The Minister responsible for the Fight against Racism, Benoit Charette, wrongly announced the death of the artist Lamine Touré on Saturday, before expressing his sympathies – for his own death – to the dancer and choreographer, whom he had not obviously unrecognized.
The main interested party is not formalized. “The gentleman, he did nothing wrong. He was wrong, period, ”said Mr. Touré at the Homework Monday. “He apologized afterwards,” he said.
The blunder, relayed extensively on social networks over the weekend, took place during the Gala Dynasty. This ceremony aims to reward personalities from black communities who have distinguished themselves in the fields of arts and culture.
On the stage of the Théâtre Maisonneuve, Minister Charette delivered a speech, a sheet of paper in hand. “While writing the few words, I remembered that we have lost worthy representatives of the cultural community in recent months. We can think of Lamine Touré. I remember many evenings, especially at Balattou, ”he began, naming the Montreal club that Mr. Touré opened in the 80s.
A few people then stood up in the crowd. Among them, the artist Touré himself, who waved to the minister. “That’s right, my sympathies. Sincerely, sincerely, ”continued the minister, looking towards him.
“I got up and said: I’m still here! That’s all. For me, that’s nothing, ”also related Mr. Touré. Realizing his mistake, Mr. Charette burst out laughing.
An honest mistake
In Mr. Charette’s office, the press secretary Rosalie Tremblay-Cloutier pleaded the error in good faith. “The minister’s speech contained an ambiguous formula and by wanting to get out of his text, he misinterpreted it, leading to the incident in question,” she said. “Contrary to what some report, the incident was rather turned into a joke by most of the participants, including Mr. Touré, with whom the minister spoke later in the evening. The Minister is of course sorry for this event. »
Cutting short the rumours, Mme Tremblay-Cloutier also assured that no employee in the minister’s entourage had lost their job after the events.
Lamine Touré received the Grand Prix Dynastie on Saturday, a tribute aimed at highlighting his entire career. Mr. Touré notably launched the International Festival Nuits d’Afrique. He was named Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Québec in 2013 and appointed Member of the Order of Canada in 2018.
“Even me in his place [du ministre]I see “tribute to the person” and in my head [je me dis] : he is dead ! “Launched Mr. Touré to explain the minister’s error. He confirmed that the two men discussed after the events and sent to the Homework a photo they took together. “I’m not angry, we got along, we agreed, we held hands,” he said.
Racism or clumsiness?
On social networks, Minister Charette’s blunder nevertheless attracted comments and fueled montages highlighting the “blunder” (“epic fail”) of the chosen one.
Lawyer and social entrepreneur Fabrice Vil shared a Facebook post in which he recalls from the outset that “of course, there was nothing intentional there”. Still, the case symbolizes, in his opinion, “the lack of consideration of the present government for black communities”.
Mr. Vil recalled that the Legault government and Mr. Charette “denies [nt] the existence of systemic racism”.
“Mr. Charette had a duty to arrive particularly prepared for his speech in order to respectfully honor the only task he had during this evening. […] It is of course delicate to raise the issue of racism in such circumstances because everything could be attributed to clumsiness, ”he continued.
“But I think it’s important to raise the issue because the examples of lack of consideration are multiplying. Not only by mistakes made on stage. Just think of the so-called anti-prejudice advertising campaign that this government served up to us. »
This campaign, which took up certain prejudices concerning members of cultural communities, drew criticism from its own director, Khoa Lê, who asked for it to be withdrawn after seeing the final versions. However, in the opinion of Minister Charette, the effect caused by the advertising offensive is rather proof of its success, since it has, according to him, fueled conversations about racism.
In an interview, Mr. Touré quickly dismissed the suspicions of racism surrounding this story. “The gentleman, he was with us, he was with his wife there. Then we say it’s racism: what racism? No. Please don’t blame the gentleman,” he insisted.