Asian Quebecers condemn French-language programs for offensive classroom material
Asian-Canadians are condemning two Quebec French-language programs after course material containing offensive stereotypes was distributed to students.
Jimmy Chan, president of the Chan Association of Montreal, said he was stunned upon laying eyes on the worksheets, one of them referencing a stereotype about Asian cuisine and the other featuring an Asian caricature.
“It’s crazy. It’s really disturbing,” he told CTV News.
At the École internationale de français of the Université du Québec in Trois-Rivières (UQTR), students were given a worksheet containing an offensive stereotype about Chinese cuisine.
In text depicting a conversation between two people, one character is asked whether they like Chinese food, to which they reply, “Are you kidding me? I don’t eat cat.”
“This is no respect for other people’s culture,” said Chan in reference to the worksheet.
But according to the UQTR, images of the document — which circulated on social media and were first reported on by CBC News — are being taken out of context.
“It is an excerpt from a discussion between two fictional characters, where one of them presents great ignorance about culinary habits in different cultures,” said spokesperson Jean-François Hinse in an email.
Hinse said the school is nevertheless removing the text from the website where it was made available to students.
“We apologize for any discomfort this publication may have caused,” he said.
Critics were also disturbed by another depiction handed out at a different school.
At the Centre Louis-Jolliet, a Quebec City adult learning centre, students were given a worksheet featuring a cartoon of an Asian man in a straw hat, accompanied by the words “He has small eyes.”
Bryant Chang, vice president of the Chinese Association of Montreal, says depictions like these only fuel anti-Asian racism, which had already surged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“My initial reaction was shock,” he said.
“This shouldn’t be taught in schools.”
The Centre Louis-Jolliet did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
MORE EDUCATION
Both Chan and Chang said the solution to these types of depictions is education.
Chan said Quebec should implement special measures to teach high school and college students about different cultures.
“The way they dress, the way they eat, the traditions — can they create something like that? That is the only solution, to educate people,” he said.
For Chang, special care should be paid to instructors to teach them about cultural sensitivity.
“The educators should themselves be educated.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6976926.1721883767!/httpImage/image.png_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.png)
DEVELOPING Alberta's request for federal assistance approved after fast-moving wildfire hit Jasper National Park: Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on social media that Ottawa has approved Alberta's request for federal assistance after a fast-moving wildfire hit Jasper National Park and its townsite late Wednesday.
BREAKING Loblaw, George Weston to settle class action over bread price-fixing for $500 million
Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and its parent company George Weston Ltd. say they have agreed to pay $500-million to settle a class-action lawsuit regarding their involvement in an alleged bread price-fixing scheme.
EXCLUSIVE One address, 76 foreign currency dealers: Inside Canada's money service business 'clusters'
An IJF and CTV News investigation has found dozens of cases across Canada where multiple money services businesses (MSBs) are incorporated at the same address, sometimes without the knowledge or consent of the location's actual occupant. One money laundering expert calls it an 'abuse of the system.'
U.K. police officer suspended after video appears to show a man being kicked in head
A British police officer was suspended from all duties Thursday after a video was posted on social media that appeared to show an officer kicking and stamping on the head of a man lying on the floor of a terminal at Manchester Airport.
Barrie-Innisfil MPP 'blacked-out' and crashed car into window of child care centre
Staff at a Barrie child care centre say they are frustrated by what they call a local MPP's inadequate response after a car crashed through a window in one of the toddler rooms.
Norad intercepts Russian and Chinese bombers operating together near Alaska in apparent first
The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) intercepted two Russian and two Chinese bombers flying near Alaska Wednesday in what appears to be the first time the two countries have been intercepted while operating together.
Biden explains why he ended re-election bid in Oval Office address
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday delivered a solemn call to voters to defend the country's democracy as he laid out in an Oval Office address his decision to drop his bid for reelection and throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Jasper mayor says alert system to be reviewed after message 'glitch'
More than 25,000 people have been displaced from Jasper National Park since wildfires started to threaten the picturesque corner of Alberta Rockies on Monday, but the mayor of its namesake municipality says not everyone received an evacuation alert when it was sent out.
Unclaimed bodies are piling up in Newfoundland. A funeral director blames the government
A funeral director in St. John's says the bodies piling up in freezers at Newfoundland and Labrador's largest hospital likely belong to people whose loved ones couldn't get enough government help to pay for a funeral.