OK, let Bambi be clear: There is nothing funny about seeing one of the most welcoming and truly progressive places in the entire world being constantly misunderstood, mischaracterized, linguistically and culturally attacked!
Second, let Bambi be also clear: we have all the rights to not like a place, a culture, a group, a person. Perhaps this is what Dr. Amir Attaran (from the University of Ottawa) suffers from in addition to an absence of nuances despite his HIGH intelligence! Despite his good intentions, he may be blinded by his wokeism. Anyhow, Dr. Amir Attaran is a Professor of Law and Medicine. Bambi regularly reads and enjoys reading his tweets, even those that disturb her as they insult her Québec.
One of his best tweets ever is pinned by him and every time Bambi reads his response to a critic by someone, she laughs and finds him funny.
Bambi also likes all his relevant comments about pandemics, vaccines, constructive criticism, etc.
Of course, he has strong opinions about the USA, about Canada, about Québec, etc. Bambi does not share many, if not most, of them… but Bambi thinks he is free!
So is Professor Verushka Lieutenant-Duval, mind you! She committed the error of apologizing for having used the so-called N-word in an educational setting. She also did not benefit from the support of neither her high administration, nor of some of her colleagues.
Academic freedom and freedom of expression must apply to all. No double standards.
Same for anti-racism. It must apply to all. No double or even triple-standards.
Lately, Dr. Attaran called Québec the “Alabama of the North” and accused a respectable Opposition political party called Parti Québécois of celebrating the birthday of Hitler, of using anti-semite slurs, and N-words… just because its Leader, called Mr. Plamondon, publicly complained about his “Québec bashing” (and will write an official letter to the University of Ottawa’s President, Mr. Frémont). Sadly the other Opposition party called Québec Solidaire seems to have lost its beautiful left-leaning tendency about true social justice to replace it with wokeism (or so-called racial justice; in other terms divisive identity-politics).
He is free… even if he is highly disrespectful for Québec. He calls the latter’s Prime Minister white-supremacist ? and he tells the world in his tweets that Québec resorts to medical lynching of “racialized” patients (BIPOCs, etc.). Maybe there has been one or two… or 10 or more cases of racism. Maybe the latest (sadly also tragic one) is still under investigation. Maybe some are more due to incompetence than racism?
Anyhow, in today’s world, words have been emptied of their meaning. Plus, who knows? You may not like Québec yourself. You may be into wokeism… or you may see a merit and a ridiculous aspect in all the above. Regardless, Bambi hopes you still have a sense of humour to appreciate the brilliant cartoon of Mr. Yannick Lemay from the Journal de Québec. It is about two University of Ottawa students discussing their new courses. One asks: “What course did you register in?” The other student answers: “Introduction to Québec bashing!” ?.
Alors essaye de lire la tribologie « Le petit livre noir du Canada-anglais » par Normand Lester, tu vas comprendre qu’une des deux solitudes avait tout les pouvoirs,a discriminée l’autre et a même essayé de la faire disparaître….et ils ont réussi dans beaucoup d’endroits. Et le Québec bashing est déjà une très vieille tradition de ce Dominion , le globe and mail peut en témoigner par écrit tout au long de son histoire plus que centenaire. Pourquoi pas une petite recherche sur l’histoire des Orangistes et du KKK, question de voir la réalité francophobe des authentiques CanadiEns depuis la conquête, fait attention de pas tomber dans le relativisme historique.?
Are things truly that way or is ”The Rest of Canada” an invention from Quebec? ”The Rest of Canada” as some people from Quebec call it, represents 85% of all the land in Canada and 77 or 78% of the people — hardly remainders. ”The Rest of Canada” comprises the vast majority of Canada and Quebec can be the exception if it insists.
Thank you Fred for your interesting comment. Like you, Bambi used to think this at first until she lived in the rest of Canada in more than one place. She thinks now that Ms. Michaëlle Jean was right when she talked about the two solitudes. Mind you, there could also be two Québecs in one even— the Québec of metropolis and the Québec of regions. All perceptions and visions are valid in life. Perhaps a problem may arise when respectful and reciprocal channels of communications become dysfunctional from time to time.
Thank you Bambi. The ”Two Solitudes” concept goes back well before the Rt. Hon Michaëlle Jean to a Canadian author from Nova Scotia named Hugh MacLennan. MacLennan taught at McGill for many years and his 1945 novel ‘Two Solitudes’ was seen as a landmark work for describing the chasm between the two cultures. I prefer terms like French Canada and English Canada as they describe language, culture and identity and aren’t tied to misleading ideas about geography.
Thanks to you for teaching Bambi this. She had no idea and will surely read about it later (she is curious now :)). Thanks also for sharing your preferred terms (interesting).