The demographic landscape of Repentigny has changed for a long time, but this diversity was poorly reflected at town hall, thinks Joubert Simon. Concerned about the inclusion of the various communities of the municipality and aware of the strained relations between its police officers and its citizens of Haitian origin, he is the first black person elected to the post of city councilor.
“When your police department does Bye Bye and that all of Quebec understands the joke, it’s sad, ”says Joubert Simon, elected last Sunday under the colors of Avenir Repentigny in the district of Valmont.
Her morning was not easy. With Nicolas Dufour, the new mayor of Repentigny, he started his day by visiting the mother of Jean René Junior Olivier, this 37-year-old black man shot dead by the Police Department of the City of Repentigny (SPVR) during an intervention l ‘last summer. The victim’s mother herself contacted the authorities to help her son in crisis.
Mr. Simon hesitates at first to reveal the details of Thursday morning’s visit.
“I know her personally. She’s a friend of my mother’s. It was heavy. Very heavy and quite emotional. No parent wants to lose their child, especially not like that. It was a private meeting and we waited, out of respect, because we did not want it to be used in the countryside, ”he says.
It is difficult to ignore the strained relations between the Afro-descendant Repentignois and the SPVR. A black man of Haitian origin on the city council cannot heal all the wounds or make all the problems disappear, admits the newly elected 41-year-old. But its presence can appease some citizens. If they feel represented by someone who is closer to their interests and concerns, we will have already come a long way, he judges.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, THE PRESS
Joubert Simon, municipal councilor in Repentigny
Blacks can drive luxury cars without being pulled over for no good reason or being seen as criminals. The same goes for the Maghreb community. That’s the lesser of it.
Joubert Simon, municipal councilor in Repentigny
He thinks of his 21-year-old son who just got his driver’s license. “I don’t want him to be arrested for no reason. We don’t want our young blacks to be afraid of the police. If he has never experienced profiling in Repentigny, he remains troubled by the allegations of improper arrest reported in the past. He says he is open to understanding the roots of the problem. “I don’t think there is a policeman who gets up in the morning saying: ‘I want to do profiling'”, he nevertheless believes.
Diversity and sport
Joubert Simon moved to Repentigny 12 years ago. He then left the Montreal borough of Saint-Léonard to raise his three boys in the suburbs. The ethnocultural portrait of the municipality has changed before his eyes, but the City has not adapted, he notes. Sports facilities are not representative of the interests of young people of diversity. “Young Blacks and North Africans from Repentigny are tripping over basketball and soccer. We have a multitude of tennis courts, but we have few real beautiful and well-maintained basketball courts! We need more. I really wondered what made it so that there was not that for the young people ”, notes the former sports coach.
There is a great cultural diversity in Repentigny. We talk a lot about living together, but we did not feel it in the actions of the previous administration.
Joubert Simon
The detail may seem trivial. But sport is a very unifying tool for inclusion. An essential outlet in the eyes of the chosen one.
Even if he admits that a first black elected official remains a step forward, he refuses to be instrumentalized. He has real ideas and real skills, he insists. “I want to improve the life of the Repentignois in my district, but I am not the black on duty [token Black guy]. ”