Whether he fully realizes it or not, his words on the “limits of freedom of expression” have…
Aligned us with radicalism over freedom of expression.
Seemed to align us with Turkey’s Neo Sultan, Mr.
Erdogan, over France’s President, Mr. Macron.
Aligned us with Islamists over Muslims (the moderate
silent majority!) in the Arab world and South Asia.
Put French resources and interests in the world at
risk.
Put Mr. Macron’s safety in Lebanon a risk.
Put Lebanon at risk, undermining France’s efforts to
support the Lebanese people.
Aligned us with stupidity and terror over freedom of
expression.
Seemed to further align us with this collective
craziness of our times, called political correctness, that the tyrants of our
world know how to instrumentalize.
Lately, Mr. Macron thanked Mr. Legault for his position. He did not thank our Canadian PM. Can you imagine? This tells us something about Mr. Trudeau’s misjudgment.
Bambi hopes that it is not too late to correct his position in his phone chat with Mr. Macron… and hopefully be sincere about it.
Bill 21 came after 10 years of public debate in Québec about reasonable accommodations.
Bill 21 is moderate, compared to other bills in secular countries in
Europe.
Bill 21 is mainly about public servants in positions of authority, including all the following:
“the President and
Vice-Presidents of the National Assembly, administrative justices of the peace,
special clerks, clerks, deputy clerks, sheriffs and deputy sheriffs, clerks and
deputy clerks respecting municipal courts, and bankruptcy registrars, members or
commissioners who exercise their functions within the Comité de déontologie
policière, the Commission d’accès à l’information, the Commission de la
fonction publique, the Commission de protection du territoire agricole du
Québec, the Commission des transports du Québec, the Commission municipale du
Québec, the Commission québécoise des libérations conditionnelles, the Régie de
l’énergie, the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux, the Régie des
marchés agricoles et alimentaires du Québec, the Régie du bâtiment du Québec,
the Régie du logement, the Financial Markets Administrative Tribunal, the
Administrative Tribunal of Québec or the Administrative Labour Tribunal, as
well as disciplinary council chairs who exercise their functions within the
Bureau des présidents des conseils de discipline, commissioners appointed by
the Government under the Act respecting public inquiry commissions, and lawyers
or notaries acting for such a commission, arbitrators appointed by the Minister
of Labour whose name appears on a list drawn up by that minister in accordance
with the Labour Code, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, the
Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions, and persons who exercise the
function of lawyer, notary or criminal and penal prosecuting attorney and who
are under the authority of a government department, the Director of Criminal
and Penal Prosecutions, the National Assembly, a person appointed or designated
by the National Assembly to an office under its authority (or a body referred to
in paragraph 3 of the bill), persons who exercise the function of lawyer and
are employed by a prosecutor (Code of Penal Procedure), unless the prosecutor
are persons acting in criminal or penal matters for such a prosecutor before
the courts or with third persons, lawyers or notaries acting before the courts
or with third persons in accordance with a legal services contract entered into
with a minister, the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions, the National
Assembly, a person appointed or designated by the National Assembly to exercise
a function under its authority (or a body referred to in paragraph 3 of the
bill), or lawyers acting in criminal or penal matters before the courts or with
third persons in accordance with a legal services contract entered into with a
prosecutor, peace officers who exercise their functions mainly in Québec; and
principals, vice principals and teachers of educational institutions under the
jurisdiction of a school board established under the Education Act or of the Commission
scolaire du Littoral established by the Act respecting the Commission scolaire
du Littoral.”
Bill 21 includes a “grandfather” clause, which allows
existing public servants to keep serving.
Bill 21 also has a section on the necessity to have
one’s face uncovered whilst receiving public services for safety concerns.
Here is Mr. Legault explaining this bill (video taken from the Government of Québec website):
Bambi has posted extensively on this bill in the past. When she started thinking about it, she saw the logic behind having police officers and judges representing the state not showing any religious symbol whilst on duty. It took her more time to understand the inclusion of teachers. It surely did not take her much time to respect the will of the majority of the population of Québec (thank you Mr. Legault for the bill).
