Some dates are unforgettable, June 17, is one of them!

Like today but 31 years ago, in 1990, Bambi and her family arrived to Canada. First, they all arrived to the welcoming Québec. Then, she moved to the fascinating Ontario. From there, she arrived to her beautiful New Brunswick. See, all Canada is beautiful :)!

Every June 17 and every July 1st, Bambi thinks of her parents. She thanks them for having brought their family to Canada’s safety and welcoming arms.

Of course, the day before, June 16, she thinks of the start of her family’s long trip: Leaving Lebanon and all their loved ones behind where they escaped perhaps the ugliest round of the civil war (i.e., street war in addition to the usual shelling…). One song comes to her mind on that day. Of course, it is: “J’ai quitté mon pays” (“I left my homeland“). Some of Bambi’s childhood friends recall having listened to this song while their boat was taking them away from Lebanon’s shores toward the island of Cyprus (and from there to France). This must have been a very moving moment.

Well, to come back to June 17, the song that comes to Bambi’s mind to highlight this beautiful day is again by Mr. Enrico Macias. It is entitled: “Les gens du Nord” [“People of the North“] on how one’s host country (in his case, France; In Bambi’s, it is Canada) is welcoming to those who have suffered in other places of the world.

Time really flies in life. Already over three decades of discovery and enrichment in Canada . In addition, Bambi remains under the charm of our winter :)!

To conclude this post on both a musical and a funny note, here are the two songs mentioned above (the first sub-titled in English. The lyrics of the second are shared below). Following these songs, Bambi will share an older post featuring Mr. Gad El Maleh in his first one-man show, which was about Mirabel airport (closed now). It is there where the KLM airplane, transporting Bambi and her family from Amsterdam (as well as her new friend Carla and her family :)), landed on June 17, 1990. It is not surprising then that Mr. El Maleh’s jokes remain particularly meaningful to Bambi.

Anyhow, many thanks to Mr. Macias as well as Mr. El Maleh, for their inspiring talent… and thank you Canada!

The people of the North

Have in their eyes the blue that is missing in their decor

The people of the North

Have in the heart the sun that they do not have outside

The people of the North

Always open their doors to those who have suffered

The people of the North

Don’t forget they’ve been through hell

If their houses are lined up

It is for the sake of equality

And the peniches

Poor or rich

Bear the fruit of their efforts

The people of the North

Bend your back when the wind blows too hard

The people of the North

Get up early because it depends on their fate

At the horizon of their campaign

It is the coal that makes mountains

The streets of the cities

Sleep well

Rain falling on the fields

The accordion makes them dance

And then the beer blackmails them

And when the party

Turn your head

We see two of them getting married

The people of the North

Have in their eyes the blue that is missing in their decor

The people of the North

Have in the heart the sun that they do not have outside

(English lyrics taken from: https://lyricsaround.com/en/enrico_macias/les_gens_du_nord/).

Bambi is grateful: Thank you for the overwhelming support!

Bambi would like to dedicate this post to each one of you wherever you are, whomever you are. She is grateful for every gesture of support and kindness…

She remains too busy, sending personalized thank you notes to everyone through all the platforms where you kindly reached out to her (Go Fund Me website, by email, by mail, on this blog, on her new professional website, and through text messages). Clearly, no word, in any language, can express her gratitude for your humanity and generosity. Thank you for standing up for free thinking and academic freedom/free expression in Canada!

THANK YOU/MERCI!

Your support is an honour for Bambi!

Once again, Bambi would like to thank Dr. Jordan Peterson, from the bottom of her heart, for having invited her to an interview on his amazing platform (shown in the earlier post further below and in the “About” section of this blog). She wants to extend her thanks to all of you who listened to this interview, from Canada or literally from around the world. Many have recently kindly supported her after watching this interview. Merci/Thanks for your time and kindness.

By the way, as announced in the last “thank you” post shown below, please stay tuned for a video-message (by Rima Azar) in English, French, and Arabic… It is on the way.

