Not a day goes by without a news item shedding harsh light on a society where we now shamelessly abandon ourselves to violence. Last week, yet another speaker decried the toxic atmosphere that reigns in the sporting arena.
Obviously, the awareness messages from Hockey Quebec, which remind us before each match that “judgment is recommended”, were not enough. A referee once again paid the price. In a vibrant plea, Gabriel Grégoire therefore invited us, like several sports federations, to equip officials with body cameras.
The referees I work with have countless altercations with adults who question their judgment while having forgotten theirs at home. Although they are strong, several officials come out of their shifts quite shaken.
In these circumstances, we must support the wearing of cameras, not as a miracle solution, but as a tool of deterrence and protection.
However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, it is not just “parents who have gone crazy”. That’s everyone. According to this new dystopian logic, everyone should therefore be equipped with cameras. From teenagers who don’t eat burgers fast enough, to teachers who say one word too many, to motorists who dare to change lanes.
That said, even if the widespread wearing of cameras succeeded in reducing the incidence of gratuitous violence, let us agree that it would, ultimately, only be a bandage on a deep and festering wound.
This is why we must go to the root of the problem and seek collective catharsis from the traumatic episode that was the pandemic.
We cannot forever bury our heads in the sand about the fault lines that this period has left us. Faced with the atmosphere that many call an “open sewer”, the temptation to vigorously restrict freedom of expression to repress anger is gaining followers. However, it must be admitted that this would not make the resentment disappear, quite the contrary.
Therefore, a COVID truth and reconciliation type commission is necessary to judge our political and scientific management of the pandemic and repair the social problems. Of course, we will not be able to rewrite the past, but at the very least we have a duty to analyze it, apologize if necessary and, above all, learn from our mistakes.
Several nations have already courageously taken this step, publicly recognizing some of their less successful moves or setting up commissions of inquiry.
For us, the judgment which has just decreed the illegality of the use of emergency measures constitutes a first step. However, several columnists have sharply criticized the judge’s findings, who have also been given the sporting epithet of “dais manager”.
Certainly, the majority of us have immense sympathy for the politicians of the pandemic era, forced to make impossible choices. We nevertheless have a moral obligation to re-examine this troubled period with the luxury of hindsight. We must look at every decision with objective eyes, less obsessed with fear and urgency, more informed by reason and data. And this, less to point the finger at anyone than to do better next time.
Obviously, the federal Liberals and the Coalition Avenir Québec want to avoid “distractions” at the start of the session, and they certainly have no desire to revisit these arduous times. It would therefore be very surprising if these parties launched such commissions of inquiry at this stage. Yet stitching together our social fabric is more than a distraction. It is a fundamental task that underpins the success of all other missions. In short, both on the platforms and in the corridors of power, judgment, prudent and measured, is more than advisable, it is imperative.