Tag Archives: François Legault

Chronicling Covid-19 (14): The Mask

15 Friday May 2020

Posted by in Canada, Covid-19, Pandemic, Uncategorized

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William_Blake_-_Sconfitta_-_Frontispiece_to_The_Song_of_Los

The archetype of the Creator is a familiar image in Blake’s work. Here, the demiurgic figure Urizen prays before the world he has forged. The Song of Los is the third in a series of illuminated books painted by Blake and his wife, collectively known as the Continental Prophecies. (Photo and caption credit: Wikipedia)

Covid-19

As Quebec was starting to reopen, Premier, le Premier Ministre, François Legault urged the population of Quebec to wear face masks. His audience was not entirely patient with him. Was this a change of policy?

Let’s see. Two months ago, after the Government of Quebec announced a lockdown. I saw residents of my building huddling by the mailboxes, less than two feet apart. As I was rushing down the hallway to safety, I walked past a woman who was saying that she didn’t believe in this virus. To my knowledge, take-out restaurants, such as McDonalds, were locked down, but I knew about the remains of a chicken that were thrown down the garbage chute, naked. As you know, my neighbours are mostly perfect, but these particular neighbours are not. The remains of a chicken should had been put in a bag and then dropped into one of the composting bins.

After two months of isolation, one may be confused. So, I phoned the authorities in order to ask if a policy was in place regarding the delivery of food to persons living in a condominium or an apartment building. I explained that sons and daughters, holding bags filled with groceries and other supplies, were ringing mother’s apartment and waiting for her in the lobby. Mother came down and picked up the bag or bags. However, delivery men were riding up and down elevators and walking along corridors carrying take-outs. If they came to my building, they also went to other buildings and various houses. They could spread the virus during a lockdown.

The authorities, or the person who took my call, did not know whether a policy existed, but she felt that social distancing precluded the delivery of meals to an individual’s apartment. Owners were to go to the lobby and pick up what they had ordered. I therefore suggested to the Committee that, during a lockdown, it seemed somewhat risky to let people circulate in the hallways. In fact, I wondered why we did not have a concierge monitoring access to apartments. The telephone and television system did not go the distance. Could we presume individual owners would be cautious? No, I thought, not if they threw down the chute, unwrapped, the greasy remains of a chicken. These neighbours must be newcomers.

We now return to Quebec’s Premier. I reflected that if François Legault was urging people to wear a mask, it was not a change of policy, but altogether consistent with lifting the lockdown when the coronavirus remained a genuine threat. The government feared that allowing untested people to return to work may lead to flareups, hence the Premier asking, but not dictating, the wearing of a mask. This led to more impatience. Why wasn’t the wearing of masks compulsory (“obligatory” said monsieur Legault)? He explained that it was not “obligatory” because masks were not easily available. Canada had ordered masks from China, which had arrived, but which were defective. They were not approved by Health Canada. Ironically, Canadian-approved N95 masks were being sought by Chinese counterfeiters. In short, some Quebecers do not have access to masks.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/canadian-approved-n95-mask-targeted-by-chinese-counterfeiters/ar-BB1446bM?ocid=msedgdhp

As you know, Covid-19 caught everyone unawares. For instance, the novel coronavirus hit Montreal like a bomb. It was a Canadian version of the “tsunami” Milan’s doctor Giacomo Grasselli had described so aptly. (See The Coronavirus. 3). The outbreak of Covid-19 surprised Italians just as it surprised Canada’s doctors, in Montreal especially.

The outbreak has therefore led to decisions, some of which were revisited and reversed. I should tell you that the Quebec government will not reopen schools, Montreal schools, in particular, until September. Some daycares remained open during the lockdown. Given flareups, reopening schools on May 19th was not appropriate. Flareups herald a second wave of Covid-19 that could be the same as the second wave of the Spanish flu of 1918, deadlier than the initial outbreak.

In Quebec, Muslims cannot wear the burqa, but the government was approving the wearing of facemasks. Was this another contradiction? A burqa conceals the face and the body. It can therefore be used to conceal a weapon. Masks cover the nose and mouth as do certain Islamic veils, but the purpose of masks is protection from a virus one can inhale. The virus is a weapon.

No, it was not a contradiction. The coronavirus enters one’s nose and mouth. Coughing has therefore become a potentially lethal weapon. If one is infected with the virus and coughs without wearing a mask, one may inadvertently spread the highly transmissible coronavirus to a person who does not wear personal protective equipment. If everyone wears a mask, everyone is protected to a significant extent. The mask is not a violation of a person’s privacy, but protective personal equipment, which explains why Premier Legault is urging Quebecers who are re-entering the workplace to wear a mask. The virus may be with us for a very long time and it is coriace, tough, coriace as coriace can be.

But, let us hear monsieur Legault.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/fran%C3%A7ois-legault-now-recommends-quebecers-wear-masks-when-they-go-out/ar-BB13Zbev?ocid=msedgdhp

Distancing saves lives. It would therefore be my opinion that until our top doctors and scientists find a vaccine or a cure, good masks are our only protection.

I agree with Premier Legault. If one re-enters the workplace, one wears a mask. A mask could allow us to revive our hope and let us rebuild our economy. We can now see the Himalayas, not to mention the stars. The new economy should be a different economy, one that does not pollute the air and cause global warming. However, Premier Legault linked the wearing of a mask to a revival of the economy we know. The two are inextricably linked:

Opening up businesses could hinge on Montrealers wearing masks in public — something Legault has been pushing for several days.

