Everyday Observations: Quebec Intolerance

Everyday Observations

Quebec Intolerance

In imitation of the anti-religious symbol wearing ban in France Quebec has subtly started doing the same thing. Many a time I have been shot dirty looks or stared at when I sometimes cover my head under the blast of wind under the roof in some metro stations. Yesterday, on the bus a woman kept on staring at me when I did not take my scarf off of my head after I said my prayers in the bus. Every time she caught my eye she looked away with a disdainful twitch of her nose. As I passed her I clearly heard her utter a swear word in Quebecois French. Had I not been in a hurry to get off being perpetually late to work I would've turned back and said a few choice words. But then, if I did so, I would be stooping to her level.

The same treatment was given to two women who wore the niqab or face covering while they waited for the metro at Guy-Concordia station. Two young white men were busy passing obscene remarks at them in French. The two girls huddled in the corner of the metro. A few other Middle Eastern women and I covered our faces and heads and formed a circle around the women, all the while staring the young men down. The two men toned down their remarks somewhat. A small victory but a victory nonetheless.

I wonder if the young black men and wanna be hip hop or rap artists or music fans that wear those large imitation gold or silver crosses around their necks, lovingly christened as "bling" are given the same treatment. Bet they are not.

As I sat late at night last weekend taking advantage of a free wifi connection near my house to quickly check my email, some teenagers passed by and called me "illiterate dirty immigrant" in French. They added that there were Internet cafes for "this" and I was sitting outside with a Macbook. I wondered if the Arab keffiyah I wore under my hoodie to keep my head warm had something to do with it because it was quite dark for them to see my face under the rather large fur covered hood of my coat. It was quite fun though to yell back at them to mind their own business and that I had the freedom to do as I pleased. I saw them scamper and walk even faster. Bet they will think twice before passing rude remarks at other people.

But there is always the lighter side of the anti-scarf issue. At an anti-Afghan war rally a few years ago my Quebecois friend who wore an Arab keffiyah over his head was yelled at by two elderly French Quebecois women and called a "dirty terrorist." The look on their faces was priceless and made me put my camera down, sit on the sidewalk to hold my stomach and laugh when he turned around and told them off in heavily accented Quebecois French. Bet they did not expect that.

A few times I have seen white Quebecois men harass an immigrant from India or Pakistan by strategically walking around the man (as I observed at Jean Talon a few weeks ago) and calling out racial slurs in French while the man tried to unsuccessfully walk away from among the group of 6-7 young men. He eventually had to stop and wait for the boys to walk past and then walk with the larger crowd behind him. Had I not been in a hurry I would've stopped and told the young men exactly what I thought of them.