An anti immigrant song apparently wrtitten by a police officer named Philippe Gouin and coming from Quebec has reached our (French) shores. Google didn’t turn up much infos, so I’d be interested in knowing more details. For instance, about the context, if this song is controversial, widespread, whether or not the author is part of some dubious political group, etc…
Thanks in advance.
Is thisthe person/video you’re talking about?
It’s from 2007, when Québec has a public commission on “reasonable accomodation” that both exposed a lot of xenophobia (IMHO) and got people talking for real about what is and isn’t reasonable and how to be tolerant of differences.
I’d have to google more to see if there were any consequences, but the news link I put above suggests that his employers considered it to be private expression of opinions (freedom of speech is a constitutional right here) and didn’t reprimand him, though may have “advised” him to be careful about what he says online. I think he was just a police officer in Montreal (SPVM) and nothing more, really.
I’m pretty oblivious to this sort of localish news, and I have no recollection of this video/song whatsoever (though I was aware of the reasonable accommodation debates). I don’t think it left a lasting impression on most Québecois, but I am totally not the person to rely on for that opinion!
Did it end with “Wons dna eci eht fo dnal eht morf emoc ew”?
Moved to Cafe Society.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Quebec has an anti-immigrant issue? I thought the only people the Quebecois didn’t like were other Canadians.
It’s gotten more complicated over the years, as the number of recent immigrants has increased. A few mosques are being built even as the now-empty Catholic churches are turned into community centers, some women want to wear their head scarves on their driver’s license photograph, someone mentions that sharia wouldn’t be a bad system for family law, an Orthodox Jewish community refuses to pay some of its municipal taxes, a Sikh parent sues to get the right for their boy to wear a Kirpan at school, some public pools are considering separate bathing hours for men and for women, etc.
(I have to admit I freaked out a bit when lamb sacrifices such as these happened a few miles from my house.)
Some media like to put this stuff on the front page. So you get some friction, and 2007 was a big year for that.
I had never heard that song, though it doesn’t surprise me much. I hear that sort of talk pretty often.
Why would you be, other than it is a zoning violation? Slaughtering by swift exsanguination, as specified by both Halal and Kosher laws, may be more humane (the multiple juries are still out) than other methods.