“Gilles! Think of your heart, Gilles! Calm down ! »
The Gilles in question laughs, suddenly aware that he has just lost his temper. Around, people laugh before taking a sip of coffee.
We are at the La Factrie café, in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, in the middle of a session of what has been called “News and Coffee”.
On the floor, the tables were arranged to form a large rectangle. Around, 16 men and 7 women came to take part in an exercise as old as time, but which, in our virtually hyperconnected societies, seems almost anachronistic: discussing current affairs, eye to eye, without hiding behind a screen .
What is currently animating discussions is the question of whether the surge in violence sweeping Israel and the Gaza Strip can be considered a religious conflict.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
The discussions are sometimes heated, but we don’t sense any acrimony here. Only respect, listening, curiosity. Lots of humor, too.
“Cursed religions. That’s a shame! », François had launched a little earlier. This is what Gilles responds to with passion, convinced that religion does not explain this new war.
I write “fiery”, but we don’t sense any acrimony here. Only respect, listening, curiosity. Lots of humor, too.
At one end, Dominique Reynolds serves as assembly president. He notes speaking turns in a notebook and monitors speaking times using the timer on his cell phone.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Dominique Reynolds serves as assembly president. He notes speaking turns in a notebook and monitors speaking times using the timer on his cell phone.
Everyone has three minutes to speak – a rule applied flexibly, the idea being simply to avoid monologues and maximize exchanges.
The speakers clearly did their homework before appearing here. They refer to reports from Dutyof The Press, from Noovo, from the BBC. Some arrived with notes to better support their arguments.
A “citizen network”
“News and Coffee” mornings were born in 2016 following the election of Donald Trump in the United States. This “trauma”, as one of the old regulars, Denis Bourdeau, described it to me, clearly sparked a need to chat.
“The idea was to create a citizen network, a space for exchange,” he says.
From half a dozen initiates at the start, the email sending list has grown to now number around forty interested parties. Each meeting attracts around twenty people.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
“News and Coffee” mornings were born in 2016 following the election of Donald Trump in the United States.
We have separatists, federalists, people who support all kinds of political parties. The point of unity is that we are concerned about social affairs.
Denis Bourdeau, participant in the “News and Coffee” mornings in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield
“There’s even a liberal!” We take care of it! “, Dominique Reynolds jokes.
The group is mainly made up of retirees. “What we miss most is the vision of the youngest,” admits Dominique Reynolds, who agrees that the Thursday morning time slot is unlikely to attract students or workers.
“The other thing is the girls. They don’t intervene much. Our challenge is to involve them more. Otherwise, it’s a bit Old Angry Men,” he says.
No one here is forced to express themselves.
“You can come just to hear what others have to say. We never have to have opinions! », explains Dominique Reynolds.
A dialogue about dialogue
After the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is now the future of the Liberal Party of Quebec which occupies the discussions. There are then around thirty minutes left to launch one last topic. Some would like to talk about the blockage in the US House of Representatives. Others from the reform of the voting system.
It is ultimately the question of the lack of dialogue in society that is retained. The columnist assigned to the Dialogue section that I am fidgets in his seat.
The reflections heard largely echo those that animate us, The Press.
In Quebec society, when we exchange ideas and disagree, it seems like we are gambling with our lives. It is as if our entire being was called into question by a point of view that is not accepted by the other.
Marie, participant in the “News and coffee” mornings
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
The idea that debates are more difficult today than at one time is so widespread that it is rarely questioned.
“You have to choose your side. You’re with us or you’re against us. There is no room for intermediate positions,” Eric in turn denounces.
The idea that debates are more difficult today than at one time is so widespread that it is rarely questioned. But with a comment that still makes me think, Denis allows himself to do so.
“At home, my brother was liberal and I was independent,” he says. And in the name of good understanding, we never discussed politics. In Quebec families, it often looked like this. During family meals, we kept quiet about the subjects we could argue about. So we got along very well! »
Behind his counter, Roger, the bartender, follows the exchanges attentively.
He explains to me that he sometimes uses his cell phone to check the facts put forward by the participants and intervene if necessary to correct them.
“Sometimes it’s more confusing,” he tells me. I understand that a discussion about a wind project in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, in particular, has aroused passions. But no one seems to have held a grudge.
What happens every Thursday morning in this café in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield may seem banal. We are talking about human beings who discuss, listen to each other and together try to better understand the world around us.
Yet I came away admiring – moved, even. Telling myself that what I had just seen was so much more than just people talking.
Do you like to chat?
Do you also participate in meetings to dialogue, debate and exchange ideas? We would like to know where, when and how it happens.