Are you tired of politics? Do you feel like it’s pointless to care? Are you not voting?
If you said yes, there are two possible outcomes for you. For most people, nothing much will happen. You will live a life of blissful ignorance. However, if you are a person of a racial or ethnic minority, the cost of that ignorance is enormous.
Bearing the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic
From racism to social inequities, communities of color are suffering the most from the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, including Quebec. A Korean man was stabbed in the streets of Montreal in March 2020. This event is part of a worrying trend of anti-Asian racism since the beginning of the pandemic.
Communities of color are also dying disproportionately from COVID-19. StatsCan reported that racially diverse areas of Quebec suffer COVID fatalities at triple the rate of nearly all-White areas. In particular, Black Canadians die the most from COVID-19 than any other group, at 150 deaths per 100k in Montreal areas with the highest percentage of Black residents.
123 COVID-19 deaths per 100k in racially diverse Quebec neighborhoods VS 35 deaths per 100k in White neighborhoods, according to StatsCan.
Finally, the death of Joyce Echaquan at a Joliette hospital in face of negligence and racist insults proves that Indigenous communities do not receive fair healthcare in general.
Is it because racial minorities are biologically more deserving of violence?
Is it because racial minorities are biologically more predisposed to COVID mortality?
Of course not.
The reason for these discrepancies is racial inequality. The Asian-Canadian experience, including the Asian-Quebecer experience, has never been at the forefront of our zeitgeist. We are quite silent, indistinguishable from “where we came from”. This makes us perfect targets for racially motivated attacks.
Racial minorities earn less income than their White counterparts in general. Since wealth correlates with behavior, racial minorities are more exposed to the virus than the majority. In addition, systemic racism is present in healthcare delivery in Canada, thus breaking trust between the healthcare providers and minorities. In Quebec, we even have the political conviction of preventing people from speaking English and everything not French in hospitals. This will make the vaccination campaign much more difficult.
Consequence
If you are not part of a racial or ethnic minority in Quebec, all these terrible news sound like some civil war in a third world country. It’s something so foreign and distant that the consequence of not caring is not impacting you in any shape or form. But if you care about someone that is part of a minority in Quebec, you may empathize with the struggle.
The motto of the major political parties in Quebec is that they don’t care about minorities. I see Dominique Anglade from the Quebec Liberals as a traitor for minorities. The other three parties in the National Assembly are not even trying. If you are a White Francophone, not caring about politics still guarantees you a decent level of healthcare services.
But if you are part of a minority, you don’t have this privilege. You will face challenges that the majority simply doesn’t face, even when they willfully ignore politics.
If we, minorities, were to stand up, we would face much fewer hurdles in accessing healthcare. We would not be a moving target to blame for the pandemic. We would die less of COVID-19. Systemic racism would at least be acknowledged in Quebec. And our voices would show up more often in the news and among Quebec pundits.
I took the decision to enter Quebec politics by founding the Universal Party. It is not an easy thing to do. I don’t expect anyone to do this. But I hope you pay more attention to Quebec and Canadian politics. By reading this blog, you already did something. Keep it up!
Please vote in the elections.
Next time, we will see the ramifications of political inactivity in terms of civil rights for minorities in Quebec. That is what motivated me the most to go into politics.