“We will still give ourselves a few days to take a decision on retail businesses,” Legault said. “A crucial element that would help us to reopen is for the majority of people to wear a mask in public.” (The National Gazette)

It may be years before the coronavirus is defeated. Scientists may find a vaccine and a cure, but this may not happen in the near future. Working from home can be extremely difficult and it is at times impossible. So if masks can protect us, let us wear masks.

Sources and Resources

The National Post
The Montreal Gazette
The coronavirus in Quebec
Montréal-Nord
Wikipedia entries
MSN

Love to all of you 💕
I’m quite sick, but a neighbour noticed. She knows everyone. She was worried and phoned me.

This BBC video will probably be erased, but it is funny. This video may lead to another. (Credit: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon.)

BB13sTku

Brave soldiers in Montreal (MSN)

© Micheline Walker
15 May 2020
WordPress

 

 

 

 

P. S.
The latest numbers of confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on May 15, 2020:

There are 73,401 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada.

  • Quebec: 40,724 confirmed (including 3,351 deaths, 10,829 resolved)
  • Ontario: 21,494 confirmed (including 1,798 deaths, 16,204 resolved)
  • Alberta: 6,457 confirmed (including 121 deaths, 5,205 resolved)
  • British Columbia: 2,392 confirmed (including 135 deaths, 1,885 resolved)
  • Nova Scotia: 1,026 confirmed (including 51 deaths, 909 resolved)
  • Saskatchewan: 582 confirmed (including 6 deaths, 398 resolved)
  • Manitoba: 278 confirmed (including 7 deaths, 252 resolved), 11 presumptive
  • Newfoundland and Labrador: 261 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 248 resolved)
  • New Brunswick: 120 confirmed (including 118 resolved)
  • Prince Edward Island: 27 confirmed (including 27 resolved)
  • Repatriated Canadians: 13 confirmed (including 13 resolved)
  • Yukon: 11 confirmed (including 11 resolved)
  • Northwest Territories: 5 confirmed (including 5 resolved)
  • Nunavut: No confirmed cases
  • Total: 73,401 (11 presumptive, 73,390 confirmed including 5,472 deaths, 36,104 resolved)

The Canadian Press

—ooo—

 

Chronicling Covid-19 (13): Reopening

08 Friday May 2020

Posted by in Canada, Covid-19, Pandemic

≈ 3 Comments

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800px-Balthasar_van_Cortbemde_-_The_Good_Samaritan

The Good Samaritan by Balthasar van Cortbemde (Wikipedia)

479px-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_033

The Good Samaritan by Rembrandt (Wikipedia)

I’ve been away for a long time. I had to attend to various little duties and I remain very sad. So many have died and they are mostly older people, the poor, the black, the homeless. Covid-19 does not discriminate, but too many victims had no shelter or false shelters.

Scheherazade

For my part, an old injury resurfaced: ulcers. I also remembered my mother teaching us that death, God Himself, came in the night, like a thief, and took us away. Vigilance was necessary. We prayed before going to bed, but all I had to ask God was to wait another day. Asking for more would burden Him. Scheherazade told the first part of a tale that so intrigued the king that he let her live another day to hear the remainder. He didn’t kill her until the story had been told in full. Centuries later, perhaps millennia, a little child in Quebec prayed so her death would be postponed by one more day.

As you can see, Covid-19 has taken its toll on me. Why am I thinking that death will take me in the middle of the night? That feeling is best described as archaic, but we die.

Schools

Today’s big debate in Quebec and the rest of Canada is whether and when to reopen schools. Life at home with the children may be too difficult. In theory, schools were to reopen on Monday, May 4th, but although governments have a duty to provide children with an education, reopening was postponed until May 19th , but the government will not demand that parents send their children to school. Reopening may again be postponed. The virus is still active and remains lethal in too many cases. Viruses run their course and find epicenters. The State of New York and New York city were the United States’ epicenter. I hope therefore that United States President Trump will bail out the State of New York. In Canada, Quebec was targeted and Montreal was Covid-19’s epicenter. All one could do was create rules of engagement: washing one’s hand, distancing, wearing a mask and locking down infested areas.

We have learned, however, that long-term care facilities could not cope with this new reality. One could not distance patients or residents so, the staff of these homes were overwhelmed. Many walked out for fear of catching an easily transmissible virus.

We have also learned that certain populations were more vulnerable than others. The old are at risk, but also the black. Scientists have therefore begun studying vulnerability. I quoted Dr. Vinh-Kim Nguyen in my last post. (See RELATED ARTICLE)  Dr Vinh-Kim Nguyen has been studying Aids/Sida, and his regional area of expertise is West Africa (see Dr Vinh-Kim Nguyen). Studying regions, populations, and the origin of a pathogen is legitimate. Other scientists study the benefits and harm attached to confinement.

BB13GlT5 (1)

© Pierre Obendrauf. “We’ve done things in grocery stores to make them safer,” says Dr. Jay Kaufman, regarding the plan to let other businesses in Montreal reopen on May 18. “If we can go into a store safely to buy a head of lettuce, we should be able to go into a store and safely buy a pair of shoes.”

