Barbara Kay controversy
In the past week, I have been interviewed by numerous radio stations, both French and English, and declared an enemy of the people, in so many words, in no less than three newspapers, including in a Post column...
[4] On August 6, 2006, Parti Québécois (PQ) leader André Boisclair, Bloc Québécois (BQ) leader Gilles Duceppe, Québec solidaire (QS) spokesperson Amir Khadir and Liberal Party of Canada Member of Parliament (MP) Denis Coderre participated in a rally in opposition to Israel's actions in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.
[1]Kay wrote that these Quebec politicians participated in the rally despite Hezbollah being an organization officially classified as a terrorist group by the Canadian government.
She also asserted that the rally's organizing committee "deliberately excluded a Jewish presence", which was "in itself an anti-Semitic act and a warning to any politician, whose business it is to remain neutral in affairs of this kind, to stay away."
Kay asked: "If these signs had read: 'We are all KKK,' 'Long life to Osama bin Laden,' 'We are all Nazis,' 'Women are pigs,' would these same leaders have turned the blind eye they did at the time?
Under the circumstances, it may be politically convenient for some left-wing Quebec politicians to stoke fires of enthusiasm for Hezbollah – an organization officially classified as a terrorist group by the Canadian government.
Gilles Duceppe stated that he was there in the interest of Israel and Lebanese civilian populations alike and André Boisclair said the Hezbollah flag had no place in Quebec.
[6] Montreal journalist Mark Abley also criticized Kay's piece, noting that both Duceppe and Coderre called for an immediate ceasefire and the disarming of Hezbollah in their speeches.
[12] Beryl Wajsman, the president of the Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal, wrote an article in the Canadian Free Press (CFP) in support of Kay.
On several occasions in the chronicle, the journalist deformed facts, to present only a part of the situation, aiming only at supporting her point of view that the leaders of independent Quebec would withdraw the Hezbollah of the list of the terrorist movements and that this new country would become a harbour for them.
The Council points out that, if the chroniclers can denounce with strength the ideas and the actions which they reject and carry judgements with complete freedom, nothing however authorizes them to deteriorate facts to justify interpretation that they draw.
So they self-censure before they publish.Kay added that this episode was: A reminder to other journalists to stay away from the sensitive issues I had the freedom to raise because I wrote for a medium beyond the reach of the QPC's ability to intimidate.
