Globe and Mail defends piece on Dawson shootings

Last Updated: Thursday, September 21, 2006 | 4:42 PM ET

CBC News

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Quebec Premier Jean Charest are rebuking a Globe and Mail writer who wrote a recent article that suggested Quebec's francophone culture may have contributed to the Dawson College shootings.

The feature, written by Jan Wong and published in the Sept. 16 edition of the paper, described what happened inside Dawson College the day Kimveer Gill walked in and opened fire on students, killing one woman and injuring 19 other people. 

Wong wrote that a possible explanation could be found in the fact that Gill, like gunman Marc Lépine, who killed 14 women at l'École Polytechnique in 1989, were people of foreign background, not "pure laine" Quebecers, and their anti-social behaviour stemmed from their disaffection with Quebec society and its reluctance to welcome outsiders.

"What many outsiders don't realize is how alienating the decades-long linguistic struggle has been in the once-cosmopolitan city," Wong wrote in the two-page feature.

In a letter to the Globe and Mail published Thursday, Harper acknowledged that while Wong has a right to her point of view, her argument is "patently absurd and without foundation," and shows prejudice in blaming a whole society for the actions of one individual.

The Dawson shootings, like the Polytechnique massacre, were the evil actions of "one unstable person," wrote Harper. "These actions deserve our unqualified moral condemnation, not an excuse for printing prejudices masked in the language of social theory."

Charest also critical  

Harper's criticism echoed the outrage expressed by Quebec Premier Jean Charest in a letter to the editor published in Wednesday's edition of the Globe and Mail. Charest called Wong's analysis "narrow-minded" and disgraceful. The article "betrays an ignorance of Canadian values and a profound misunderstanding of Quebec," Charest wrote.  

"We have managed to preserve our language and culture and, in so doing, cherished the highest democratic ideals …. Because we speak French, because we are proud of our language, and because it is the first instrument of our freedom, we have reached out across oceans, built ties with the other nations, in particular with the global French-speaking community, and thereby contributed to Canadian diversity."

Charest went on to say, "In this kind of situation, anyone who ventures to put forward explanations or comparisons at the very least risks making a fool of himself. Jan Wong has certainly discredited herself with her gamble."

Wong's argument is outrageous, said André Pratte, an editorial columnist with Montreal newspaper La Presse. "When she says it's acceptable in Quebec to value racial purity, I mean, that is nonsense," Pratte said.

The seasoned Globe and Mail writer had little to say in response to the shower of criticism generated by her article. When CBC Montreal contacted Wong for her comment, she said she does not want to get involved in a public debate.

Globe and Mail responds

In Thursday's edition of the paper, an editorial addresses the "small uproar" created by Wong's provocative statements.  The editorial asserts that an argument could be made about the effect of Quebec's longstanding debate over language law, and the "politics of exclusion" have had on the "marginalization and perhaps alienation of non-francophone Quebecers."

But the paper admitted there's no cause and effect that could explain school shootings in Quebec.

"Did such marginalization in any way contribute to the violence at Montreal's Dawson College last week, or at the École Polytechnique in 1989? No such evidence exists." 

And while it's easy to understand the "outraged reactions" to Wong's assertations, given recent events in Quebec, the editorial concludes by reaffirming the need to "ask hard questions and explore uncomfortable avenues."