BB13AeoN

© Provided by The Canadian Press, Dr Theresa Tam

Canada’s top doctor, Dr Theresa Tam is continuing to focus on her work, despite allegations of conspiracy with China. Determining the origin of the outbreak is necessary, but accusing Dr Theresa Tam of conspiracy with China smacks of racism. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has defended Dr Tam.

https://globalnews.ca/video/6903338/coronavirus-outbreak-when-it-comes-to-anti-chinese-sentiment-freeland-says-a-canadian-is-a-canadian-is-a-canadian

One of the good news is that an antibody could prevent infections. This is progress. But  we are dealing with the novel coronavirus. It is a new virus and it may have infected people months before its breakout in Wuhan.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/groundbreaking-discovery-of-antibody-which-prevents-infection/ar-BB13AyKM

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/shutdown-must-end-with-safety-measures-says-mcgill (this link has expired)

It has been noted that the poor are at risk. Montreal’s outbreak has affected the residents of Montreal-North. Its residents are poor. They do not have computers, cell phones. In short, they did not have access and protective garments (PPE). Finding masks, gloves and shields, PPE, has bedeviled the pandemic, but it killed the poor and the homeless. Shame on us.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling for a national policy on contact tracing, even at this point. Had such a policy been put into place at an early date, it would have lessened the severity of the pandemic. But it seems we were all caught by surprise.

https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB11L7dC.img?h=579&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1175&y=632

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/ontario-calls-for-a-national-strategy-on-contact-tracing-of-covid-19-cases/ahttps://globalnews.ca/news/6907247/coronavirus-doug-ford-local-medical-officers-testing/

However, testing is slow, which is the main problem. Had it worked immediately, the Spartan cube could have helped determine who was infected and who wasn’t. This would have benefited the economy. However, the Spartan Cube has not proven as reliable “in person” as it did in a lab. Adjustments have to be made. This is a sign of the times. Covid-19 is a new virus and we were not prepared when it hit.

Both Doug Ford, Ontario’s Premier and François Legault, Quebec’s premier, hesitate to lift the lockdown. It could backfire, so everyone is worried.

There is some validity to the notion of herd immunity, but there can be no doubt that self isolating and distancing have spared countless lives. It is as in Giovanni Boccacci’s Decameron. Therefore, Premiers Doug Ford of Ontario and François Legault of Quebec are not pushing people back to work. They are testing, and testing, and testing, but cannot test everyone.

https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2020/05/update-on-canadian-armed-forces-response-to-covid-19-pandemic.html

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Conclusion

I believe this is my last post on the pandemic. It tested us and researchers will have much to study. I have in fact discovered areas of learning. Our top doctors are the heroes of the day. Dr Bonnie Henry of British Columbia looks very tired, but women want to purchase the shoes she wears. Premiers Doug Ford and François Legault joined hands in battling a common enemy that has yet to be defeated. There may be a second and a third wave. I expect changes in many sectors.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/a-matter-of-trust-covid-19-pandemic-has-tested-public-confidence-in-science-like-never-before/ar-BB13LaM5?ocid=msedgdhp

I offer my deepest condolences to the persons who have lost a dear one or dear ones.

The latest numbers of confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on May 8, 2020:

There are 64,922 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada.

  • Quebec: 35,238 confirmed (including 2,631 deaths, 8,673 resolved)
  • Ontario: 19,121 confirmed (including 1,477 deaths, 13,569 resolved)
  • Alberta: 6,017 confirmed (including 114 deaths, 3,809 resolved)
  • British Columbia: 2,288 confirmed (including 126 deaths, 1,512 resolved)
  • Nova Scotia: 1,007 confirmed (including 44 deaths, 708 resolved)
  • Saskatchewan: 531 confirmed (including 6 deaths, 329 resolved)
  • Manitoba: 272 confirmed (including 7 deaths, 243 resolved), 11 presumptive
  • Newfoundland and Labrador: 261 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 244 resolved)
  • New Brunswick: 120 confirmed (including 118 resolved)
  • Prince Edward Island: 27 confirmed (including 26 resolved)
  • Repatriated Canadians: 13 confirmed (including 13 resolved)
  • Yukon: 11 confirmed (including 11 resolved)
  • Northwest Territories: 5 confirmed (including 5 resolved)
  • Nunavut: No confirmed cases
  • Total: 64,922 (11 presumptive, 64,911 confirmed including 4,408 deaths, 29,260 resolved)

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2020

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JS Bach, Partita in A minor, BWV 1013 —Emmanuel Pahud

See the source image

Girl Sleeping by Rembrandt (art.com)

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8 May 2020
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Chronicling Covid-19 (11): Quebec

21 Tuesday Apr 2020

Posted by in Coalition avenir Québec, Covid-19, Pandemic

≈ 2 Comments

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Quebec Premier Francois Legault and Quebec Health Minister Danielle McCann, right, arrive at a news conference on the COVID-19 pandemic, Wednesday, April 15, 2020 at the legislature in Quebec City. Quebec doctors appear to have gotten Premier Francois Legault's message that their help was needed on the COVID-19 frontlines in long-term care homes. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Quebec Premier Francois Legault and Quebec Health Minister Danielle McCann, right, arrive at a news conference on the COVID-19 pandemic, Wednesday, April 15, 2020 at the legislature in Quebec City. (JACQUES BOISSINOT / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Quebec’s Premier François Legault said yesterday afternoon that the province had 19,319 cases of COVID-19, an increase of 963 from the day before. A total of 939 people have died. Quebec now has 20,000 cases.

(I hope the following links take you to the correct quotation. I had to leave my desk because of fatigue and illness. The last link I found today.)

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/coronavirus-live-updates-quebecers-eager-to-end-restrictions-poll-says/wcm/ca2dd1d6-42c1-4bc7-bb36-09b146237c4c/

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/coronavirus-live-updates-quebecers-eager-to-end-restrictions-poll-says/wcm/ca2dd1d6-42c1-4bc7-bb36-09b1462

Health Minister Danielle McCann says changing doctors’ pay key to improving Quebec health care

—ooo—

Many Québécois would like to return to work, but several have yet to be tested. Social distancing helps considerably and it could also be that people exposed to the virus grow a degree immunity. Be that as it may, Quebec has not “flattened the curve” and I do not think it will in the foreseeable future. In fact, the Premier of Quebec, François Legault, requested that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau send medically-trained members of the Canadian Armed Forces to help fight Covid-19. A large proportion of victims live in long-term care facilities.

