No racism in the Gaspé peninsula, really?

Photo from the archives, Guillaume St-Pierre

Andrea Valeria ,
Marie-Christine Trottier and
Émilie Bergeron

Saturday, 24 march, 2018 01:00

UPDATE
Saturday, 24 march, 2018 01:00

Look at this article

Flush out the false news, to verify the statements of politicians, find the real numbers : the research staff of our investigation agency, based in Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa, are experts in the art of re-establish the facts. Each Saturday, they will present their findings to allow you to see more clearly in the events of the week.

The statement

The minister of national Revenue, Diane called to order, went a surprising statement Wednesday, speaking of the consultations on racism that will lead the government of Justin Trudeau.

Questioned Wednesday in the media scrum to find out if there is systemic racism in Canada, the member for Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine, has this to say : “If I look in my area and if I watch it with people who are in our country, there is no problem of racism […]. “

Ms. Lebouthillier spoke too soon in saying that there is no problem of racism in the region.

The facts

“The immigrant community, it is less than in the larger centres, and it blends more into the local population. To say that there is no racism or xenophobia, there’s a big step “, explains the coordinator of the reception Service for immigrants in the Côte-de-Gaspé, Amélie Filiatrault, who is said to hear sometimes comments pretty offensive “.

For example, there is a reconciliation between the mi’kmaq community of Listuguj and the neighboring municipality of Pointe-à-la-Croix since 2002, but it was not done without resistance. In 2016, one of the instigators of a symposium on racism in Listuguj told the newspaper L’acadie nouvelle, members of the community are ” regularly deal with wild “.

Last summer, two pictures of an exhibition in the Gaspé peninsula have been vandalized, according to the newspaper The Sun : that of a woman wearing the full veil and that of a man with, in the background, of the Arabic characters.