Until then, and to conclude this post on a musical note, here are two YouTube videos shamelessly “stolen” by Bambi :):

The first one has a timely message that could have been prepared especially for you; Thank you “tiger5188” for publicly sharing it.

The second video is a children’s French song entitled “Merci“; Thanks to Jo Akepsimas for posting it. Bambi hopes you like Babar, the elephant, as much as she does :).

Earlier similar posts!

A society is democratic inasmuch as it respects and protects its minorities, but what about the respect of minorities for the (often silent) majority?

Bambi thanks her friend Fred for his comment about yesterday’s post (as shown further below). His comment, which inspired the current post, reads like this: “Maybe the crowd simply does not believe in the sincerity of Charette, especially given the passing of Bills 21 and 96 by his government”.

For those who are not familiar with Québec. Mr. Charette is the Minister responsible to fight racism, among other files. He has been booed for six minutes during his whole speech by a crowd turning its back to him at times, applauding to prevent him from speaking, and insulting him in English… at an event meant to be commemorate the horrible crime (of hate and terror) of the Afzaals on the streets of London, Ontario. Why? To cite Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté once again, most likely because “the crowd seems to believe that there is a link between the attack in Ontario, Bill 21, and the refusal of the Government of Québec to submit to the theory of systemic racism” (https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/06/15/lintegration-au-quebec-est-un-echec).

Bill 21 is about Québec state secularism (no religious symbols for public servants whilst in position of authority, that is, representing the government, NOT all public servants. No one will lose his/her current job because of this bill, thank Goodness).

Bill 96 is about the protection of the French language in Québec (it came after 44 years following Bill 101). Bambi is not an expert of linguistics. However, she read an interesting interview of Dr. Bock-Côté with Dr. Guillaume Rousseau, a Professor of Law, who believes Bill 96 to be insufficient although necessary and a step in the right direction (https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/06/12/le-projet-de-loi-96-est-insuffisant-mais-necessaire-et-va-dans-la-bonne-direction–entretien-avec-guillaume-rousseau).

As for Bill 21, Bambi easily saw its merit at first for all the positions of public servants in position of authority, except teachers. She took the time to think about the latter and saw the whole logic. She especially saw the strong, and at times nasty, reaction of the rest of Canada toward this bill. Who knows? Perhaps this has influenced her acceptance of the whole bill? Indeed, many of her posts are supportive of Bill 21, which is made by Québec, in Québec, and… for Québec. It is a bill that respects Québec’s history, culture, and a (10-year) public debate on reasonable accommodation. As a reminder, even the Liberal Party of Québec endorsed it.

Mind you, not all her relatives in Montreal agree with this bill. Most do, but not all. However, whether with or against it, they all RESPECT Québec’s democracy, in addition to being grateful as well as in love with their province.

Why do we easily accept to live under truly restrictive laws of other countries when we are working abroad (e.g. in Saudi Arabia or other countries of the world), but not with moderate bills in Québec? Does that make any sense?

Immigrants and newcomers usually take an active role in their adaptation to their new country. It is called give and take. Yes, your host community/society has to learn to know you and to accept you. However, you also must have the wisdom to know how to change your mindset, as needed, to fit into your new society; the one you chose to come to, precisely because of its beautiful values. Adjustment to a new country is not an easy process, perhaps harder nowadays than ever. Of course, there are also homesick feelings or nostalgia to one’s birth country. Plus, it takes time to adjust and integrate to a new place.

In Bambi’s mind, a society is truly democratic if it is welcoming (or accepting) to all its citizens. Stated differently, a society has the duty to respect, protect, and even honour (all) its minorities. However, minorities (perhaps especially radical voices within any minority) have the duty to listen to and respect the silent majority. Bambi is not talking about Bill 21 only. She is talking about other forms of apparent secular ideologies, like the wokeism movement, or like any other movement. Enough of disrespect for the silent majority, please.