I have already mentioned that Quebec’s early March-break may have led to contamination. I went into self-isolation on 10 March, but nearly a week later, people were going on a holiday inside or outside Quebec. Other factors may have led to the rapid spread of the disease. Covid-19 is a pandemic and, by definition, contagious, but one should be careful.

Prime Minister Legault leads a party and a government that is devoting significant energy turning a lay society into a lay society. Québécois could not wear a veil that hid their face. But Coalition avenir Québec went further. One cannot display a sign of one’s religion. In other words, a Muslim woman cannot wear a veil, including a discrete veil. Quebec has welcomed North Africans, white and black, because they speak French. In 1974, Quebec became a unilingual province, but its birth rate was very low. Is laïcité (secularism) so important an issue? Finding a general practicioner is difficult in Quebec. The waiting-list is three years.     

The Shortage of Tests 

Moreover, the shortage of tests has been the bane of this Pandemic. It has led to massive self-isolation in many countries. If persons have not been tested, they cannot return to the workplace safely. Many would test negative, but many would test positive. Persons who would test positive could infect others. The pandemic could therefore grow more severe. However, people fear a recession and, possibly, another Great Depression.

In this regard, it may be useful to remember that the Spanish Flu Pandemic and Word War I were followed by the roaring 20s. The Great Depression occurred in the 1930s and was ended when World War II broke out. For the United States, war broke out on two fronts. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan, after the surprise and devastating attack on Pearl Harbor, on Sunday, 7 December 1941. I would agree with Dr Fauci. Returning to work too soon could result in a second wave of contagion. It could “backfire and slow economic recovery.”

BB12sgLi

© Getty Images Fauci warns protests will ‘backfire,’ slow economic recovery

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/fauci-warns-protests-will-backfire-slow-economic-recovery/ar-BB12VysP

Medicine in Quebec

This topic is touchy. In Quebec, students do not need to complete a Bachelor of Science degree before entering medical school. They enter medical school after the CEGEP, their twelfth and thirteenth years of schooling. During the two years they attend a CEGEP, they prepare for the profession or trade they have chosen. They enter medical school three years earlier than they would if they studied outside Quebec. This may not make Quebec doctors lesser doctors, but…

More importantly, if a doctor’s patient needs to be hospitalized, he or she is treated by a hospital doctor. My mother was admitted to a hospital after a fall, and she was treated by a hospital doctor. She was taking Coumadin, a blood thinner, which was indicated on her chart. She was nevertheless given another blood thinner, which caused her to hemorrage. She nearly died and lost the ability to use her legs. The staff had made a mistake. They said they were too busy. Would this have happened had she been under the care of her own doctor? In this instance, the system failed a patient. 

As for patients who enter a long-term care facility, or Nursing Home, similar to the one my mother lived in, they are treated by that facility’s doctor(s). My mother could not understand why her doctor never visited. It was a source of distress, which is not trivial. Distress is stress and stress leads to illnesses. However, seriously ill Covid-19 victims are treated in an intensive care unit, an ICU. Yet, they are infected in a long-term care facility.

So, one wonders.

  • How many patients are assigned to one caregiver?
  • Can patients be treated in nursing homes? These differ.
  • Moreover, if a doctor visits, does he or she visit patients regularly and establish a rapport with them?
  • Are these facilities sufficiently sanitized?
  • etc.

I may be wrong, but I am inclined to believe that the system might be failing older citizens in Quebec. There have been and there are outbreaks in nursing homes outside Quebec, but are these as overwhelming as they are in Quebec? The medically-trained members of the Armed Forces are assessing the situation. 

In short, I am alarmed and doubt very much that the lockdown will be lifted before early June, not to mention that the lockdown itself is leading to health problems, such as addictions and domestic violence. Rich provinces, Alberta for instance, can help persons who are in self-isolation. Not all provinces are as rich as Alberta. 

Love to everyone 💕

P. S. I have disabled the “like” button for this post. One likes to be informed, but the information is grim. During the night I kept thinking I had made an error and reported the wrong numbers. The “like” button tells me I have a community.

Louis Lortie plays Fauré‘s Requiem, Op. 48, IV. Pie Jesu

The_angel_of_death_striking_a_door_during_the_plague_of_Rome_Wellcome_V0010664

The angel of death striking a door during the plague of Rome; engraving by Levasseur after Jules-Elie Delaunay (Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
21 April 2020
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Secularism in Quebec

19 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by in Québec

≈ 8 Comments

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Jeune-fille-1957-Huile-41-x-22

Jean-Paul Lemieux (Galerie Michel Bigue)

Just a few words.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-laicity-secularism-bill-1.5075547

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-will-require-bare-face-for-service-1.913095

Under Premier François Legault and several members his Coalition Avenir Quebec, Quebec is again trying to secularise its already secularised society. All faces are bare in Quebec. Muslim women wear a discreet veil. However, if Bill 21 is enacted, they would be required to remove their discreet veil or, perhaps, if not certainly, lose their position.

20900755-810x445-1554826087

People gesture during a demonstration in Montreal, Sunday, April 7, 2019, in opposition to the Quebec government’s newly tabled Bill 21. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes)

Given its rigidity and Quebec’s preexisting official laïcité, Premier Legault’s, Bill 21 is unacceptable. Were there a genuine threat of terrorism, which there isn’t, a society could forbid the niqāb to make faces visible. It would be a matter of security. But, if enacted, Bill 21 could be interpreted not only as Islamophobia, but as an expression of religious intolerance across-the-board.

