verified his facts that the Haitians were working for a Jew or if they were underpaid or if they were paid under the table, but whatever, it must be true!

Imagine if a Toronto paper wrote a similar piece in which the writer described a scam in which government departments had been defrauded by unscrupulous companies and then went on to speculate without any proof at all, that the companies are run by Quebec Francophones... OUCH!!!!

Most of us older types remember the rampant racist generalizations that were made about all ethnicities and religions when we were young, regardless of our own heritage.

You know the ones - Jews are cheap and dishonest, Blacks are indolent, Spanish people are lazy, Chinese people-inscrutable. etc. etc. etc.

"Eeeny-meany-miney-moe, Catcha nigger by the toe..."
"Wops, Spicks, Shvartzes, Poofters, Hymies...."
It wasn't pretty, but happily, those days are gone.
Francophones had their own myths and expressions about others as well, but are much slower to shed these archaic and hurtful stereotypes.

There was a time when Anglos would describe getting cheated as being "Jewed." Today that term has largely disappeared, only a brave and foolish soul would dare use the term at work or in mixed company.

But in Quebec today, it is still acceptable to use the term "BON JUIF"(a good Jew) to describe a Jewish person who has acted decently or one who had done them a good turn.
It infers that the rest of the Jews are.......well, not so worthy, to be polite.

We all went through a process of purging our own language, prejudices and preconception. Polite society taught us which terms and preconceptions were no longer acceptable and although it seemed stupid at the time, in hindsight, it set us straight.

There needs to be some sort of similar process in Quebec...

Quebec: We Don't Want More Haitians.

No one can deny that Quebeckers have been the most generous Canadian donors in relation to money raised for Haitian relief. In fact, the Quebec telethon in support of Haitian relief was more than twice as successful in terms of per capita donations as compared to that of the Canadian effort.

It's quite understandable, the Canadian Haitian community is almost exclusively a Quebec affair, as more than 90% of them live in Quebec and even more specifically, Montreal. Because of this close relationship there is a strong desire to help the earthquake ravaged island.

That being said, there are voices in Quebec, growing louder and louder, that are demanding that immigration from the stricken island be limited to family reunification (including orphans) only, and that the disaster not spark any sort of mass immigration.

Here's a particularly nasty article (in French) concerning this very question entitled "Non à l’immigration haïtienne"

Interestingly, Ottawa has seemed to back up that point of view, declaring that they won't loosen rules that would expand the definition of 'family' to include a wider circle of eligible immigrants.

The Feds remain sensitive to the fact that if they allow an influx of Haitians, they will end up in Montreal and it would quite rightly be an intrusion into Quebec's sphere of responsibility.

Canada and Quebec have had immigration agreements since 1971, but in 1978 the "Cullen-Couture Agreement" gave Quebec the absolute right to select it's own immigrants under it's own criteria.

Ever since then, the most important criterion to becoming a Quebec immigrant was the ability to speak French. Unfortunately there weren't a lot of Frenchman and Belgians who wished to come to Quebec. Of those who did, many returned home, citing discrimination (if you can believe it!). Suffice to say, there's no love loss between Quebeckers and Frenchmen from Europe.

And so Quebec was left with the choice of seeking immigrants from Haiti, various African banana republics and from the Arab countries that had a French colonial past, including Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria (known collectively as the "Mahgreb,") as well as Lebanon.

Most of these immigrants moved to Quebec with little understanding of democracy or modern western beliefs. They were poorly educated and few had skills that could be put to use in modern society.
To the utter frustration of Quebeckers of all stripes, the immigrants failed to integrate into mainstream society and insisted on maintaining their customs, religion and traditions and worst of all- their apartness.

Notwithstanding that the immigrants spoke French and were absorbed onto the French side of the English/French divide, they largely remained apart and disconnected from mainstream society.As in the case of Europe, they have settled into ghettos and created their own little home away from home, or country within a country.

While immigrants claim that their failure to succeed is based on unequal opportunity and discrimination, most Quebeckers believe that the problem is the immigrants failure to adapt to the realities of modern Quebec.

Quebeckers have also largely come to believe that it is they who are slowly being assimilated, instead of the immigrants.

The disillusionment over the immigration influx, is reinforced by alarmist news reports indicating that certain districts of Montreal are out of control and under the influence of immigrant street gangs. Coupled with Arab immigrants refusal to give up their veil and religious orthodoxy in the name of Quebec secularism, a clash of culture seems to be brewing.

Many are calling for a moratorium on immigration, lest Quebec turn into Holland or France, where ethnic and religious conflict has exploded with increased immigration.

Positions are no doubt hardening and the concept of 'Reasonable Accommodations" (the policy of making cultural allowances for immigrants) is all but dead, whether the politicians realize it or not.

Quebeckers are taking a serious look at the benefits versus the cost of immigration, with the tide turning decidedly against a policy of open doors.

And so, immigration is the new hot topic in Quebec. The issue transcends traditional linguistic and language alignments and is explosive on so many different levels because many see it as the defining element of a future Quebec.
More next week.....

Quebec Debt Growing Out of Hand

Quebec debt is piling up faster than one can imagine. I found this nifty tool over at the Montreal Economic Institute website. The province is piling up debt at a rate of 9 billion dollars per year, $25 million per day, $17,215.27 per minute, or $287.00 per second.

The federal government is piling on debt at a rate of $153 million per day.

Quebec's population is about 7, 800,000 people and divvying up the debt means every Quebeckers owes about $27,630. Wow! By the way, that debt is going up that a rate of $1,100 a year!

