Is this election poster racist?

An election campaign poster from QubecSolidairehighlighting the party'spromise to provide free public dental insurance for everyone is gettinga lot of attention not all of it positive.

Some people say the poster is inclusive.Others say it's blatantly racist.

The poster is one of several that QubecSolidairecommissioned from local artists.

It's aclose-up, comic book-style illustration of a young black person's face.

The gender is unclear.The figure has long curly hair topped by a pink bandana, a shark tooth necklace and a pierced septum.

The dark-skinned figure has a gap-toothed smile, exposingteeth that are large and white.

The caption reads, in French:"Dental insurance for everyone."

'Bad joke'

When Montreal video game developerAneesahCrawleyfirst saw the poster, it reminded her of what she described as a "flat, old joke."

"I hate this joke.It's the idea of black people and white teeth that's the contrast," Crawley said."A 'smile in the dark,I can't see you' kind of joke."

Crawleysaid she was also offended by the use of a black personto represent someone in a lower-income bracket who might not be able to afford to see a dentist.

"It's the correlation between a black personand the message of free dental care for everyone,"CrawleytoldCBC.

"They really missed the mark," she said."I think they were going forinclusivity, and what they did is not that."

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MontrealerDavid Clarke was also troubled by the poster when he first saw it.He describesit as a caricature.

"I've yet to see a young black woman, immigrant or otherwise,in Montreal who looks like that," Clarke said.

"The rag on the head, the ring in the nose it's this racist, racially oriented stereotype."

Clarke said if QubecSolidairewanted to include a representation of a black person in its campaign advertising, it should have used a photograph of a real person.

"It's the same old attitude:you really don't have to be careful with what you do to depict the black community," Clarke said.

"They would not dare do a picture trying to include the Jewish community or the Chinese community with a caricature of a Jew or a caricature of a Chinese person."

Artist given 'complete freedom'

CatherineDorion, Qubec Solidaire's candidate in the Quebec City riding of Taschereau, istaken aback by the controversy.

Dorion toldCBCNewsthe idea was never to single out black people as needing help paying for a dentist.

"Everybody has a need for dental care. Myself, I never go to the dentist because I don'thave enough money," said Dorion, who works as an actress.

Dorionsaid the party left the design of its posters up to the artists who created them.

"We just didn't think about it.We let the artists have complete freedom."

"This is the result of freedom given to artists from all parts of Quebec."

Poster aself-portrait, artist says

The artist commissioned by Qubec Solidaire to create the dental-care poster, as well as some others, is Dimani Mathieu Cassendo a graphic novelist from Montreal North, who is black.

"It's a self-portrait," Cassendosaid with a laugh.

"I basedit on my own face.Is my face problematic?"

Cassendosaid thereaction speaks to a larger problem.

"It's a lack of representation.Ata time where we don't see many black faces in the public sphere, when we see one, we expect it to represent all of them," the artist said.

"If we had better representation, we would understand the multitude and complexity of the black community in Quebec."

When the posters first went on display, Cassendowas reluctant to give interviews about them, anticipating backlash from the extreme right but not from other black people.

"When it's people from the black community talking about their discomfort, I definitely find that disturbing," Cassendo said.

The graphic novelist stands by the posterand plans tocontinue drawing and producing art that represents diversity in all its forms.

With art, Cassendo said, 'It's normal that the reactions are intenseand passionate."

With files from CBC'sNantali Indongo

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