Some employees wear uniforms in order for the public to recognize that they are policemen, bus drivers, firemen, etc. So did school children when I was a child: navy blue and white. We looked like the young girl depicted by Jean-Paul Lemieux, including the hairdo. So there are uniforms. Men will not be affected, but Muslim women will be.

Alexandre Bissonnette

  • sentence
  • Premier Philippe Couillard

He will appeal his sentence, but as things stand, Alexandre Bissonnette, who killed 6 Muslims worshipping at a Quebec City Mosque, will not be eligible for parole for the next 40 years.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/episode-428-bissonnette-s-sentence-art-forgery-k-pop-at-the-grammys-leolist-human-trafficking-and-more-1.5009885/how-alexandre-bissonette-s-sentence-could-fuel-canada-s-far-right-1.5009894

When Alexandre Bissonnette killed, he was not affiliated with a terrorist group and, to my knowledge, he has not joined such a group since he has been detained.

At the time, Quebec Premier Dr Philippe Couillard reassured Quebecers and Canadians.

 

The Consequences

As for my Muslim ladies, their daughters may wish to remove their veil. They may find it cumbersome. However, if their mother was forced to remove her veil or be unemployed,  her children may insist on wearing a veil, if they have not left Quebec.

Under Bills 22, enacted in 1974, and 101 enacted in 1977, Quebec declared itself unilingual and would not allow immigrants to enrol their children in English-language schools. Therefore, Quebec’s best immigrants were North Africans who spoke French fluently. However, to a very large extent, they were Muslims. French-speaking Muslim immigrants to Quebec did Quebec a service. Has Quebec forgotten?

Religious Intolerance Across-the-Board

Bill 21 smacks of religious intolerance. All display of adherence to a religion would be forbidden. Some of us are atheists, but others believe in God, and many find a refuge in spirituality. We are a diverse society and will grow more diverse. If Bill 21 is enacted, Quebec could be divided along religious lines.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-bill-21-opposition-1.5083340

Students and staff at Pierrefonds Comprehensive High School in Montreal’s West Island, held a protest against Bill 21 over their lunch break on Friday. (Valeria Cori-Manocchio/CBC)

Conclusion

I will close by suggesting, boldly, that Bill 21 may not be entirely what it seems. I suspect that it is and that it isn’t about religious affiliation. Quebec’s two referendums (1980; 1995) have not given the government of Quebec a mandate to negotiate sovereignty. But the province is drifting away using all means it can dig out. For instance, Quebec has yet to sign the Constitution Act of 1982.

Could it be that, once again, Quebec wants to differ, Bill in hand … ?  If Quebec wants to differ, let it not be at the expense of its law-abiding and French-speaking Muslim women. Immigrants from everywhere, first generation immigrants in particular, mourn their country. Many have lost everything. Let us not think that we have done them a favour. Such an attitude would be insensitive and, in fact, arrogant.

Our duty is to respect everyone, despite colour, faith, language and other differences. These are superficial differences. Let our immigrants belong. All of us are human beings and merely passing …

Love to everyone 💕

We are returning to Molière. But laïcité weighed on my mind. I have friends who are supporters of Bill 21. I hope they will forgive me. They know that Quebec is a lay society.

Marie-Nicole Lemieux chante “Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix”
Camille Saint-Saëns  — Samson and Delilah op. 47

640px-Samson_and_Delilah_Gustav_Dore_ca._1860

Samson and Delilah, by Gustave Doré, c. 1860

© Micheline Walker
19 April 2019
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Quebec’s Elections and Notes on Ozias Leduc

10 Wednesday Oct 2018

Posted by in Canada, Quebec, Sharing

≈ 6 Comments

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Le Jeune Élève d’Ozias Leduc, 1894 (Musée des beaux-arts du Canada)

Leduc-Chasse-aux-canards-par-un-matin-brumeux2-Huile-sur-toile-11-x-15-85-000

Chasse aux canards par un matin brumeux (Hunting for Ducks on a Foggy Morning), Ozias Leduc (Galerie Michel Bigué)

I added a paragraph to my last post, after it was published. By and large, posts are not read twice. I am therefore publishing what you haven’t read.

One paragraph in Wiki2.org’s entry entitled Official Language Act (Quebec) seems reassuring. Quebec’s Language Laws, Bills 22 and 101, do not take rights away from English-speaking Canadians. Their children may attend an English-language school. But the children of immigrants, are required to attend a French-language school. All signs, such as traffic signs, must be predominantly, if not entirely, in French. I remember mentioning in a post that a Quebec café or restaurant owner was required to remove the letters WC from the door to a public toilet room. WC (water closet) may be used in France, but not in Quebec. Stop signs are called arrêts in Quebec. In short, Quebec insists on looking French. Traffic monitors and advertising displays are in French.

Concerning ‘unilingualism’ in Quebec, it is useful to read the entries entitled Official Language Act (Quebec) (Bill 22) and Charter of the French Language (Bill 101). (Wiki2.org.)

I did not quote the introductory paragraph but quoted the paragaph following it.

That English was an official language in Quebec as well, was declared on July 19, 1974, by McGill University law faculty’s most expert counsellors, disputing Bill 22. The testifiers were Dean Frank R. Scott, John Peters Humphrey, chief planner of the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights, Irwin Cotler and four additional legal teachers:

Section 1, which provides that French is ‘the official language of the province of Quebec,’ is misleading in that it suggests that English is not also an official language in Quebec, which it is by virtue of Section 133 of the BNA Act and the federal Official Languages Act. … No legislation in the National Assembly proclaiming French the sole official language in the province can affect these bilingual areas protected by the BNA Act.

