Couillard sidesteps discrimination at diversity forum, focuses on 'jobs, jobs, jobs'

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard has announced a number of new initiatives aimed at helpingimmigrants integrate into the workforce, calling the a one-day diversity and anti-discrimination foruma "productive day."

In his opening remarks at the forum, Couillard did not mention the words discrimination or racism, speaking instead of problems businesses are having finding employees.

The forum, whichfocused on job opportunities, employment and training and on "concrete" solutions to solve economic issues facing immigrants, was a watered-down version of the systemic racism inquiry the Couillard government committed to earlier this year.

Couillard saidthe change in focusand tonecomes straight from the citizens who were consulted by his government leading up to Tuesday's event.

"This is the signal we received from immigrants," he said. "We want jobs. Jobs, jobs, jobs. That was the near-unanimous answer."

Among the new "significant" measures announced Tuesday, Couillard promised increased, predictable funding for organizations that help immigrants,especially in the regions.

He also spoke about improving financial aid to companies to help with recruitment and training, improving programs to recognize competencies and access to professional orders, creating a strategy to retain temporary foreign workers and creating a program for immigrant entrepreneurs who want to starttheir own companies.

Couillard said more details willbe presented in the budget in spring.

Citizen-led consultations in parallel

Meanwhile, acitizen-led coalition announced aplan to hold itsownracism and discriminationconsultations, saying the government's model doesn't touch on a vast array of experiences of systemic racism in the province.

Immigration Minister DavidHeurtelsaid he will look at the coalition's findings seriously.

"If these groups want to work on specific issues regarding racism, good for them. Good for us, actually."

"We want a process that's organized by racialized communities for racialized communities and for people who have experienced racism and systemic discrimination to talk about their experiences," Mei Chu, representing a group calledProgressive Chinese of Quebec, told CBC Montreal's Daybreak.

The fact that the consultations will be citizen-ledmeans they will be focused on problems at hand,not on gaining votes or playing to the electorate, saidHarounBouazzi, co-president of theAssociation of Muslims and Arabs for a Secular Quebec, another group participating in theconsultations.

"We don't care if people are racist. What we care about is the fact that the [National Assembly] today, if we talk about political institutions, is almost entirely white. What we care about is that public institutions or private institutions, the second that you go a bit higher in the hierarchy, everyone is white."

Fewracializedparticipants at forum

Some people at the province's diversity forum in Quebec City expressedfrustration with the event's organization.

Samaa Elibyariwith the Canadian Council ofMuslim Womentold CBC there was not enough discussion of discrimination and its impact.

"We're not addressing the problem head-on. We're talking about employment, and there's nothing wrong with that, but we're skirting the issue here."

Elibyarisaid most of the participants at the table were white, while people of colour from the community groups represented were mainly sidelined as observers.

"We would have liked to have had more participation from the ethnic groups," she said.

Representatives fromgovernment, trade groupsand work-placement organizations, as well as unions andCEGEPs, took part in the government-sponsored forum.

When asked to comment on the fact that most of the forum's participants are majority white, Heurtel said:"What we brought together are the key social economic players,including unions, chambers of commerce, specialists in francization."

Bowing to political pressure?

The province'sinquiryinto systemic racism was to be wide-ranging, lookingat issues of racism in the sectors of employment, health, education, social services and housing.

The change in scope came in October, as some Liberals, includingCouillard, began publicly musing thatpolitical backlash against the consultationscontributed to the party's dismal results in abyelectionin the Quebec City area.

ThePartiQubcoisand CoalitionAvenirQubecboth called for the work to be abandoned, saying it amountedto putting Quebec society on trial.

Heurtelannounced the focus of the much-anticipated consultations would be shifting to improvingeconomic opportunities for immigrants and visible minorities a move that was panned by some community organizations that were slated to participatein the inquiry.

Some of those groups have already gone on to hold their ownconsultations on systemic racism.

• Reduced mandate of Quebec's racism inquiry 'very political,''unacceptable,' groups say

"We will put together a report. What the minister will do with that report, we don't have control over," said the head ofQuebec'sLGBTQcouncil,Marie-PierreBoisvert, whose group decidedin late October to proceed with planned hearings withLGBTQpeople of colour.