Dangerous rhetoric | The Press

As I followed the news this past week, I was reminded of these words from George Orwell: “ [I]There is no quicker path to the corruption of thought than through the corruption of language. »

FABRICE VIL

Lawyer, social entrepreneur and member of the Order of Excellence in Education

Mixed toilets, also called non-gendered, neutral or universal, have existed in Quebec for several years. In the private sphere, but also within public buildings. From the Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie aquatic complex to the University of Sherbrooke sports center, universal locker rooms are multiplying. “In short, universal changing rooms are a plus for inclusion, for safety and for practicality. » It is written in black and white in a document from the Quebec government.

Surprising headline, therefore, Bernard Drainville’s opposition to mixed toilets in schools, while a guide from the Ministry of Education created in 2021 encourages schools to “provide neutral places of privacy allowing the free choice of students and staff.” A controversy all the more absurd since the management of the Iberville school in Rouyn-Noranda, targeted by the debate, had opted for mixed toilets primarily for safety reasons. The management did not plan to install cubicles, but closed cubicles ensuring greater privacy for students. “A storm in a urinal,” wrote Isabelle Hachey. Indeed, last week will have given birth to several boss bosses.

The toilet last week. Earlier in the month, pronouns. Otherwise, drag queens, the word that begins with “N” or migrants. The topics that ignite the most discourse are often those where the most marginalized people serve as punching bags. As such, I am outraged by obvious insults, but I am more concerned about comments which, even if less spectacular, influence public opinion more subtly.

For example, since the 1980s, Canadian courts have provided the necessary nuances to the concept of the duty to accommodate, particularly in labor law. But we will remember the accommodation crisis, during the 2000s, fabricated by certain newspapers and fueled by Action Démocratique du Québec. This crisis helped propel Mario Dumont to the rank of leader of the official opposition in 2007. The losers? Religious minorities and the quality of public debate. The expression “reasonable accommodation” was so demonized that even today it means unreasonable for many. Colonization of thought? The observation does not seem exaggerated to me.

The word “woke” suffers from similar treatment. According to an analysis published by the journal Possible^⁠1 and cited in The duty, The Montreal Journal And The Quebec Journal were, between 2016 and 2021, at the origin of nearly 70% of the texts dealing with the woke phenomenon; 45% of these articles came from just five columnists. Finally, of the articles published by these columnists, 96% paint a negative portrait of the phenomenon. Having originated within black activist groups, the term “woke” has been co-opted to the point of becoming a ready-made label to discredit any progressive discourse.

This is the kind of sophism that Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, leader of the Parti Québécois, indulged in in his comments about what is taught in school. “And I see a lot of ideologies coming from the radical left that are imposed,” he said at a press briefing last Tuesday. He persists and signs in a letter published in The Montreal Journal last Thursday^⁠2.

In a context which deserves to be sensitive to the reality of trans and non-binary people, who are particularly discriminated against, this letter brandishes the scarecrow of ideology. This amalgamation between gender diversity and concepts that would be imposed obviously carries the risk of stigmatizing these people, for whom existence is not a theoretical or ideological matter.

Politically, the strategy can nevertheless be effective, as demonstrated in particular by Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, who campaigned on the theme “ Freedom from Indoctrination “. The rhetoric of Paul St-Pierre Plamondon plays precisely on this theme. “Then it becomes an issue, when we impose concepts, ways of doing things, new programs in the education system without any prior democratic debate. »

Democracy is not the exclusive affair of the National Assembly. Yes, there is a training program common to all students, but I have worked with a number of teachers who, while respecting their functions, adapt their teaching according to the context and their vision of the world (the illusion, c is to believe that teaching is neutral). A state-owned company like Télé-Québec should have the freedom to make resources and tools available to students without the approval of politicians. Specialists from the Ministry of Education, without partisanship, have also decided to include in the Culture and Quebec Citizenship course notions such as “systemic discrimination”, “cultural appropriation”, “ethnocentrism” or “racial profiling”, without partisanship. All these elements belong to democracy.

Yes, ideological deviations can exist, but let’s look at the greatest danger: shouting wokism in covert words and in the name of its narrow vision of democracy, while the training program of the Quebec school is a prerogative of the Ministry of Education. ‘Education, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon suggests that the National Assembly interfere in the teaching of subjects that concern marginalized groups. Above all, there is the risk of drift.