It's not easy to talk about racism in Quebec. Just ask Haroun Bouazzi
Controversy after MNA's speech shows Quebec politicians' struggle — or unwillingness — to talk about race
It's been a noisy week in Quebec politics.
Even Thursday's update on the province's economy couldn't completely drown out the cacophony from the last two weeks about who's racist and who isn't.
Lost in this controversy surrounding Haroun Bouazzi's comments is how it highlights the challenges of talking about racism, especially in Quebec.
Bouazzi, a Montreal MNA with the left-wing party Québec Solidaire, triggered what he himself described as a "media-political whirlwind" with a speech he delivered earlier this month at an event organized by Fondation Club Avenir, a community group that works with immigrants of Maghrebi origin in Montreal.
During the speech, Bouazzi talked about racism and alluded to race being a social construct: one that assigns characteristics to a category of people that paint them as either the superior or inferior group.
"There are races that are constructed by society, which create a category to which we assign a culture that is, by definition, dangerous and inferior," Bouazzi said, before moving on to the part of his speech that would put a giant target on his and his party's backs.
"God knows I see this in the National Assembly every day, the construction of this other, this other who is Maghrebi, who is Muslim, who is Black, who is Indigenous."
Bouazzi was criticized from all sides, including the leadership in his own party, which described his comments as clumsy, exaggerated and polarizing.
"It's not just a few columnists, Mr. Bouazzi, everyone is against you," Radio-Canada Tout un matin host Patrick Masbourian told the MNA during a testy interview last Friday.
Beyond the finger pointing, calls for sanctions and symbolic motions passed at the National Assembly denouncing Bouazzi's speech, our provincial politicians' longstanding struggle — or unwillingness — to approach the topic of racism with any sort of nuance was on full display.
What did Bouazzi actually say?
The "construction of this other" Bouazzi alluded to in a speech he delivered in French essentially translates to English as "othering."
Othering is a well-known concept in sociology.
The definitions for othering can vary, but it is generally based on the categorization of a group of people based on perceived differences like skin colour, religion or sexual orientation, and identifying that group as inferior and adopting an "us versus them" mentality.
Experts say it can lead to social isolation, discrimination and even the dehumanization of certain groups.
"Othering is not about liking or disliking someone. It is based on the conscious or unconscious assumption that a certain identified group poses a threat to the favoured group," John A. Powell, a professor of law, African American studies and ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote in a 2017 column in The Guardian.
"It is largely driven by politicians and the media, as opposed to personal contact."
Quebec politicians from all parties thought otherwise. According to many of them, Bouazzi's speech alleging that othering takes place at the National Assembly on a daily basis was an accusation that its members — and the institution itself — are racist.
But a lot of researchers would be quick to point out that it's not always that simple: racist outcomes are often produced by racist processes, not necessarily racist people.
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, a sociology professor at Duke University whose academic career spans three decades, has said that "systematic racism is not about 'the racists,' but about the racism."
Many Quebec lawmakers, including Premier François Legault, have insisted that systemic racism does not exist in the province. That didn't change even after a Quebec coroner urged them to acknowledge its existence following the high-profile death of Joyce Echaquan.
During an interview with CBC Montreal's Daybreak host Sean Henry, McGill University associate professor Keita Christophe alluded to a defence mechanism that often gets triggered when race is brought up.
Discussions about racism often lead to denials rather than an exploration of the topic.
"I think people are too quick to say 'I'm not racist' and distance themselves from racism but not reflect on the systemic nature of inequality and how we all participate in some degree in continuing these social systems that do privilege some people more than others," said Christophe, whose research looks at the psychological effects of discrimination.
"Many people do not show outward, explicit and intentional prejudice but that doesn't mean they're not participating in a system that might be flawed."
'A mosquito bite'
During his interview with Tout un matin last week, Bouazzi insisted he never called anyone racist.
In the end, he apologized — not for his speech but for his claims that two Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) ministers blamed immigration for delays in health care and with the province's youth protection system. He admitted those statements were clumsy.
Publicly, he appeared to be standing by what he said about the othering he says takes place at the legislature.
And if you look beyond the walls of the National Assembly, it's not particularly difficult to find people who would agree with him.
Earlier this month, l'Observatoire pour la justice migrante, a local non-profit organization made up of academics dedicated to research about migrants, launched an online campaign called On s'fera pas porter l'chapeau. That's a French expression that essentially means "We won't bear the blame," which is a reference to elected officials blaming migrants for society's challenges.
The group released a series of videos exploring claims that are commonly made by politicians in Quebec, like the influx of asylum seekers putting a strain on services or being the reason why there's a housing crisis, which Legault has repeatedly stated.
During his speech about othering, Bouazzi also mentioned the recent controversy at Bedford elementary school in Montreal, where the suspension of 11 teachers seemed to put a much bigger spotlight on secularism than the teacher shortage that's plagued the province for years.
And Quebecers of Muslim faith have expressed concerns that their religion was once again being scapegoated for political purposes.
Christophe, the McGill associate professor, says Bouazzi's message about othering may have also been based on seemingly mundane interactions with colleagues in Quebec City, not just highly publicized events.
"When you're talking about racial discrimination, microaggressions, it's the accumulation of so many small moments," he said.
"It's almost like a mosquito bite, right? One is maybe not a big deal and you can brush it off. But when you're someone that gets bit more than others and they accumulate, you really start to see that impact over time."
If given another chance to deliver that speech, Christophe says he believes Bouazzi would probably choose different wording. But he says there's been little effort to understand the MNA's point of view.
"I feel like we're missing some curiosity and going straight to the condemnation," Christophe said.
Whether or not he regrets what he said, the irony is that the controversy that's played out in the last week mirrored, to some extent, the comments that sparked it.
Bouazzi's speech was deemed by many to be dangerous, a threat to social harmony and unfit for a member of the legislature.
An outcast with almost every MNA against him, Bouazzi had become "the other."
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
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With files from CBC Montreal's Daybreak and Radio-Canada's Tout un matin