Nos amis canadiens du Qweebec

After weeks of Quebec's peculiar take on ethnic relations - everything from Herouxville's bizarre code of conduct for immigrants to Parti Quebecois leader Andre Boisclair's weird assertion that referring to Asians as having "slanted eyes" was a perfectly acceptable thing to do - I, and probably everyone else in the province, needed a break.

Like most people, I wanted not to have to think about constitutional matters or questions of reasonable accommodation or any of the other matters that interfere with what should be a nice life in a charmed country.

[...]

As a Canadian, it is a different matter. We who share a homeland with Wall see his art as being as much about our life and the world we have made as it is a process of creativity.

One of Wall's most famous works is Mimic (1982). For our purposes, in post-election Quebec 2007, it could be entitled Our Ugly Side.

It shows a street in an industrial area, with three people walking along a sidewalk almost abreast. It was a scene Wall saw on a street in Vancouver and recreated.

The middle character is a white man. He is holding hands with/dragging along his girlfriend, as he tries to catch up to an Asian man. As he strides forward he lifts the corner of his eye with his finger in an obvious racist gesture.

Shining a light on racism, Janet Bagnall, 4 avril 2007



Pierre Foglia nous avait averti