In October 2020, two English-language school boards in Montreal decided to temporarily withdraw a high-school history workbook that includes a racial epithet. They also decided to put opaque stickers over the epithet.
Journeys Through the History of Québec and Canada refers to Pierre Vallières’s White Niggers of America. Vallières’s book, which was originally published in French in 1968, compares the liberation struggles of French Canadians and African Americans.
Jean-François Roberge, Quebec’s minister of education, subsequently spoke against the censorship of textbooks. He also introduced a motion on November 3, 2020, in the National Assembly to stress the importance of free expression in schools and reaffirm the assembly’s trust in the expertise and judgment of educators.
REPORTAGE
CBC News reports:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/national-assembly-motion-academic-freedom-n-word-1.5788335
In Le Devoir, Marco Fortier reports:
https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/education/588816/un-manuel-d-histoire-banni-a-cause-du-mot-en-n
In Montreal, CTV News reports:
In the Montreal Gazette, Brendan Kelly reports:
https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/n-word-controversy-emsb-lester-b-pearson-school-boards-pull-history-workbook
In the Huffington Post, Emilie Clavel reports:
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/n-word-textbook-quebec_ca_5f9ae6c0c5b61d63242022a5
CBC News reports:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/teachers-want-action-against-n-word-textbook-1.5781094
Verity Stevenson of CBC News reports:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/n-word-montreal-high-school-history-textbook-1.5778980
COMMENTARY
In the Montreal Gazette, Fariha Naqvi-Mohamed comments:
In the National Post, Lloyd Wilks comments:
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/lloyd-wilks-it-is-never-ok-to-say-the-n-word-even-in-academia
News byte courtesy: R. Franklin Carter