Indeed, we are increasingly observing the entitlement of some voices. Some of which impose their views on others. Some of which shamelessly resort to censorship, or other means of intimidation, of this or that citizen. They do so because they are unable to simply hear voices telling them “what they do not want to hear” (Hello Mr. George Orwell!). Is this how democracies work in life?

To come back to your comment Fred, how can bills democratically voted for in the National Assembly of Québec be correlated, even mildly, with a horrible hate crime in Ontario?

It is not Ontario, and surely not Québec’s, fault if one citizen behaved in this violently barbaric manner.

Should we stop and reflect on possible factors related to this tragedy. Of course, we must do so. However, there is a difference between explaining and exploiting a human tragedy.

Furthermore, despite any noble intention, it is irresponsible for our political leaders to attribute violence in Ontario to a bill in Québec.  Could they please refrain from doing so?

To come back to the incident in Montreal, sadly, the crowd forgot that this event was meant as a vigil to pay tribute to the innocent victims; This was not a political/ideological (or impolite) platform. There is a time for grief and a time for grievance.

Even Minister Charette kindly reminded the crowd of the reason of their gathering (a vigil to commemorate the victims). Some would say that he may have not been assertive enough in his reaction. The latter is understandable as it must be intimidating to stand up in front of such crowd for six long minutes whilst you are speaking one language (French and common sense) and they are speaking another one (English and anger).

To conclude this post, East is East and West is West, we get it, but why can’t both meet… at least during the time of silence in a vigil?

Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté is right: An innocent family is massacred in Ontario, but a crowd is booing a Minister in Québec… and in English. How can that make any sense?

Bambi just listened to an interesting interview by Mr. Richard Martineau with Dr. Bock Côté on QUB Radio:

https://www.qub.radio/balado/richard-martineau/episode/pourriez-vous-nous-m-priser-en-fran-ais-s-il-vous

It was about how a Québec Minister, the honourable Mr. Benoît Charette, was booed at a Montreal vigil for the Afzaals (the London, Ontario, victims). Mr. Charette is the Minister of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change,  the Minister Responsible for the Fight Against Racism, and the Minister Responsible for the Laval Region (http://www.assnat.qc.ca/en/deputes/charette-benoit-195/biographie.html). At the end of this post, if you wish, you can watch a video of this sad incident that took place in Montreal on June 12, 2021.

Of note, Mr. Charette seems like a reasonable, competent politician whose own spouse happens to be of Haitian origins, by the way. Bambi listened to him once in an interview from which she learned the latter detail about his family. In the same interview, this politician explained the position of his government that there is no “systemic” racism in the province of Québec. It is precisely this point that seems to perhaps upset this crowd, as per Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté.

As for the demonstrators, Bambi is always fascinated by how they seem to be available to take the streets of Montreal at any time, as needed, almost always using English signs (Dr. Bock-Côté is right to point to this), whether the theme of the demonstration is BLM, anti-Asian racism, or Islamophobia, etc.  

Like both Martineau and Bock-Côté, Bambi is both fascinated and shocked by the level of contempt of this crowd, which does not have the decency of booing this Minister in the official language of his (or their?) province.

Who knows? Perhaps these demonstrators are not from Québec? Perhaps they live in Montreal, but they keep “forgetting” that their island belongs to the province of Québec ?? Could it be? Mind you, here we can perhaps draw an analogy with the Mayor of Montreal, Ms. Valérie Plante. As a reminder, the latter made her inaugural speech in English, not in French, which is her mother tongue.

Anyhow once again, to conclude this post, Bambi cannot help but to agree with both M. Martineau and his guest: this story appears like a form of “neo-colonialism” against the historic French-Canadian population of Québec. For Bambi, this also seems like a form of unacceptable “group racism” that sadly seems to be tacitly endorsed in our contemporary society.

Does this incident in Montreal also indicate a failure of integration of immigrants to use Dr. Bock-Côté’s own words? Maybe. Anyhow, the powerful key moments of this interview is his following reflection: “Québec bashing made in Québec”… “Can you please insult us in our language”?

