The Writer's Weekly

Good morning everyone! This is my 100th post! Time goes by so quickly.

Our Governor-General Michaelle Jean was recently called a reine-negre (negro queen) by Victor-Levy Beaulieu, a writer of fiction, non-fiction, drama and poetry. He is considered one of Quebec's intellectual heavyweights.

Beaulieu said Ms. Jean was appointed to her post as G-G because she was "black, young, pretty, ambitious, and because of her husband, certainly a nationalist as well."

In a recent interview the author defended his text saying he had not intended to be racist.

That's not how some of the Quebec political leaders see it however.

He may be considered an intellectual heavyweight, but that does not give him the right to voice his narrow-minded comments regarding a person based on their skin colour. (If Jean had been white I seriously doubt he would have nicknamed her the reine-blanche.) Living in Quebec I am well aware of how racist Quebecers (especially older Quebecers) can be. If you travel to Quebec City, for example, you will find hardly any non-white people living there. It is not hard to figure out why, they are not welcome. It's hard to explain, but the few minorities that I have met that lived there said they were not really welcomed anywhere and soon moved to Montreal.

M. Beaulieu recently threatened to burn copies of his entire body of work as a protest against the growth of bilingualism in Quebec.

Burn copies of his books in protest...give me a break! There's something strangely medieval about that threat. And what a great loss it would be to have a few less of his books on this planet. He obviously thinks very highly of himself!

I have never understood why French Canadians becoming proficient in English threatens some Quebecers so much. I think it could only be an advantage. Being bilingual opens many doors and it does not mean that the French Canadian culture will disappear! I think it adds to the culture immensely.

But if you watch the news here in French you realize that Quebecers are very isolated. The French news does not report on world events like the English media does. When watching the French news you could almost forget that there are other countries and bigger issues than French Canadian children learning English at school, for example. It's a very skewed version of what's going on and it appears that M. Beaulieu has bought into that view as well.

It is unfortunate that so many people want to put up fences around themselves. As soon as M. Beaulieu nicknamed a prominent black woman in one of his pieces he displayed his complete ignorance of black culture and, of course, our Governor-General as well.