Gathered in a national council in Jonquière, the activists of Québec solidaire heal the wounds of a “collective failure”: the departure as spokesperson of Émilise Lessard-Therrien.
Despite her absence, the former member for Rouyn-Noranda — Témiscamingue spoke on Saturday morning at the Jonquière CEGEP. Unexpected until a few weeks ago, a closed session had been organized so that members could speak to each other in the face of the internal crisis which is shaking the party. At the entrance to the activist body, on a table covered with photos of the resigning spokesperson, a piece of paper displayed this message: “those who want to send a thought or a gift from the heart to Émilise, everything will be sent to her with delegates from his constituency.
“It was Émilise who should have been alongside Gabriel to launch the national council. Everyone would have preferred it to be her at the microphone,” said her interim replacement, Christine Labrie, in front of the approximately 200 delegates present on Saturday.
Citing difficulties integrating into the party’s management team and a lack of systematic support in her extra-parliamentary functions, Émilise Lessard-Therrien left her post on April 29.
In a letter that she sent to the party leadership and the caucus of solidarity deputies on the eve of her departure, the former elected official deplores her inability to settle into her new functions. “It seems absurd to me that a female co-spokesperson who does not have the same visibility and resources as an MP does not have the bare minimum to function,” she maintains in her text, made public Saturday by Radio-Canada.
In his first speech since the events of last month, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois apologized for not having “seen the exhaustion of Émilise” Lessard-Therrien coming. “I regret having failed to prevent his departure. I have my share of responsibility in this departure,” agreed Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. In the room, most of the delegates present stood to applaud when he arrived on stage — not all.
At his side, Christine Labrie did not hesitate to name the “collective failure” that integration had represented as spokesperson for Mme Lessard-Therrien. “What happened requires us to think deeply about the way we operate,” she said.
“Reflections, in particular, on our feminist practices — because Émilise is not the only woman within the organization to have raised that it is sometimes more difficult for women to take their place. Reflections, too, on our governance structures and the way in which we make our decisions,” she continued.
In a rare speech of this kind, one of the members of the ethics committee of Québec solidaire, Martin Roy, for his part called on his fellow activists to “free themselves from blame and the search for culprits”. “We are not a court,” he said.
Several votes are planned at Québec solidaire this weekend. The Saguenay Declaration, which was written after the party’s tour of the regions, and a proposal to overhaul the program were put into play.
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois wants to see the two documents be adopted, which in his eyes are part of his approach to “modernizing” the party. However, he does not make it an “ultimatum”.
“As long as trust [avec les militants] It’s going to be mutual, I want to continue,” he said on Saturday.
Further details will follow.