Food for thought all this, thank you Dr. Bock-Côté.

Thanks to Mr. Erick Tremblay-Dionne for sharing this video publicly

How will tiny bankrupt yet resilient Lebanon survive the loss of 90% of its currency’s value since late 2019?

From a Reuters article (https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/lebanon-currency-drops-new-low-financial-meltdown-deepens-2021-06-13/) we learn that “Lebanon’s currency crashed past a milestone on Sunday reaching a new low against the dollar, as the country’s financial meltdown and political deadlock linger”.

In addition, we read the following: “market dealers said the Lebanese pound was trading at around 15,150 to the dollar, losing around 90% of what it was worth in late 2019”.

Given all this, it is not surprising that some Lebanese hospitals are now “ruling out elective procedures and only performing emergency surgeries to ration what is left of medical supplies”.

Moreover, the majority of pharmacies closed their doors to stage a two-day-strike because medications run out. Indeed, Bambi’s parents have been recently visiting up to 10 different pharmacies in Beirut in order to find their badly needed medication.

Even gas is running out. Sadly, Lebanon lacks a fully functional transportation system. Luckily, some citizens are increasingly relying on a “Vespa” or their bike to get to work. Of note, both citizens and their hospitals need gas to keep their generators turned on because the government’s power is available only for a few hours per day (and this is not a new story!).

According to Reuters, “hours long car queues for gasoline have frustrated motorists causing squabbles”. Sure the latter is frustrating, but for Bambi, perhaps the most disturbing part of this article is the the endless irresponsibility of the Lebanese political “leaders”: “The financial collapse is taking place against a backdrop of fractious politicians bickering over cabinet formation”!

To conclude, Bambi is lacking words to end this post. What can she say more about this ongoing Lebanese tragedy, ranked among the world’s three worst since 1850s (https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/world-bank-lebanons-crisis-worlds-worst-1850s-78013372)? If you do not mind, she would like end this post, devoted to her birth country, with a famous song by Fairuz, which is entitled “I love you Lebanon” (sub-titled in English)…

Despite his (and our) sorrow, why is the PM of Pakistan interfering with Québec’s affairs? And why is he, again, asking Western countries to ban “hate website”?

Today is a VERY sad day in Canada…

May the Afzaals rest in peace.

May God support their surviving boy as well as all their loved ones.

Bambi already sent her heartfelt condolences to her fellow Canadians and to the people of Pakistan, especially to the relatives and friends of the Afzaals (in an earlier post shared again below). Today, if she may, she would like to begin by extending her condolences to Mr. Imran Khan, the Pakistani PM.

This being said, Bambi does not understand why he seems to be interfering with our own freedom of expression in Canada and earlier in Western countries at large? Why does he seem to be encouraging online censorship in our own country, as per the CBC and France24?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/imran-khan-rbl-interview-1.6062850

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210612-canada-paying-final-homage-to-family-killed-in-truck-attack

Of course, Bambi has the utmost respect for his grief (including any feeling of sadness or anger). However, had the Afzaals been of Lebanese origins, not a single politician (even of the corrupt ones, including powerful, Islamist-leaning ones) would have expressed such demand. So why does Mr. Khan feel entitled to do so (again)?

Furthermore, despite their obsession with religion and their sectarianism-based corruption, Lebanese politicians would have never ever allowed themselves to criticize Québec’s Bill 21. This is a bill made by Québec for Québec. It may not be ideal in all its parts but it has been democratically voted by lawmakers while being endorsed by the vast majority of the population, including MANY of those of Muslim faith.

This being said, a message to the CBC now, please do your homework about Bill 21 before further reporting about it. This bill does NOT “ban public servants, including teachers and police officers, from wearing religious symbols at work“.

And no, Mr. Khan, this is bill is NOT a form of “secular extremismthat “leads to intolerance against Muslims“. This bill is known to be moderate, compared to similar bills in Europe.