(See Official Language Act [Quebec], Wiki2.org.)

Although this paragraph is reassuring, to my knowledge, when Premier Robert Bourassa said that the province of Quebec would be unilingual (French), he meant ‘officially’ unilingual. Given that Canada’s official languages are French and English, why would Premier Bourassa say that Quebec would, henceforth, be a unilingual province, i. e. ‘officially’?

In other words, the rights of English-speaking Canadians are respected under the Official Languages Act of 1969, as per the paragraph I quoted. One difficulty arises for French-speaking Quebecers. After the age of 11, children are unlikely to acquire native fluency in a second language, but there are exceptions. Some individuals speak eighteen languages by the age of 18. They may make mistakes and they may have an accent, but… However, a large number of French-speaking Quebecers find ways of teaching English to their children. English is a North-American reality.

I have two students who mastered French. My star student is Gillian Pink, from Antigonish. Gillian is working at Oxford University.

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Candlelight Study, Ozias Leduc, 1893 (Google)

Language Bills, Referendums, and Sovereignty

Let us return to Bill 22 and Bill 101. I have noted that there was an exodus from Quebec when Bill 22 was passed. In my opinion, Bill 22 was seen as a step in the direction of sovereignty. So have Bill 101 and the two referendums (1980 and 1995).

Quebec’s new Premier, François Legault, has stated that there would not be another referendum, but he and members of Coalition avenir Quebec will be seeking greater autonomy for Quebec. What does he mean? Quebec Premier René Lévesque did not sign the Constitution Act of 1982, and none of his successors have done so. The fact remains that I’ve been in the midst of an identity crisis for sixteen years, or since I left Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

My Quebec Health Insurance Card does not cover the cost of appointments with a doctor in provinces other than Canada. Yet, I am a Canadian, but a French-speaking Canadian living in Québec, whose mother tongue is French, who loves French literature, but who speaks English fluently and feels Quebec is safer as a province of Canada, than a country.

I believe that all Canadians are protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but the Constitution Act of 1982 enshrines the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It is entrenched in the Constitution Act of 1982, which Quebec has not signed. Usually, Ottawa, the federal government, rescues Quebecers. It may have found a niche for the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, or the Charter may exist separately. The BNA Act may be more permanent legislation.

However, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms requires all provinces to provide primary and secondary education to their official-language minorities at public expense.

(See French Language in Canada, Wiki2.org.)

Conclusion

Would that Quebecers had not elected a party advocating greater autonomy for Quebec. Quebecers have to protect their language, but greater autonomy for Quebec suggests distancing Quebec from other Canadian provinces.

May all Canadians live in peace and harmony. Culturally, I am French. But home is also Antigonish, Nova Scotia, where I owned a lovely blue house, across the street from the campus of St Francis Xavier University and St Ninian’s Cathedral.

Ozias Leduc

Ozias Leduc (8 October 1864 – 16 June 1955) is my featured artist. His subject matter is often religious. But his art is nevertheless diverse and still lifes seem a favourite subject. Well-known artist Paul-Émile Borduas was one of his students. I am embedding a video. It is a French-language video with a lyrical ambiance. A couple is getting on a raft that will take them to Ozias Leduc’s house. It may be the smaller house.

Ozias Leduc’s house (Google)
Ozias Leduc’s house (Google)

 

St Ninians’ Cathedral, Antigonish, Nova Scotia

Closer to me, is St Ninian’s Cathedral, in Antigonish. Paintings in our Cathedral were the work of Ozias Leduc. I was in Antigonish when they were restored.

Love to everyone 💕

St. Ninian’s Cathedral, Antigonish, Nova Scotia

Leduc’s Boy with Bread, 1892-99, National Gallery of Canada (Wiki2.org.)

© Micheline Walker
10 October 2018
WordPress

Premier Legault’s Caquiste Quebec

05 Friday Oct 2018

Posted by in Canada, Coalition avenir Québec, Liberal Party of Quebec, Quebec history

≈ Comments Off on Premier Legault’s Caquiste Quebec

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François Legault (Photo credit: Le Devoir)

“The door to sovereingty remains opened.”

https://wiki2.org/en/Quebec_general_election,_2018

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Diversity in Canada

There are several political parties in Quebec, but I am told that in this part of Quebec, the Eastern Townships, most Quebecers support sovereignty for the Province of Quebec. Monsieur Legault is a former member of the Parti québécois. The PQ has been home to Quebecers seeking sovereignty: les Péquistes. As the statement above indicates, les Caquistes, members of Coalition avenir Québec, support increased sovereignty. So does Québec solidaire and other parties. You may remember that, when Pauline Marois was elected Premier of Quebec, someone tried to shoot her. The person who jumped forward to stop the gunman was killed. (See 2012 Montreal Shooting, Wikipedia.) The shooter was an Anglophone.

Quebec problems

Quebec has language laws, which, enforced rigidly, are stifling. More importantly, these language laws cannot fully protect French-speaking Quebecers. They may, in fact, lull French-speaking Quebecers into thinking their language is protected. Well, their language, my mother tongue, isn’t and cannot be protected unless there is sufficient emphasis on learning to speak and write French correctly in Quebec schools and in Quebec homes.

Moreover, I wonder if Quebecers are taught Canadian history. If so, it seems lessons prepare students to believe that we, “poor French-speaking Canadians,” have been persecuted by English Canadians.

Yes, Orangemen prevented French-speaking and Catholic Canadians from going to Western Canada and being educated in their language. They killed Louis Riel, and, after his death, French Canadians living west of Quebec had to enroll their children in English-language schools. But a few French-speaking communities survived, and, in September 1969, the Official Languages Act came into effect. Matters have been corrected.

