The French education ministers Jean-Michel Blanquer and Quebecois Jean-François Roberge want to root their citizens out of their “state of vulnerability” in the face of the zealots of the culture of cancellation (cancel culture) and wokism, seeing them as “memory murderers”.
To get there, they will work to plug the gaps in their teaching program – a “primordial bulwark against ignorance and obscurantism”, according to them – in order to allow them to withstand the “assaults on freedom. expression and civic sense ”by the awakened (“ wokes ”) in France and Quebec.
“We have a duty to prepare our youth for the exercise of active, respectful and enlightened citizenship. A citizenship that leaves room for debate, the opinions of others, the confrontation of ideas and the questioning of all our beliefs, ”support Jean-Michel Blanquer and Jean-François Roberge in an open letter published in local dailies. two sides of the Atlantic.
“Without a counterweight to the pernicious influence of the culture of intolerance and erasure, the democratic values - freedom of expression, equality, secularism – which unite us inevitably risk being weakened”, they warn, while by indicating already observing “a worrying retreat of the democratic spirit” as well in France as in Canada.
Jean-Michel Blanquer and Jean-François Roberge see in “the banishment of personalities, shows and conferences, harassment on social media, censorship, the subjugation of science to ideology, the erasure of History up to the burning of books ”so many drifts of identity imported from the United States to be prevented.
“By its excesses and its excesses, this movement [de la culture de l’annulation] constitutes a fertile ground for all the extremes which threaten the cohesion of our societies ”, support the ex-university professor (Jean-Michel Blanquer) and the ex-primary teacher (Jean-François Roberge).
Resist through education
The French and Quebec ministers propose to strengthen the “common base of knowledge, skills and principles based on universal values” inherited from the Age of Enlightenment.
In Quebec, the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, will set aside the course in ethics and religious culture (ECR) in favor of a course “focused on Quebec culture and citizenship”, of which he will reveal the outlines at a press conference in the coming days. “We must pass on to our young people more knowledge about our history, our culture, and the functioning of Quebec society. We must also convey a feeling of pride, of shared citizenship, ”said Prime Minister François Legault on Tuesday.
The Minister of Higher Education, Danielle McCann, for her part, will issue recommendations to protect academic freedom in universities in the light of the report of the Independent Scientific and Technical Commission chaired by Alexandre Cloutier, which she will have in her possession. ‘by the end of the year.
Paris-Quebec without Ottawa
To better understand the “growing unease with the debates and dialogue” in France and Quebec, MM. Blanquer and Roberge will organize, probably in the middle of an election year, a debate bringing together young people and intellectuals from different backgrounds.
The idea of drafting a joint open letter arose in the wake of a telephone conversation between Mr. Blanquer and Mr. Roberge – which was requested by the French Minister after the reading, over the summer, of a Point article on an autodafé of children’s books, in particular Tintin and Lucky Luke, conveying a negative and erroneous image of the Indigenous nations in Ontario, in 2019.
“Spontaneously”, the two ministers – who have similar views on the issues of secularism in particular – agreed on the need to “do something”. They chose to take up the pen, leaving the Canadian government in the shadows. They postponed the publication of the open letter in order to distance it from the Canadian federal elections, then from the first anniversary of the assassination of Samuel Paty.
On October 16, 2020, the French teacher was beheaded after exhibiting the Charlie Hebdo cartoons of Mohammed in a course on freedom of expression. The Quebec premier, François Legault, then bluntly denounced the murder of Samuel Paty, while recalling that “Quebec is alongside France to defend freedom of expression”. For his part, the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, reiterated his desire to “always defend freedom of expression” before specifying that “freedom of expression is not without limits”. “In a pluralistic, diverse and respectful society like ours, we owe it to ourselves to be aware of the impact of our words, our actions, on others, particularly these communities, these populations who still experience enormous discrimination” , he underlined, casting a diplomatic chill on the Canada-France relationship. Indeed, the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, was subsequently held to thank François Legault for “the support of Quebec in the defense of freedom of expression”.
The open letter from French education ministers Jean-Michel Blanquer and Quebecois Jean-François Roberge, but no member of the Canadian government, should not be seen as a new diplomatic slap by Paris in Ottawa, we are assured Rochechouart.
Further details will follow.