Micheline Labelle. Racisme et Antiracisme Au Quebec. Discours et Declinaisons

Abstract

Micheline Labelle. Racisme et antiracisme au Quebec. Discours et declinaisons. Montreal : Presses de l'Universite du Quebec, 2010. 212 pp. $29.00 sc. This book purports to offer an analysis of the Quebec state's discourse on racism and anti-racism, as well as the position adopted by a few NGOs and citizens who submitted briefs to the 2006 public consultation on the government policy project designed to fight against racism. The book reviews numerous extracts from these "discourses;' round in various public policies and briefs. The author's main objective is to "question the soundness of certain agreed-upon (conventional) ways to approach the problem in Quebec" (158). Despite the book's attractive title and objectives, it exhibits important flaws and omissions, three of which are, in my view, significant: 1. The first one is the lack of conceptual framework for "discourse analysis" in a work that proposes to analyze "discourses" on racism and anti-racism. "Discourse analysis" covers a vast multidisciplinary field, that comprises numerous approaches and theoretical debates (Foucault's theory on discourse, Habermas's discourse ethics, etcetera). 2. The second one is the book's ambition to cover "the Quebec State's discourse" during the 2000s--the "State" comprises many levels of government, normative powers (executive, legislative, judicial), institutions and actors--while it only analyzes the "governmental discourse," from a few recent provincial policies. Hence, one can question the book's choice of ministries and institutions, of NGOs and citizens, because there is no justification of the selection criteria. Why were the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health excluded, given that they have adopted policies that concern racism and anti-racism? Why exclude the discourse of intellectuals, of researchers or even that of the media surrounding the 2006 consultation? Why limit one's analysis to 29 briefs out of 124, when the author submits, in conclusion, that a "strong consensus emanated from all 124 briefs" (157)? Consequently, there are astonishing omissions regarding the problematization of racism and anti-racism in Quebec. When the author describes the issues and theoretical debates, she fails not only to mention the issues that arise from ethnic and power relationships specific to the Quebecois context, but also the issues that are specific to Quebec research on this question. The author's survey of the literature, focused on American and European documentation, cannot provide the theoretical and historical context in Quebec, and the international issues, although relevant, cannot shed light on the reasons underlying the different positions that emanate from the various "discourses" in Quebec, nor on how they were expressed. Labelle fails to mention the views expressed by Quebec researchers since the 2000s concerning the government's discourse, especially recent analysis that puts into perspective the strengths and weaknesses of the government's discourse on racism (e.g., Marhraoui, McAndrew, Potvin). A more inclusive reading of research in Quebec would have allowed her to avoid certain misleading statements on "the authors" (which ones?) who, she states, analyze neo-racism while negating social representations that are linked to colonial racism, who confuse anti-racism and managing diversity, who adopt an overly extensive (or intersectional) approach. …