There are telling moments in the life of a country. Canada, the global homeland of multiculturalism, is meant to be a prototype of tolerance between different majorities and different minorities.
However, when the Quebec national minority decides to act to preserve its language, defend its culture or even put forward its vision of society, as with secularism, suddenly tolerance vanishes. We see then what many members of the English-Canadian majority really think of us. Quebecers are dragged through the mud, jeered at, described as vile beings, Nazis, racists and so on.
This is exactly what Marlene Jennings, president of the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), an English-speaking lobby funded in part by Ottawa, has just done. The person concerned made a parallel on twitter between the brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russia and Bill 96. This aims to defend French in Quebec and to have us recognized as a nation in the constitution.
According to Jennings, there would be a contradiction between the fact that François Legault expresses the support of the Quebec people for Ukraine while with law 96 he wants to “suspend all the rights and freedoms of all Quebecers”. Attacked for her remarks, she persisted and signed. Her statement, which amounts to saying that Quebec is turning into a dictatorship, is “valid and reasonable”, according to what she answered to her detractors.
Speaking of respect for the law, note that when Marlene Jennings was the tutor of the English Montreal School Board, in 2019, the institution declared that it would violate Law 21 by refusing to apply it. The following year, English Montreal effectively broke the law by accepting funds from the Court Challenges Program to challenge the state’s secularism law. This federal organization’s mission, among other things, is to pay money to groups that are fighting in court against Quebec identity laws, such as Bill 101 and Bill 21, under a charter that has been imposed on us. However, the school board was not entitled to receive federal funds without the approval of the Quebec government, which it did not have. I reported the case at the time and English Montreal finally had to back down.
All that to say that Ms. Jennings is oddly misplaced to accuse Quebec of not respecting the law. However, she will soon be able to console herself for the disappointment suffered in 2020 when she was in charge of English Montreal. It is written in the sky that Ottawa will shower the QCGN with money to go to court against Bill 96. Trudeau will do so while swearing that he does not interfere in this file and affirming in the same breath that he acts to safeguard French in Quebec.
This is Canada. You have the right to bash the Quebec national minority without the slightest embarrassment. The feds will give money to do it and, as a bonus, they will tell you in all seriousness that they are working very hard to defend Quebec.