I am a proud Quebecer. And I’m an immigrant. Both of them. It’s who I am, and I never felt any different before this election campaign. Quebecers welcomed me with open arms and taught me tolerance and openness. On the issue of immigration, some of our politicians have recently slipped to such an extent that I no longer recognize my Quebec.
Posted at 11:00 a.m.
Originally from a Christian minority in Egypt, my parents chose to immigrate to Quebec to offer a better future to their three young children. I was 10 years old when our plane landed in Mirabel. It was in 1989. Quite a change for the child that I was. I remember my first snow like yesterday: it was magical. And what about my first tasting of maple taffy (I still haven’t completely recovered, by the way)!
I went through reception classes to learn French. I had the good fortune to attend excellent schools, courtesy of the Quebec public education system. In high school, I learned Félix Leclerc and I always believed – and I still believe – that it is also about me that he speaks when he sings. Me, my shoes have traveled a lot.
Throughout my studies, I rubbed shoulders with people from all over the world and from all over Quebec. My best friend in high school, Jean-Philippe, introduced me to his native Rivière-du-Loup. I remember the delicious tourtière his mother cooked for us. Together we won the national Expo-sciences competition in Trois-Rivières. That day, we celebrated our award — and our friendship — at a Lebanese restaurant. Jean-Philippe loves tahini.
Yes, my skin has always remained darker than his. Yes, my ever more painful surname to pronounce — and to hear! — than his. And yes, I still roll my “r”s (I swear it’s impossible to change!). But there hasn’t been a moment, a single day, since I arrived in Quebec where I felt that was of any importance.
The Quebec school system gave me the chance to grow and become who I aspired to be. I studied medicine, partly in the English-speaking network and partly in the French-speaking network: exposures as different as they are enriching.
I did my specialty in medical oncology in Vancouver thanks to a scholarship granted by Quebec. I was thus able to learn new things and share them with Quebec patients on my return. Because difference enriches.
I have always lived in Montreal (no offense to our outgoing Minister of Immigration!). But during my training and during my first years of practice, I worked in Chicoutimi, Joliette, Cowansville and Chibougamau. I even traveled as far as Matagami and Lebel-sur-Quévillon to train laboratory technicians in hematology. Everywhere I went, I felt at home.
My Quebec is big and I love it.
I work as a hemato-oncologist at Cité-de-la-Santé in Laval, a particularly cosmopolitan city. I love my work. I treat patients of all colors, backgrounds, religions, beliefs, etc. In the face of illness, we are all awfully equal. I have never felt that my color, my name or my accent prevent me from establishing a human and authentic contact with my patients, regardless of their color, their name or their accent.
In the face of illness, these superficialities become futile. We are much more alike than our politicians seem to want us to believe.
Yes, we must integrate newcomers well and we must protect French. Whatever our outgoing Minister of Immigration says, we have always succeeded in doing so. The vast majority of immigrants work and speak French. If we observe unfavorable trends in recent years, it is certainly not by making incendiary statements — if not outright lies — that we will succeed in correcting anything. I even believe that we risk doing the exact opposite. If dividing pays off politically in the short term, in the long term it is playing with fire.
I firmly believe that we are all privileged to live in Quebec, whether we have been established there recently or for several generations. A few minutes of listening to the daily international news bulletin are enough to remind us that the vast majority of the 7.9 billion men and women on the planet today would trade their place for ours. In the blink of an eye.
Let’s celebrate our beautiful province together. Openness and inclusion are fundamentally Quebec values. Let’s not change. There’s nothing wrong with liking both meat pie and tahini. Quebec is rich, rich in each and every one of its Quebeckers.