It would be absurd to deny that Islamophobia, like racism, exists in Quebec, just as it does elsewhere in Canada and around the world. Prime Minister Legault himself agrees that we are not immune to these evils, even if he refutes their systemic nature.
That said, not only was the shortcut taken by Amira Elghawaby to affirm that “the majority of Quebecers” are animated by an anti-Muslim sentiment insulting, but it also testified to an intellectual dishonesty that does not plead in favor of the new special representative of the Trudeau government in the fight against Islamophobia.
If it were true, as indicated by a Leger poll, that 88% of Islamophobes supported the State Secularism Act (Bill 21), one could not reverse the proposition and say that the majority of supporters of law were Islamophobic. Mme Elghawaby has every right to dislike Bill 21 and to fight it, but that does not authorize him to sue those who support it.
Even if we wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt by invoking a lack of inclination for mathematics, she has made other comments in the past that leave little doubt about the feelings she has towards Quebec.
The Parti Québécois MP for the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Joël Arseneau, was quite indulgent when he spoke of a “misunderstanding” of Quebec society. It’s more like a hate. Even the federal Minister of Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, said he was “wounded and shocked as a Quebecer”. That is to say.
One cannot oppose virtue. Any measure aimed at combating Islamophobia and facilitating the integration of Muslims into Canadian society is certainly welcome.
The question is why Justin Trudeau chose a “hardcore” activist like Ms.me Elghawaby to take up a job that will require a great deal of dexterity to foster connections, in Quebec as in the rest of the country. To hurl anathemas is certainly not the best way to achieve this.
The “clarifications” she made did not satisfy the Legault government, which demanded her departure, but Mr. Trudeau is quite willing to settle for it. Besides, he would have named her anyway, he admitted. If he could have been annoyed by the clumsiness of his recruit, the substance of his statements clearly did not trouble him.
The Prime Minister and Mr.me Elghawaby share the same aversion to Bill 21. In exercising her new functions, she will no doubt persist in saying all the bad things she thinks about it, with the blessing of her boss. Mr. Trudeau would have liked to throw oil on the fire that he could not have made a better choice.
Any attack on Bill 21 now provokes an epidermal reaction from Mr. Legault, as we saw again recently when his Canadian counterpart reiterated his intention to challenge it and limit the preventive use of the derogation provision.
Sunday, he shone by his absence during the commemoration of the massacre of the great mosque of Quebec. He probably didn’t really want to hear the spokespersons of the Islamic Cultural Center reproach him for a law that “has upset everything we do as work for living together”.
The outrage caused by the appointment of Mme Elghawaby recalls the one who had welcomed, in January 2021, the appointment of geographer Bochra Manaï to the position of commissioner for the fight and systemic discrimination at the City of Montreal, Ms.me Manaï having previously been spokesperson for the National Council of Canadian Muslims.
Mr. Legault had also qualified this appointment as a “mistake” because of the “personal crusade” of Ms.me Manaï against Law 21 which, according to her, had made Quebec “a reference for extremist supremacists”.
The leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, had deplored that Mayor Plante was using public funds to “impose her ideology” and predicted that the new commissioner would sow division. Obviously, his comments were insulting. For two years, however, we have not heard anyone complain about his work.
It is probably fashionable to demand the departure of Mme Elghawaby, but it is clear that Mr. Trudeau will not reconsider his decision. Therefore, the best attitude to adopt is perhaps that of the leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, who demanded a meeting with the special representative.
Without having too many illusions about his act of contrition, the leader of the Bloc says he is ready to hear further explanations. Who knows, he might be able to explain to her some things she doesn’t know about Quebec. There will always be time to rip her shirt off if she still doesn’t want to understand.