If it could perhaps help to clarify this bill using the Government of Québec’s own language, below is a text copied pasted from one of Bambi’s earlier posts on Bill 21, which she respects for the simple following reason: It is the choice of Québec, whether she fully agreed with it at first or not:

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.”

Of course, this bill is not in the spirit of Canada’s multiculturalism. Mind you, it is not in the spirit of the (religiously diverse) Lebanon neither. However, it is in the spirit of countries like France and Switzerland (at least in the canton of Geneva) and Québec, as a distinct society (or nation). Why can’t we accept this once and for all? Is it that hard to remember?

Bambi agrees that the idea of such bill may not appear ideal, even it is a logical result of a 10-year public debate. Perhaps the world would have appeared nicer or fair to all without resorting to this bill. However, sometimes in life or history rather, there is a time for such legal measures to protect/ensure the survival of one’s civilization (like bill 101or 96 on the French language, etc.). For those who forget it, Québec is a minority in North America.

One must also keep in mind that Québec did a symbolic gesture by removing the cross from its National Assembly (putting it in a nearby museum, if Bambi understood well). This cross likely did not have any religious meaning to lawmakers. However, it represents a deep cultural heritage meaning (Judeo-Christian tradition); Québeckers know how to be proud of their heritage.

To be fully non-politically correct about this topic, between Bill 21 and Islamism (as a political movement within the beautiful Muslim religion), Bambi clearly prefers the former despite her respect for the latter. She is saying so as a human being and especially as a woman. In her mind, she is clearly for the separation of the church (i.e. all religions; any religion) and the state. She is writing so despite her respect for all the religions of the world as well as for those who chose not to believe in any religion.

To conclude this post, you may or may not agree with neither Québeckers nor Bambi on this topic. However, from Mr. Khan to Mr. Trudeau, from Mr. Blanchet (Bloc Québécois in Ottawa) to Mr. Legault (PM of Québec) as well as to you and Bambi, we are ALL mourning today (together) :(. Most importantly, we all agree that violence is NOT acceptable, regardless of its source and regardless of its victim!

Not only for the Afzaals, but also to each one of you/us saddened by this human tragedy…

The oud’s beautiful sound

The sound of the oud (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oud) moves Bambi’s heart every time she listens to it. It evokes beautiful memories from the past and instantly transports her back in time. She remembers her trips to Lebanon and her precious times with loved ones.

One of those memories may seem odd to you… with a reason :). It happened 29 years ago like this time of the year. It was Bambi’s first trip back from Montreal home after civil war (which officially ended in October, 1990, that is four months after her immigration to Canada). Bambi’s dad had to have an urgent gallbladder surgery. Sadly, this health crisis occurred the night before a concert he was eager to take his daughter to. Bambi’s dad asked for the permission of the hospital authority to leave, for the night, to attend the concert and return by midnight to be ready for his morning surgery. Well, believe it or not, his surgeon and the hospital allowed him to do so (as a favour for the Canadian tourist :); only in Lebanon such odd events can happen). They went to listen to Mr. Marcel Khalife’s concert in Byblos and it was magical; Of course since he is one of the most talented singers and oud players not just in Lebanon, but in the entire world.

Luckily, the surgery of Bambi’s dad went well. Two months later, he returned with her to Canada to spend time with the rest of his family in Montreal. As the world can be really small, they bumped into Mr. Marcel Khalife and his musicians on the same airplane flying them from Paris to Montreal. He was on his way for a tour in Canada and the USA. Bambi could not help not to share the hospital’s story with them while greeting them :).

Anyhow, this post is meant to honour the oud that Bambi listened to on her favourite radio today.

First, let’s start with this Reuters short yet moving video featuring a Lebanese artisan oud maker. Bambi was moved to hear him talking about his relationship with the oud, on which he expresses all his emotions (from joy to grief, from love to despair, etc.). Of note, he remembers to which artist each of his creations went!

