Photo: Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press MP Haroun Bouazzi
François Carabin
Published at 1:45 p.m.
- Québec
The comments of Québec solidaire (QS) MP Haroun Bouazzi on religious infiltration and racism earned him public criticism from his parliamentary colleagues and his own political party on Thursday.
By accusing members of the National Assembly of fueling racism against North Africans, Muslims and Blacks, MP Haroun Bouazzi is casting “immense discredit on the institution,” argued Liberal MP Marwah Rizqy on the social network X.
She was reacting to comments made by the Maurice-Richard MP at a gathering of the Fondation Club Avenir earlier this month. In an excerpt from the event shared on social media and noted in a column in the Journal de Québec, Thursday, Mr. Bouazzi suggests that the National Assembly “every day” fosters the emergence of racist and discriminatory discourse against religious minorities.
“We unfortunately see – and God knows I see this in the National Assembly every day – the construction of this Other. Of this Other, who is North African, who is Muslim, who is black, who is indigenous, and of his culture which, by definition, would be dangerous or inferior,” we can hear him say.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000According to the elected representative in solidarity, certain deputies and ministers are speaking with double standards on the issue of “religious infiltration”: while they do not hesitate to talk about the “North African” origins of the employees of the Bedford school whose certificate was suspended last month, they make no mention of the origins of the nine educators at the Cité-des-Prairies rehabilitation centre who are the subject of an investigation for allegations of “sexual proximity” with young people under their supervision.
“Do you know what culture they are from or what their religion is? ?” he asked. “Me neither. »
“But what I can tell you is that they are neither Maghrebis nor Muslims, because otherwise we would be sure to know,” he added, before being applauded by the prosecution.
In a publication on X, Thursday at noon, the Solidarity MP Ruba Ghazal indicated that she had had a “good discussion” with Mr. Bouazzi on this subject, in the morning. “Gabriel [Nadeau-Dubois] and I […] told him that his remarks were frankly clumsy and exaggerated. “No elected member of Québec solidaire thinks that Quebec MNAs are racist,” wrote the elected member from Mercier, who is expected to officially take up the position of female spokesperson for the party this weekend.
In a written statement sent to Devoir, earlier Thursday, PQ MNA Pascal Bérubé had strongly criticized his colleague's statement and called on Québec solidaire to “publicly dissociate itself” from it as soon as possible.
“Using a platform intended to honour and recognize the contribution of Quebecers of Maghreb origin to make a false case against the National Assembly and its members is unworthy of the role of a member of parliament,” he said.
Marwah Rizqy also deplores Mr. Bouazzi’s comments. “Both my parents are Moroccan. My name is worth 49 points in Scrabble. I am at the National Assembly of Quebec almost every day. At no time have I been made to feel ‘dangerous’ or ‘inferior,’” she stressed on X.
“Accusations of racism against the National Assembly and its parliamentarians are very serious and require the utmost seriousness. They must be supported by facts, otherwise, they cast immense discredit on the Institution of institutions. “Explanations are needed,” she added.
In an interview with 98.5 on Thursday morning, Education Minister Bernard Drainville denounced “behaviour that unnecessarily stirs up intolerance.”
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