Though the final copy of the report has yet to be released, the Montreal Gazette has obtained several chapters of the final draft of the Bouchard-Taylor Commission’s report on the “reasonable accommodation” of minorities in Quebec. Their findings, as summarised by the Gazette, are “learn more English, be nicer to Muslims, get better informed”. The CBC is reporting “fury” at the results of the report. The Gazette is being criticised for overemphasing bits of the report that support their bias–I have no doubt that they’re putting an undue focus on the need for French speakers to learn English–but it seems that more critics are upset with how Bouchard and Taylor are blaming racism and xenophobia on the Quebecois, instead of on the minorities themselves.  The Journal de Montreal, however, has no use for such subtle reasoning and is instead putting most of its attention of Muslim women.

I was—and still am—of two minds about the commission. I was initially sceptical about it and wasn’t sure what it intended to achieve. It appeared to me as if a bunch of bigots who were best off ignored had managed to force their idiotic opinions (remember that this debate came to a head over the Herouxville incident) to the level of national debate.

However, whether or not the grievances immigration are legitimate, they are very real. Right-wing demagogue scumbags like the ADQ’s Mario Dumont are only too happy to capitalise on them for political gain, and allowing the grievances and tensions to fester without adequately dealing with them will only play into his hands. Jean Charest and his Liberals—though I’m not fond of them—played this well not just by starting a commission in the first place, but by putting two very well respected academics with a strong commitment to liberalism, Charles Taylor and Gerard Bouchard, at the head of it. The findings of the report were something of a foregone conclusion. The consultation document affirmed that Quebec is a secular liberal democratic society, so it was never in question that deranged rants about kosher peanut butter were going to change the commission’s fundamental views on the nature of Quebec society.  I don’t see this as a necessarily bad thing, though some do.

At the same time, racists tend not to be susceptible to rational argument, and if these people have their minds made up that they are under siege despite all evidence to the contrary, then there’s nothing that the best-written and most well-reasoned report in the world can do to change this. And so we’re back to my first objection. Better to just load up the guns and shoot the fuckers.

Unmixed fiery hair like the flower of a pomegranate is not good, since for the most part their characters are beastlike and shameless and greedy.

Aye.