Add to that debt, about $15,000 more, which represents each citizens portion of Canada's debt and the average citizen's debt load is over $42,000

Here's a link to the Canadian Taxpayer's Federation's Debt Clock.

Bad as it is, we better off than the Americans, who owe an average of $40,000 at the federal level. Add state debt to that and the average American owes well over $50,000.

That  being said we are in a much worse position than any state or province.
Our ability to repay the debt is severely hampered by the fact that we are the poorest province (per capitia) in Canada. Although the Americans owe more than us, they generate a lot more income and even though they owe more money than us, are really in a better financial position.

An excellent conservative Quebec blogger named DAVID is particularly adept at deconstructing  numbers. Even if you don't speak French, his well prepared charts transgress the language barrier.  Here is the LINK.

Out of the ten provinces, Quebec families bring home the least money both before and after taxes and we owe the most...Ughhh!!!!....

Here is a link to the US Debt Clock which is quite fascinating...

Hampsteader Nikki Yanofsky to Sing Olympic Theme

Congratulations to 15 year old  Nikki Yanofsky who has recorded CTV's Official Olympic theme song.


She is a born and bred Anglo Montrealer, from Hampstead, Quebec's most Anglo community.



Nikki is a singing sensation who is breaking out across the continent and the world. I'm sure this gig will make her even more popular!

Give it a listen.

Here's a YouTube link if you'd like to hear more

Return of Haitians to Montreal Controversial

Last week fate would conspire to find me crossing paths with many returning Canadian Haitian refugees.
Our company was holding a regularly scheduled, semi-annual meeting in the Wyndam Hotel (formerly the Dorval Hilton), out by Montreal's Trudeau airport, which was set up as the primary processing centre for those airlifted out of the stricken island.

On the Friday before our convention, we received a call from the hotel asking us to move around some rooms and halls that we had booked, to accommodate the Red Cross, which would be setting up operations on the same floor we had booked.

On Monday morning, I walked by an impressive array of official vehicles strewn around the parking lot and entered the hotel lobby, past Montreal police and private security officers who were manning the entrance, enforcing the policy that reporters not be allowed inside.

A temporary desk had been set up immediately inside and it was the first time in my life that I came face to face with those wearing the distinctive Red Cross vest that we are accustomed to seeing on television at various disaster scenes.

The  situation in the lobby can only be described only as surreal, as hotel guests, convention goers and airline personnel rubbed shoulders with returning Haitians, bedecked in Red Cross blankets that they clutched around their shoulders over the summer clothing that they arrived in.

While the Red Cross and civil defence personnel attended to the bewildered Haitians who were waiting to be processed, people checked in and out of the hotel as if nothing was unusual.

Most of the people who returned from Haiti had family in Montreal and somewhere to go (Montreal is home to a vast majority of Haitian Canadians.) As soon as a bus would disembark the refugees, most would be picked up and be whisked away by family or friends. From what I could judge, it was an extremely well organized affair.

Some of the returnees stayed overnight, awaiting connections to other parts of the country and I chatted with many in the lunchtime buffet line, the lobby or the halls as they and their children whiled away the hours on couches, waiting for final travel arrangements to come through.

Most of the adults were quiet and subdued and spoke in muted voices, their painful ordeal over, but tinged with sadness and survivor's guilt. This contrasted sadly from what I know of Montreal Haitians, who are usually garrulous, smiling, boisterous and of extremely good cheer.

As we attended to our business and moved from room to convention room, we mixed with the little children who were colouring in books or completing jig saw puzzles provided by the Red Cross, oblivious to the life changing event they had overcome.

I was loathe to take photos of individuals, as it seemed somewhat infringing.

Our company meetings are usually upbeat, motivational and somewhat fun. As you can imagine, the situation put quite a damper on things. That being said, those who were returning to Canada were the lucky ones. For one woman who had lost most of her family and with whom I rode up the elevator (and heard her story in less than thirty seconds,) it was the only saving grace.

After two days we became used to (or blasé) seeing the Haitins arrive. It was no longer strange that people were going on with their own lives, oblivious to their plight. The lobby bar was full and conducting normal operation with well-heeled men and women joking and laughing over white wine and scotch while watching the unfolding events before them in the lobby. Ironically the barman was Haitain.

Some of my colleagues were from the outer reaches of the province and many had never seen so many black people in one place at one time. At first they were distant, but soon warmed up to the refugees, Haitians are an endearing people.


It is hard to resist the children, especially the little girls in their dreadlocked hair. By the end of our convention, many of our people were inquiring about adoption!

Everybody fell into a routine, the aid workers, the hotel staff and guests. Food was plentiful as hotel staff delivered tray after tray of delicious looking salads and sandwiches to the refugees and their aid workers. I shudder to think what the cost is, of the operation which includes dozens of agencies, all vying to put on their best performance.

News trucks and reporters dutifully showed up at the arrival of each new planeful of refugees and conducted interviews outside the front door with willing participants before closing up shop, only to repeat the same scene the next day.

The Haiti issue has Quebec buzzing. Everyone is sympathetic and wishes to offer aid. The Francophone telethon, held on the same day both Canada and the USA held their own,  raised almost seven million dollars which compares favourably with the take of sixteen million dollars raised in the the English Canada telethon.

But all is not rosy. The issue of taking in refugees who are not Canadian citizens is contentious. There are all sorts of points of view, many contradictory.

Tomorrow, I'll review the various positions being debated. It isn't pretty at all.