Second, meet Mr. Charbel Rohanna. He is another highly talented Lebanese oud player! He actually played music with Mr. Khalife at the concert mentioned above :). The music is a traditional Lebanese song of Fairuz entitled “Al bint el Shalabieh“. Bambi has meant to learn to play this song on the guitar since last summer/fall, but so many events occurred in her life that she had not yet had the time to complete her project. She would like to take the time to acknowledge and thank the online talented guitar teacher, Dr. Antiff, who happens to be from Beirut. See below :).

Thank you Dr. Antiff! Because of your inspiration and great lessons, Bambi was able to remember how to play the guitar after so many years! Yes, from her early teenage years in Beirut where she was blessed to have two teachers over a period of four years. The first teacher used to come to her family apartment. The second one, her mom used to drive her and wait for her in the car, literally under the shelling, the sound of which mixed with the music. Bambi would be practising with her heart half in the lesson and half under the balcony of her teacher, that is with her mom on the street. The latter was near the green line (sadly dividing Beirut in two halves).

Third, while preparing this post, Bambi discovered this incredible talent from Québec, Canada. His name is Mr. Benoit Martin. He plays the oud, as you can see further below.

To conclude this post, Bambi would like to end with a friendly wink to her childhood friend, also called Charbel, a guitar player who is now learning the oud. He is talented in both science and music, in addition to his devotion to his family and loyalty to his values of humanity. If he ever reads this post, he will smile now :).

Why is a high profile Federal Minister, Mr. Omar Alghabra, interfering with Québec’s politics, wrongly/shamelessy calling Bill 21 “a state-sanctioned discrimination”?

First, who is Mr. Alghabra, our Federal Minister of Transportation, who seems to enjoy “Québec bashing” like his boss and like many of the journalists from the rest of Canada:

https://pm.gc.ca/en/cabinet/honourable-omar-alghabra

Bambi has a post on him, see further below. In that post, Bambi found an old Arabic news article in which he used the following words during an interview:

“Unfortunately, the Islamic majority remained silent during the debate about this bill [on the implementation of Sharia law], leaving the room wide open for the minority opposing it, which was more vocal, and thus managed to make this bill fail. This was not meant to be against Muslims, but it is us who were divided and did not how to speak in one voice“.

Bill 21 is precisely about Québec state’s secularism.

Although Mr. Alghabra seems competent and likeable, how can we trust his judgement about Bill 21 when he has expressed support for Islamism (political Islam) in Ontario in the past?

As you can hear toward the end of this interview (i.e. 6:28 minute into it) or read in the title of the CBC article, Mr. Alghabra called Québec’s Bill 21 “state-sanctioned discrimination”. Does this Minister realize the impact of his serious words?

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1906706499508

Why is he shamelessly interfering in Québec’s politics, like our PM and like many of our Canadian columnists?

Enough is enough. It is time to learn to respect Québec now!

Bravo Mr. Blanchet for pointing to Mr. Trudeau’s “imbecility” about Bill 21!

Bill 21, which is about the state secularism, was voted in the Québec National Assembly. Of note, it was also endorsed by the Liberal Party of Québec, not just by the CAQ in power.

Despite the above, Mr. Trudeau equated a terror attack that eliminated an innocent family with a bill that is democratically voted. Does that make any sense?

Mr. Trudeau is supposed to defend our Canadian values of democracy. It is Mr. Blanchet who is doing it, not him.

Mr. Trudeau is supposed to unite Canadians in times of tragedies. Ironically, it was Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté who had the wisdom of doing so today on TV (you may see Bambi’s earlier post at the end of this one).

As a reminder, Dr. Bock-Côté is supposed to be the one aspiring for the sovereignty of Québec. Yet, he had words of compassion and love (yes love) for Canada/the Canadians today.

Does it make sense to blame Québec for a tragedy that took place in a different province?

Mr. Trudeau may have resorted to imbecility today without wanting to be mean. Yet, his words insulted the whole Québec.