Why can’t Mr. Trudeau respect Québec? Is it too much to expect from him?
Bambi finds it sad that his government is funding and leading the legal
challenge of this bill.
Wasn’t it enough to impose the Canadian Constitution on Québec in 1982 (by
Mr. Trudeau—his dad)? Québec did not even sign it.
Why are we imposing the multicultural vision of secularism on Québec? Why can’t we accept its own approach to secularism? This would respect its history, culture… thus its spirit!
As for Mr. Legault, to be fully congruent, when will the government stop funding private religious schools in his province? There is a contradiction between public institutions and the reality of private, religious schools in Québec?
Now, concerning all the media in English-Canada and the propaganda machine of the French CBC (Radio-Canada) and English CBC about this topic, it is getting ridiculous.
What is extremely odd for Bambi is to hear young women in Québec featured in those articles telling us that the “hijab” is a symbol of freedom and empowerment. Wow!
Did those young women forget about their peers forced to wear the hijab in their birth countries? By whom? By Islamist forces?
Of course, when you are an adult in a free society, like ours, choosing
to wear whatever you wish, including a hijab and even a burqa, it is one thing.
However, when you are threatened or literally killed if you do not do so, it is
another story.
If you are an adult, chances are you know what you are doing. You are free to wear what you want. However, if you are a child who has not even reached puberty, the hijab is not a symbol of empowerment, but rather of a potential sign of authoritarian parenting or even abuse.
Anyhow, the above thoughts do not apply to Bill 21.
Bill 21 is about the state’s secularism, period.
Below, you can watch a few women expressing their disagreement with this bill. The video is called: “Me and my hijab”. It comes from a 2019 Montreal Gazette article. Of course, these women are free to think what they want… Bambi is also free to still think that the video of Mr. Legault above, explaining bill 21, makes much more sense to her logic than their words, especially when they talk about “prejudice” against them in Québec because of their hijab.
Bambi has lived in Québec for 15 years. This society is one of the most welcoming in the world!
This society also knows how to stand up for its language, culture, and values (of secularism, in this case). For that, Bambi has the utmost respect.
Yes, there will always be some individuals who may feel excluded or think it is unfair. Sorry for them. Luckily, they can work in the private sector. At the end of the day, as needed, a society has all the right to chose to live as it wishes.
This must be respected by all citizens, that is including Mr. Trudeau himself.
Bambi will spare you her long blahblahblah and quickly share the following thoughtful article by Mr. Joseph Facal about Mr. Justin Trudeau, published today in the Journal de Montréal:
Before she does so, she will just allow herself to cite a sarcastic yet brilliant relative who has always said the following: “The only group we are allowed to hate in Canada is French-Canadians“. She always used to reply something like: “Come on, aren’t you exaggerating a little bit here? However, in all honesty and VERY sadly, she is now starting to agree with this statement.
Now, in your own turn, if you think she is exaggerating, just tour the mainstream media titles, no need to read the whole articles of all newspapers. You can spare your time since all the titles are the exact same ones (is this normal, by the way?). Try also to listen to Mr.Trudeau, especially in French and particularly whilst campaigning, or read about the consequences of his politics and you can perhaps see what she is talking about.
Even odd racial (and racist) ideologies of so-called “whiteness” dilute French-Canadians by amalgamating them with English-Canadians, totally ignoring their history, culture, and… genes :).
___
“There was a time when the “social sciences” were serious. Hard to believe, eh?
This was before it became hijacked by ideologists.
At that
time, a key concept in sociology was that of “perverse effects”: it
refers to the negative outcome of what initially seems good intention.
In short,
when you examine a policy or a politician, you have to look at the concrete
consequences and not the beautiful speech.
Dangerous
Take Justin Trudeau, our world champion for anti-racism and tolerance.
In fact, this man fabricates hatred.
I’ll give you three examples.
This week, the Superior Court begins examining the challenge to Bill 21 on secularism.
