Quebec makes progress in the fight against racism and discrimination, says CAQ

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QUEBEC – The percentage of visible and ethnic minorities in the public sector has gradually increased, from 11 percent in 2018 to 14 percent in 2021, the minister responsible for combating racism said on Thursday.

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The goal is to reach 18 percent by March 2023.

But the dismal percentage of English-speaking Quebecers remains low, hovering around 1 percent despite years of talks to improve the situation.

Releasing a year-long progress report on the government’s efforts to combat racism and discrimination of all kinds, Benoit Charette said he is pleased with the progress Quebec is making on multiple levels, from policing and discrimination to racial profiling to relations with indigenous communities.

“We never said and never will say that the job is fully done,” Charette said at a news conference in the legislature. “We received this mandate less than a year ago and today we can show that we are making great progress, but that is not the end.

“What we want to do is make sure everyone knows and understands that we are in action.”

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Charette described Quebec’s actions in the year since Prime Minister François Legault handed him the job. His appointment was a key recommendation from the task force Legault launched in 2020 to investigate the issue.

Other members of the working group were available for the one-year update, including the Minister Responsible for Indigenous Affairs, Ian Lafrenière, and Saint-Rose MNA Christopher Skeete, Charette’s parliamentary assistant.

Charette announced that most of the 25 recommendations of the working group are in the process of being implemented.

For example, the Minister of Public Security, Geneviève Guilbault, introduced bill 18 in the legislature on Wednesday. The bill gives the police new powers to explicitly prohibit racial profiling and strengthen the powers of ethics commissioners.

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Quebec is also pumping $ 25 million into police reform, which will allow pilot projects that make use of mixed police and civil patrols.

In his November economic update, Finance Minister Eric Girard allocated an additional $ 20.8 million over five years, allowing the Quebec Human Rights Commission to hire more staff to speed up the handling of complaints.

The Commission de la Construction du Québec recently launched a campaign to make its industry more inclusive.

Regarding the recommendation that Quebec make Crown corporations more diverse, Charette announced that as of fall 2021, more than 50 percent of them included a member of a visible minority on their boards of directors.

Some things have not gone so well, like the recently launched anti-racism awareness campaign. The television ads featured in the campaign were heavily criticized for promoting stereotypes.

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“I would have been more concerned if there hadn’t been a reaction,” Charette said, adding that these types of campaigns will run for three years. “Ads that address such a serious problem cannot be bland. They provoke people, which is a way of changing mentalities ”.

Skeete, who recounted his own experience as a black man with discrimination in his youth, said that instead of simply studying the problem, the government he is a part of is taking action. He said that the small victories in this war are important.

“We are talking about social change here,” Skeete said. “Social change is frustratingly slow. I don’t think we can, you know, score the touchdown, shoot the ball and shout the win, ”Skeete said.

“Someone else will pick up the cloak and move the needle again. I think it is good that human progress has no end ”.

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He said that a police officer in his car has a responsibility to act, but also the citizens in their daily life.

“Christmas is coming up soon,” Skeete said. “If someone at the dinner table says something ignorant, you have to correct it. This is something we all have to do together. “

Lafrenière provided an update to his plan, J’ai espoir, which is a follow-up to the 2019 Viens commission on the mistreatment of indigenous peoples in Quebec.

“There is a lot to do,” Lafrenière told reporters. “I could talk to you about justice, police, housing, training and education. This is a partnership project. It is not going to change overnight, it will take time. But at least people are talking about it, they see that reality. “

However, not everyone is convinced that Quebec is acting fast enough. In a statement, Québec solidarity critic Andrés Fontecilla said that the government can boast all it wants, but in reality many of the recommendations have made very little progress.

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