Haroun Bouazzi, bridge burner

Things are brewing in Quebec Solidarity. After tolerating numerous verbal lapses from the fiery MP Haroun Bouazzi, the parliamentary wing of the party called him to order.

The next female co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal had to post this message on X: “Gabriel [Nadeau-Dubois] and I had a good chat with Haroun this morning. We expressed to him that his comments were frankly clumsy and exaggerated. No elected official from Quebec Solidaire thinks that Quebec deputies are racist. »

We understand them for reacting quickly. If Québec solidaire plateaus in the polls, it is because of comments like those of Mr. Bouazzi on the abuses observed, among others, at Bedford (primary) and La Voie (secondary) schools.

He is ready to deny the obvious for fear of giving ammunition to his adversaries.

Let’s remember what happened.

At Bedford School, teachers from a “dominant clan” did, among other things:

• Refused to teach scientific or sexuality-related content.
• Denied autism spectrum disorder and banned a remedial teacher from coming to their class.
• Intimidated their colleagues, including going to 11 to surround a person.
• Asked instead to intervene when a student was unwell (one child had to leave the class herself to alert the vice-principal).
• Performed religious rituals in class in front of students.

That’s not all. Members of the local mosque have:

• Pushes for content taught in class to be consistent with their beliefs.
• Created a Facebook page to denigrate the teaching of other teachers.
• Bursts into the school shouting at a teacher before heading towards the office, forcing staff to call the police.

At La Voie secondary school, a homosexual trainee teacher was the victim of harassment. The school’s governing board then refused to allow a speaker to come and raise awareness among young people about homophobia. One of his arguments: we must respect freedom of religion. The chairman of the council was the president of the Darlington Community Centre, cited several times in the investigation report submitted to the government¹.

On X, MP Bouazzi claimed to have “denounced the practices of teachers”.

But he said something else during a recent speech at the Gala of Excellence of the Club Avenir Foundation, a non-profit organization working for “the integration of Maghreb communities into the host society”.

He claimed that the deputies were showing intolerance by putting all North Africans in the same basket. However, politicians are careful to point out that teachers of North African origin were among the victims and had tried to defend children.

In his speech, Mr. Bouazzi added that the National Assembly demonstrated racism “every day”.

People in the room applauded. Others I spoke to were uncomfortable, especially since the instructions were not to deliver political speeches. The organization also dissociated itself from Mr. Bouazzi on Thursday afternoon. Because the Club Avenir Foundation wants to build bridges.

Mr. Bouazzi is banking on a resentment that is indeed present in cultural communities, and which must be addressed. But instead of building bridges, he burns them and he is proud of it – he published his speech on his Facebook page.

Québec solidaire defends interculturalism, but its MP focuses more on communitarianism.

His argument is an example of what English speakers call “whatabouttism”. This fallacy is about diverting attention from the problem. In his case: you denounce what is happening at the Bedford school, but you did not do the same thing with the educators of a youth center in Cité-des-Prairies.

Indeed, no one spoke about their origin or their religion. Because the educators at this youth center did not justify their behavior based on their religion or cultural beliefs. They were not supported by a religious leader. And they did not request an exemption from the standards citing their religious beliefs.

It is the solidarity deputy who puts all North Africans in the same basket, denying that some are opposed to religious interference in schools.

The former director of the Bedford school says she intervened “around twenty times” with teachers because of their problematic behavior. But “it’s delicate, it’s religion,” she confided to Montreal Journal.

Fortunately there are deputies like Marwah Rizqy. She posted this message on X:

As the liberal elected official points out, if Mr. Bouazzi sees examples of racism, he should complain to the new Commissioner for Respect for the National Assembly.

Mr. Bouazzi despite himself plays into the hands of fundamentalists like Adil Charkaoui. This preacher had qualified M^me Rizqy of “Moroccan service” because of her interventions on the Bedford school. Since then, she has requested increased security protection.

By denying the facts observed at the Bedford and La Voie schools, Mr. Bouazzi damages the credibility of his party. We will take him less seriously when he denounces real cases of racism and xenophobia.

1. Read the government’s investigation report into Bedford School