Look at the list of the 18 parties who are challenging the law.
Along with Ichrak Nourel Hak, the National Council of Canadian Muslims, the World Sikh Organization, a bunch of English-speaking groups, we find … the federal government and its endless resources.
All of these people, supported by Justin Trudeau, oppose a law democratically voted by elected officials in Québec and supported by a strong majority here.
Trudeau passes secularism as a vector of xenophobia, segregation, Islamophobia.
And are we surprised that Québecers are tense?
Trudeau manufactures hatred.
Ottawa just announced its target of 1.2 million immigrants over the next three years.
Next year’s 401,000 immigrants would be a historic record.
If the Legault government let this happen, we would have 91,000 immigrants in Québec next year whilst we are not be able to integrate 50,000.
As René Lévesque wrote in 1970, when a spade was called a spade:
“We created an Immigration Ministry. The other in Ottawa, for whom we are paying, has the right to continue to drown us, it is it who has the power. But we have one in Québec to record the drowning“.
Trudeau often looks foolish, but he works actively, fiercely, conscientiously against French Québec.
And are we surprised that Québecers are tense?
Trudeau manufactures hatred.
Take the latest attacks in France.
Trudeau kneels for eight minutes to mark the death of George Floyd, but
doesn’t even dare to say the word “Islamist”.
He does not dare defend a teacher’s freedom to teach difficult subjects.
He shoots Muslims who refuse to be silent and who, risking their lives,
denounce the harm that Allah’s madmen do to their community, in the back.
As Maka Kotto wrote, “Islamists know who to vote for in Canada”.
Stupidity
See his justification for the limits on free speech that one does not shout “Fire!” in a cinema… as if this cry were an opinion.
I understand how tempting it is to laugh at a man who says such stupid things.
But we must, as I said at the very beginning, look at the concrete consequences of his positions.
When a country is ruled by an irresponsible blaster, how can we be surprised that so many Québecers are tense up?
Yes, this man, who calls himself for virtue, is a maker of hatred”.
Well said, Mr. Macron (in German and French) and Mr. Blanchet!
Are Islamists reading? Will they listen?
Mr. Trudeau, how does your example of screaming fire fire in a movie theatre apply here? Do you see now that it was irrelevant?
Of course, as a sensitive human being and a devoted dad, you do not like to see innocent people suffering.
So, please name the elephant in the big room of Europe and be firm with Islamists.
Islamists do not understand the language of kindness. They perceive it as weakness. Please be courageous and unite with Mr. Macron in his fight for our security and freedom.
Below, you can read that Mr. Legault said the following today:
“We cannot accuse people who have made cartoons of justifying violence in this way. I really totally disagree with Mr. Trudeau, we have to protect freedom of expression”.
Here is a quick reaction by journalist and sociologist, Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté:
Mr. Blanchet is preparing a press conference, but already the English CBC is writing against him, letting us think that he is digging a valley “between Quebéc and Canada’s values“, so to speak:
This so-called “wedge” (to use the CBC own word) it is Mr. Trudeau (sadly supported by Mr. Singh) who is responsible for it. Instead of defending freedom of expression, he seems to be telling us that his cherished “diversity” will limit our freedom of expression. Shame on you Mr. Trudeau. Bambi is saying this and she is part of this so-called diversity in Canada. She is of Lebanese origins. Thus, Arab too. She is the closest you can get to a Muslim (she even has Muslim relatives). Yet, she thinks you are totally wrong. Please re-consider and re-choose our values, Mr. Trudeau!
To conclude this post, thank Goodness there is still common sense (and courage) in our so-called free, democratic world.
Bambi is sad. She just learned from her own sister’s tweet (journalist Roula Douglas) about the death of this 74-year-old veteran journalist for whom she has the utmost respect and a sort of attachment to. She will try to explain why in the following paragraphs.
Bambi will always remember this sad date of November 1st in the future, as it coincides with a happy day for her (celebrating the birthdays of loved ones!).
Mr. Robert Fisk has covered the Lebanese civil war since its start in 1975 until its end in 1990. If everyone knew the Middle East well, it was him!