Anyhow, Mr. Blanchet began by inviting him to explain his position and to withdraw his remarks.

Well, Mr. Trudeau did not answer the question.

Instead, he preferred to talk about Muslims who are affected by the sad attack of the mosque in Québec, several years ago, and their fear of going out in the streets of Canada with their hijab today, etc.

Mr. Blanchet, usually a calm politician, got upset and told him the following: “Maybe there is no limit in the incapacity or to the lack of will to answer a question in parliament. However, in real life, there is a limit to such attitude. Québeckers are not less supportive of the people of London than the PM. Nevertheless, he created a link between Islamophobia, intolerance, and a bill voted in the National Assembly of Québec, which is largely supported in Québec. Will he repeat this imbecility or will he apologize?”

Below you can watch the interesting interaction between Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Blanchet. Before concluding this post, Bambi would like to thank Mr. Blanchet. She will add: Sorry Mr. Trudeau, but today you disappointed her. Indeed, as our PM, your words can be powerful, encouraging some, if not many, of your fellow citizens to continue with their ignorance of or excessive judgement of Québec.

This being said, may the Afzaals rest in peace. Much love to their surviving son, to their loved ones, to the people of London Ontario, and to all of us in Canada!

To conclude this post now, may common sense prevail in the minds of our leaders… and in the rest of the population.

The equating of the Afzaals tragedy & Québec’s Bill 21: Why is it that our PM is unwise to the point of irresponsibility, despite his apparent good intentions?

In this thoughtful LCN show called La Joute, shown at the end of this post, precisely between the 0:26 to 1.17 minutes, we can hear Mr. Trudeau replying to a journalist about Bill 21 in a press conference meant to be about the horrific crime or terror act in London, Ontario (French content).

He basically said that a reflection about Bill 21 will have to occur after this tragedy and that the habit of wearing a mask during the Covid-19 pandemic might be perhaps changing Quebeckers’ views because for a year they have been getting governmental services whilst wearing masks and because of a real rise in intolerance. He was likely referring here to the section of Bill 21 “on the necessity to have one’s face uncovered whilst receiving public services for safety concerns” (Bambi has several posts on this bill; as shown below).

Luckily, immediately after our PM, we can hear Québec’s Prime Minister, Mr. François Legault reminding Mr. Trudeau to take notice of the will of the Québeckers with regard to their bill.

Well, we may like or dislike Bill 21, but Bambi cannot help not to wonder the following:

First, doesn’t Mr. Trudeau know the difference between a medical mask and a nikab ??

Second, doesn’t he realize that his words may seem irresponsible, which is apparently the opposite of his well-meaning intention about tolerance and fraternity in Canada?

Third, why can’t the journalists, in the press conference, understand that Bill 21 is made by Québec and is meant for Québec? It is the will of the majority of the population of this province, whether they like this bill or not.

Fourth and last, when will we understand hat there are cultural differences in life in this approach to secularism. This bill may not be ideal, but it is very mild compared to other similar laws in Europe. It came after ten years of a public debate on reasonable accommodations in la Belle Province.

To conclude, in this video, we can see that Mr. Thomas Mulcair (former leader of the NPD) is not a fan of this bill, specifically the section mentioned above. However, he also questioned Mr. Trudeau’s words today, like the other two guests.

Of note, it was refreshing for Bambi to hear the final words by Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté. He reminded us that “the Afzaals’ tragedy in London, Ontario is not just the tragedy of their (Muslim) community there. It is OUR tragedy to all of us in Canada, whether Canadians are Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Catholic, Protestant, etc. All the Canadians. All the Québeckers. Not just the Muslim community. It is frightening to all our fellow citizens, regardless of their religion and this is something that must be remembered. It is not the pain of one community only. It is the pain of the whole country”.

Thank you, Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté, for your wisdom!

To the Alfzaals…

Earlier post of Bambi on the London, Ontario tragedy:

Some of the earlier posts of Bambi on Bill 21: