François Legault has a different definition of “systemic” racism

During today’s press briefing in the Eastern Townships, Quebec Premier François Legault was asked about how he defines systemic racism, an issue that he has repeatedly said does not exist in Quebec.

“I think that there is some racism in Quebec,” François Legault said. “I think the vast majority of Quebecers are not racist. Right now it’s important that we all work together to reduce racism, especially in the police. Again, the vast majority of people and police are not racist, but we have to make sure that we put some rules in place to make sure that it doesn’t happen. We don’t tolerate any kind of racism, but I don’t wanna start a fight about a word.”

When asked again to respond to the fact that many experts in race relations do believe that Quebec has systemic racism, including those who worked on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls report, Legault responded as follows:

“I think that all experts don’t have the same definition of ‘systemic.’”

Read the latest column by Toula Drimonis, “Quebec has a systemic racism problem, obviously,” here.

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