The Lebanese civil war was ugly and devastating. Mr. Fisk could have lost his life there (or elsewhere in hot places, including Ireland if Bambi is not mistaken as well as the Middle East). He survived wars and wrote many articles and books.
Thank you for telling the tragic stories of the people of Lebanon and of the Middle East. Thanks for having loved Lebanon and Beirut the way you did. Beirut also loved you back!
Mr. Fisk earned many major British awards. Well deserved!
In addition to the Lebanese war, he covered the Iranian revolution, the Iran-Iraq war, and the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviets.
Bambi read his famous Pity the Nation, Lebanon at war (short-listed for the NCR Book Award) in 1990 at the time she immigrated to Canada, three months before the end of war. She is holding it now in her hands whilst writing this post… Thank you Mr. Fisk for such an elegantly written AND moving book!!
With your death, it is as if a whole book (not just a chapter) of Bambi’s life symbolically died with you (she was less than 3 years old when war started. She was 17 when it ended; you lived in her birth capital throughout its craziest times… mind you, the current times are also ugly).
May you rest in peace, Mr. (and Dr.!) Fisk. May you memory be eternal.
May your legacy inspires newer generations of journalists, the real ones (not the so-called journalists without rigour, respect of facts/truth, and depth…).
These Torontonians are urging Canada to boycott France for defending freedom of expression. Is there anything more pathetic than that? Oups, surely, there is Mr. Justin Trudeau and SADLY the still silent Left in English-Canada.
Are those Syrians demonstrating in Windsor to boycott France and against freedom of expression in France so used to freedom in their birth country that they want to replicate it in their host country?
Or do some of them adhere to Islamism (that has hijacked
the Muslim religion)?
What about those demonstrators in Toronto, yesterday?
Of course, let’s be clear here, Bambi thinks that even Islamists have a place in a society and deserve to express their opinions.
The problem with Islamists (like other radicals) becomes problematic when their number increases AND perhaps also when their new country is not mindful of the risk of their toxic vision of the world.
As Mr. Macron explained yesterday, some Islamists in France are preaching that men are not equal to women, young girls not equal to young boys, and that France is not good, encouraging to detach themselves from it.
Bravo for Mr. Macron for finally doing something (policy) to address this increasingly problematic issue in France.
There is no place for chopping heads in democracies.
There is no place for Sharia law (or any other law, religious or not) besides the laws of a secular country.
There is no place for a minority wanting to impose its
own values on the majority.
Freedom of expression protects us all, including Muslims who are the first victims of Islamism (up to 80% of Islamic terrorism).
So, please stop the intimidation on France and stop being
ridiculous in Canada.
If Bambi is wrong about the above, is the Imam below Islamist? Listen to him in both English and Arabic, preaching from Victoria, BC. Check his words about Mr. Samuel Paty (teacher beheaded in France for having discussed freedom of expression in his course and whilst doing so showing the cartoons of Charlie Hebdo). Thank you Rebel News for this article/video that we would have never found in the mainstream media:
For those who do not know it, Charlie Hebdo is a satirical newspaper. It makes fun of all political leaders (including Mr. Macron) and all religions (especially Catholicism and including Judaism, Islam, etc.).
As explained by Mr. Macron in his interview to El Jazeera (Bambi’s earlier post), the French government does not fund newspapers [contrary to Canada where our newspapers are now propaganda machines— just as an example, read all the titles and articles about Mr. Trump and you get the idea; of course, much easier and safer than writing about our own national incompetence].
The French government will not tell newspapers what to
publish.
The French government is secular.
French people are free to practice any religion or to be observant or not.
Sadly, radical Islamists do not accept the French values and are intimidating the country by using methods as radical as chopping heads of innocent people.
Manipulated by external political freaks of the world
(e.g., the Neo-Sultan of Turkey), some Muslims of the whole world, including us
in Canada, are asking to boycott France and French products over those
cartoons.
