Vous vous souvenez sûrement avec grand déplaisir du fameux éditorial du Globe and Mail du 11 mars dernier, et dont je faisais état sur ce blogue le jour même («Ma «diversité» est plus grosse que la tienne»)?
Vous savez bien, cet éditorial qui, suite à l'épisode de la dame en niqab expulsée du cégep Saint-Laurent, comparait l'action du gouvernement du Québec à ce qui se fait en Arabie Saoudite et au régime des Talibans?
«More troubling is the involvement of Quebec politicians and bureaucrats. At one point, after a teacher at the school spotted her, provincial officials were alerted; a civil servant and an Arabic translator descended on the school. Ms. Ahmed said that when she saw the Quebec official, she started to cry: "I feel like the government is following me everywhere." It may be practiced in some Arab and west Asian countries, such as the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan, but empowering state agents to enforce dress codes and bar the education of women is hitherto unknown in Canada.»
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/intolerant-intrusion/article1497006/
Eh bien, tout cela a fait des «petits», comme on dit. Du moins, dans d'autres médias anglophones. Dont cet éditorial de The Gazette, paru le 12 mars:
http://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/Just+what+Quebec+needs+dress+code/2673982/story.html
Puis, le 16 mars, voilà qûe paraît [cette chronique de Naomi Lakritz->26293], chroniqueuse au Calgary Herald, et parue aussi dans le Ottawa Citizen.
Avertissement: prenez une petite tasse de camomille, ou deux, avant de lire ça:
«How many times have we heard grumbling about immigrants who can't be bothered learning either of Canada's two official languages? Here was Ahmed, taking a French class so she could integrate into Canadian society - a process which could lead to her adopting western ways of thinking and abandoning the niqab of her own free will - and she was denied schooling. Denying women schooling smacks most unpleasantly of the Taliban regime, doesn't it? (...)
Where Quebec errs in its obsession about minorities is in thinking it has a right to tell people what to wear. (...)
In another bizarre spasm of minority-phobia, the Quebec government announced that 20 government-subsidized day-care centres will be banned from offering religious instruction. (...)
In the late 19th century, brochures were circulated in Europe advertising for immigrants to Canada and extolling the beauties and prosperity of this country. Maybe new brochures should be circulated - warning people to stay away from Quebec, which is fast becoming the most hostile province in Canada for anyone of a minority culture or religion.» (1)
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Quebec+minority+phobia+showing/2687217/story.html
http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/columnists/naomilakritz.html
***
Mais quitte à me répéter, je demeure persuadée que le «point de vue» de ces médias anglo-canadiens ne reflètent pas vraiment celui de l'opinion publique dominante au Canada anglais. Heureusement...
C'est ce que j'avançais le 12 mars à l'émission de Christiane Charette sur les ondes de Radio-Canada.
Et c'est ce qu'avançait ma collègue chroniqueure Margaret Wente le 13 mars dans le même Globe and Mail:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/two-solitudes-and-the-niqab/article1499299/

«My own opinion is that the broad majority of people who live in English Canada - including plenty of immigrants - are more in tune with Quebeckers' attitudes than with their own elites. Of course we must respect people's rights, they say. But newcomers should also respect our values.
"I am all for keeping with your culture and traditions, but if you are going to choose another country, get with the program and try to really integrate," says one blogger. He speaks for multitudes. Is his view intolerant and closed-minded? I don't think so.»
Et j'ajouterai encore qu'à force de refuser le débat sur ces questions, contrairement au Québec, les élites canadiennes-anglaises risquent d'avoir un jour le réveil plutôt brutal dans leurs belles grandes villes où les communautarismes poussent comme des champignons....
http://www.voir.ca/blogs/jose_legault/archive/2010/03/14/pas-de-171-talibans-187-au-qu-233-bec.aspx
(1) Merci au site Vigile d'avoir attiré l'attention sur la chronique de N. Lakritz.