It is not true, at least not altogether, that the Rebellions of 1837-38 opposed the English and the French. The Rebellions took place in both Lower and Upper Canada. Lower Canada’s Louis-Joseph Papineau and Upper Canada’s William Lyon Mackenzie did not want Britain to help itself to their money. Responsible government is what both Canadas, Upper and Lower (down the St. Lawrence river) wanted. Again, matters have been corrected.

However, the arrival in Lower Canada of United Empire Loyalists, people who fled the recently independent United States, was perturbing for the French-speaking citizens of Lower Canada. They had viewed Lower Canada as their Canada. A party was born, le Parti canadien, and its members, not all, referred to themselves as patriotes. Welcoming United Empire Loyalists was not a ploy aimed at hurting French-speaking Canadians. It was history unfolding and a change in demographics that did not benefit French-speaking Canadians.

We must differentiate the two events: the Rebellions and the arrival of United Empire Loyalists.

Les P’tits Canadas

Several of these United Empire Loyalists settled in the Eastern Townships. In the villages of the Eastern Townships, such as Cookshire, where my father was raised, French-speaking Canadians lived in p’tits Canadas. For a long time, they called themselves Canadiens, as in the “Canadiens” hockey club. Those who spoke English were les Anglais. Beginning with the Révolution tranquille, the 1960s, French-speaking Quebecers, started referring to themselves as Québécois/Québécoises.

Canadians & Quebecers/Québécois

But what is very frustrating is dealing with a double identity. Quebec is a Canadian province. No referendum has granted Quebec a mandate to separate from Canada. But it is doing so, bit by bit. Quebec has not signed the Constitution Act of 1982.

So, the health-card used by Quebecers is not valid outside Quebec. It does cover the cost of a stay in a hospital. However, if one needs to be treated by a specialist, during a stay in hospital, he or she will send you his or her bill. I realize that Education and Health are provincial legislation, but to what extent, may I ask. Moreover, I pay taxes to both the Federal Government and Revenue Quebec. I am a Canadian whether I live in Quebec or in Nova Scotia. Unilingualism may be a way of promoting autonomy for Quebec, but it may also chase people away from Quebec.

The notwithstanding clause

  • anti-immigration
  • secularism

But it gets worse. I now live in an anti-immigration province. Marine Le Pen is happy that Quebecers have elected an anti-immigration Premier. When Marine endorsed monsieur Legault, Premier Legault dissociated himself immediately from Marine Le Pen. The fact remains that, for the next four years, the government of Quebec will be an anti-immigration government.

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1127582/marine-le-pen-alliee-embarrassante-pour-premier-ministre-designe-francois-legault

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the notwithstanding clause ‘should only be used in exceptional cases.’ (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/justin-trudeau-francois-legault-caq-secular-1.4848823

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/quebecs-secularism-reigns-supreme/article36727839/

Then comes secularism, or laïcité. There is, of course, laïcité and laïcité. Under its new Caquiste government, laïcité in Quebec will not allow the wearing of clothes and jewellery that reveal one’s faith: no little cross worn as a pendant. No veil. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau quickly stated that women had the right to dress as they pleased. But Premier Legault plans to use the notwithstanding clause.

Quebec’s immigrants cannot break the law. The mutilation of female genitalia is forbidden in Canada, which includes Quebec. But forcing first generation immigrants from the Middle East to take off their veil may be imprudent. One must realize that first-generation immigrants are vulnerable. They have lost their country. Should they also feel unwanted? Canada has its first nations, its two founding nations, but people from all over the world live in this country and all of us must build the road to the future together, which means respecting differences. If we start building walls, we are lost.

Conclusion

I suspect that, during Premier Legault’s tenure, the parking fee will be higher. I also suspect the poor will be poorer and the rich, richer. We know that Monsieur Legault plans to give further autonomy to Quebec, which means, as mentioned above, that Quebec’s new Premier is unlikely to sign the Constitution Act of 1982, nor, for that matter, care for French-speaking Canadians living outside Quebec. He and his team will invest time and energy in providing greater autonomy for Quebec, which may lead to an exodus from Quebec. Quebec needs its immigrants and its taxpayers, but I dare not speak further…

Dr Couillard has resigned

Quebec Premier, Dr Phillipe Couillard resigning (Jacques Boissinot, The Canadian Press)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-quebec-liberal-leader-philippe-couillard-retires-from-politics-after/

New Quebec premier, Philippe Couillard, an intellectual and unabashed federalist

Quebec had an excellent Premier, Dr Philippe Couillard. In no way did he and members of his cabinet deserve this slap in the face. Former Premier, Dr Couillard, will no longer lead Quebec’s Liberals.

Love to everyone 💕

I made some changes to my post. In an earlier version, I repeated myself (the Constitutional Act). Moreover I want to investigate Quebec’s unilingualism further. I don’t like it. It’s a danger to car drivers, it may be vindictive as well as impolite and petty. Yet, I am a former President of the Canadian Association of University and College Teachers of French: l’APFUCC (l’Association des professeurs de français des universités et collèges canadiens). 

Léo Delibes: Lakmé – Duo des fleurs (Flower Duet), Sabine Devieilhe & Marianne Crebassa

Picasso Peace Dove Canvas Print

© Micheline Walker
5 October 2018
updated 5 October 2018
WordPress

 

 

François Legault, Premier of Quebec

02 Tuesday Oct 2018

Posted by in Coalition avenir Québec, Québec Art

≈ 4 Comments

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François Legault, Premier Ministre du Québec (Photo credit: La Presse)

Yes, Quebecers voted, and it was a landslide victory, 74 out of 125 seats, for François Legault the leader of a party named Coalition Avenir Québec. “Avenir” means future. The moment I entered the voting room, I was told by a young couple that we had no choice. We had to elect François Legault, they said. I was voting for the Liberal candidate.

