(Ottawa) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tried Wednesday to ease tensions with Quebec. The rag has been burning since the appointment of Amira Elghawaby as federal representative for the fight against Islamophobia. The columnist raised controversy in particular for having already written that the “majority of Quebecers” seemed “influenced by anti-Muslim sentiment”.
“I want to be very clear. Quebecers are not racist,” said Mr. Trudeau from the outset before the Liberal caucus meeting. He then offered a lengthy explanation in French of the diametrically opposed visions of secularism in Quebec and English Canada.
Before the Quiet Revolution, Quebec was subject to religion “which did not respect its individual rights”, which led it to take a certain distance from religion and to become an ardent defender of equality between men and women. women and the rights of the LGBT community, he underlined.
“That was mixed up a little bit with this idea of intolerance towards others, but that’s not it at all,” he added. Quebecers just want others to be liberated and to be completely free.
“People need to understand a little bit that there are two different visions of what a secular society is and that it will be resolved when reasonable people have a real and deep conversation. It’s easy to go up to the barricades and point fingers at each other,” he said.
Justin Trudeau confirmed that he was aware of “some of the comments” of Amira Elghawaby before appointing her as a representative of the fight against Islamophobia, without wanting to specify which ones. “But there are some others coming out now…” he said before being interrupted by a question.
He still trusts that Mr.me Eglhawaby is “the right person to be able to build bridges, to listen, to learn, to also teach and to bring people together. »
“You also have to understand that someone who has been an activist for a cause for many years is going to be different from someone who is appointed by a government to be our representative on an issue,” he argued.
He did not want to say if he considered that she had made “Quebec bashing in his chronicles. Mr. Trudeau said he was pleased that Ms.me Elghawaby is meeting with Bloc Québécois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet on Wednesday and that she also plans to meet with Québec solidaire.