The last time Bambi checked the map, France was still in Europe (= the Western world). So, to all those are imposing their own vision of Islam on France, hands off! Leave innocent people and respect the French values. Thank you France for defending freedom of expression.
Whether France realizes it or not, it is doing it for
all of us. It is also paying a price for all of us.
According to Bambi’s non-expert citizen opinion, the
tragedy is not the criminality of Islamists who committed the barbaric acts.
The tragedy is the silence of our PM and with him a whole left that has become hijacked by dogmatism and collective stupidity.
This is the tragedy, not just of France engaged in a
tough combat.
The tragedy is the direction and relative speed of the Canadian boat whilst sinking.
Unless Mr. Trudeau et al. wake up and see that danger,
we will all sink together.
Bambi does not know if it has been translated into English or could be found sub-titled.
She will share with you some translated quotes from the last part of the interview (of course, they were said as responses to questions. So, one must keep the context in mind).
Mr. Macron is a lucid, wise, direct, and articulate
politician.
It is refreshing to watch a smart interview, thank you!
In English first:
“France’s
message: It is not in the name of your religion that you can leave your
citizenship AND It is not in the name of your citizenship that you can fight a
religion.
Building the
same representation of the world together.
This is why I
am really saying it with a lot of humility and friendship in the true sense of
the term for all Muslims: Make no mistake about what freedom of speech is. Freedom
of speech is by no means something that is done to target or hurt you.
But help me defend freedom of expression because it is this freedom … it is only with this condition that we can live with each other. Otherwise it would be against each other.
What feeds fear is incomprehension.
What breeds hatred is ignorance.
And the tyrants of this world keep it going.
The most effective weapon against these tyrants, these extremists in the long term is knowledge, it is understanding, it is knowledge of the face of the other in all its aspects, in all its traits, it is this capacity to look at the face of the other with in what it is different from mine, it is all these civilizations with each other, men with women …
Create research chairs on Muslim civilization, on French civilizations, etc., allow academic controversies [Bambi will add here: what a contrast with our Canadian approach of censorship!].
A difficult fight to lead, difficult in the weeks to come because today some men and some women have decided the worst in this fight against ignorance, which is a fight of hate. I need all women and all men, whatever their religion.”
In the original French now:
«Le message
que porte la France: Ce n’est pas au nom de ta religion que tu peux sortir de
ta citoyenneté ET ce n’est pas au nom de ta citoyenneté que tu peux combattre
une religion.
Bâtir la même
représentation du monde ensemble.
C’est pour cela que je le dis vraiment avec beaucoup d’humilité et d’amitié, au sens propre du terme, pour tous les musulmans:
Ne vous méprenez
pas sur ce qu’est la liberté d’expression.
La liberté
d’expression ce n’est en aucun cas quelque chose qui est fait pour vous
atteindre ou blesser.
Mais aidez-moi
à défendre la liberté d’expression parce que c’est cette liberté… ce n’est
qu’avec cette condition qu’on peut vivre les uns avec les autres. Sinon, cela
serait les uns contre les autres.
Ce qui
nourrit la peur, c’est l’incompréhension.
Ce qui
nourrit la haine, c’est l’ignorance.
Et les tyrans
de ce monde entretiennent cela.
L’arme la
plus efficace contre ces tyrans, contre ces extrémistes, dans la durée c’est la
connaissance, c’est la compréhension, c’est la connaissance du visage de
l’autre dans tous ces aspects, tous ces traits, c’est cette capacite de
regarder le visage de l’autre avec dans ce qui l’a de différent avec le mien, c’est
toutes ces civilisations les unes avec les autres, les hommes avec les femmes…
Créer des chaires de recherche sur les civilisations musulmane, française, etc., permettre les controverses académiques [Bambi will add here : what a contrast with our Canadian approach of censorship!].
Combat ardu à mener, difficile dans les semaines à venir parce qu’aujourd’hui certains et certaines ont décidé du pire dans ce combat contre l’ignorance qui est un combat de haine; j’aurais besoin de toutes les femmes et tous les hommes, quelque soit leur religion».