In other words, Dr Couillard was ousted. I have long supported the Liberal Party. Voting for the Liberals means opposing separatist Parti Québécois and supporting our precious social programmes. A Parti Québécois victory could mean division in Canada. Having lived in every part of this country, I want Canada to stretch from coast to coast: A Mari usque ad Mare. Coalition avenir Québec has ties with the Parti Québécois, but it is not planning to leave the Canadian Confederation. Is this something I should believe?

—ooo—

I’m sad to see Dr Couillard leave us. I agree that changes are needed. We have an example: the parking fee at hospitals, hospices, and CLSCs, Centre local de services communautaires or public clinics. Will they go up or will they be abolished? They may go up.

The Parking Fee

As you know, the citizens of Sherbrooke must pay a substantial parking fee if they go to a hospital or to a CLSC. You may remember that I cried as I stood in one of several queues of people who had to pay parking fees using machines they could not operate. It was a terrible day.

Let me give you an update.

A few weeks ago, I read that elderly patients living in hospitals or hospices were not being looked after properly. A little later, I read that members of the staff of Sherbrooke’s hospitals and hospices were leaving their position at an unexpectedly rapid rate. So, I thought, could it be the parking fee?

When my mother went into an institution, my father and other members of the family helped her eat her dinner, the noon meal. For my part, I visited after 3 pm (15 hours). We talked, and I helped her eat an early supper and then helped get her ready for the night.

There was a lot to do. She had to be suspended in a net hanging from the ceiling while the bed was changed. I used to tell her that she was lucky to be in an airplane. “Is that an airplane?” she would ask. “Of course, mother. You are in mid-air, like a bird, while the rest of us must stand on the ground.” She was then put into a fresh gown. “Would you believe mother that I have to get dressed all by myself?”

Maman, je t’aime…

Given the current parking fees, are families helping mothers, fathers and their sick relatives who are in an institution? If the staff is quitting, I suspect that families no longer visit once or twice a day. They probably visit once or twice a week, perhaps less. Many Quebecers and Canadians are poor. They cannot afford to spend several hundred dollars a month in parking fees.

My brother will be going back and forth from a hospital bed to his home. Members of my family will therefore be feeding those machines a significant amount of money and our contribution to the “Foundation” will not be tax-deductible. But think about the mothers, fathers, the disabled and other patients who will seldom see their family because of the parking fee.

Shame on those societies that have allowed the cost of living to rise to a point where one can say that life is literally “unaffordable.” Are we being told no longer to have children? The large red-brick house of my childhood did not have hot water, and we had to feed an old furnace. But the house belonged to my father’s employers, it came with the position, and we did not have to pay rent. We were secure.

I know very little about monsieur Legault, but I hope he realizes that the humble among us need help and that the sick and the elderly who are confined to a bed for years require the support of their family. We saw my mother twice a day, seven days a week for the three years she spent in an institution hoping she could go home. The day she died, her lips had to be kept moist. I told the staff that I could do this and that I would not leave until she died. She was going home.

Will mothers die alone?

A Threat?

According to Alexandre Taillefer of the Huffington Post, monsieur Legault is a threat to social peace: “une menace à la paix sociale.”

https://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/08/12/francois-legault-menace-paix-sociale-alexandre-taillefer_a_23500873/

Monsieur Legault’s House

I have also looked at pictures of monsieur Legault former house.  It was on the market in 2015. I think his house is the first house we are shown.

https://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/09/09/francois-legault-vend-sa-maison-pour-49m-photos_n_8111638.html?ncid=other_trending_qeesnbnu0l8&utm_campaign=trending

https://www.ledevoir.com/francois-legault?page=1

https://www.cbc.ca/news

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-coalition-avenir-quebec-wins-historic-majority-as-voters-soundly/

https://www.ctvnews.ca/video

Artist Robert Savignac

To keep us close to the ground, I have inserted art by Robert Savignac. My niece Marie-France and Robert’s brother are a couple. They have four children, now young adults. Robert paints happy and sunny environments.

 

Love to everyone 💕

Image result for robert savignac artiste peintre

Image result for robert savignac artiste peintre

Robert Savignac

© Micheline Walker
2 October 2018
WordPress

 

 

 

 

 

Parti québécois elected: one person killed, one critically injured

05 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by in Canada

≈ 2 Comments

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Ship in the Stormy Sea, by Ivan Aivazovsky (1887)

Photo credit: museumsyndicate.com 
 

Everybody voted and Madame Pauline Marois, the leader of the Parti Québécois, is Quebec’s new Premier.  Shots were fired as the Parti Québécois was starting to celebrate, so madame Marois was quickly removed from the stage by bodyguards.  One person was killed and one critically injured.

Earlier today I interviewed several individuals.  I asked these persons to give me one reason why they voted for an indépendantiste party, but no one could provide me with my one reason.  One person told me he had at least fifty reasons, but he added that he did not have the time to give me his reasons.  Name one, I asked.  He repeated that he was too busy.

Whom will they kill next?

The News

The National Post:  http://www.nationalpost.com/index.html
 
Micheline Walker©
September 5th, 2012
WordPress
 
composer: Beethoven (baptized 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827)
piece: Sonata “Appassionata,” (no.23, op.57) 3rd movement
pianist: Sviatoslav Richter (20 March 1915 – 1 August 1997)