From Bert Archer, Montreal Gazette Editor regarding the controversial Boris cartoon:
There has been a good deal of outrage over the most recent Boris cartoon published online Monday afternoon and in print Tuesday morning. It depicted an elderly lady in Montreal not paying attention while her small dog pissed in the direction of a poster commemorating René Lévesque’s centenary.
© Montreal Gazette/Jacques "Boris" Goldstyn
I wouldn’t usually step in to explain or defend a cartoon or column. Their authors are employed to voice their opinions, not ours, and the two don’t always intersect.
But this cartoon has deeply upset some readers, so I’d like to explain what I saw when I was sent this cartoon yesterday afternoon.
Read Bert’s interpretation here.
… that his intention was to denounce the contempt that some anglophones in Quebec have for Lévesque, whose 100th birthday was celebrated by heavyweights in Quebec politics earlier this year at the Quebec National Library in Montreal. The former premier is considered the father of Quebec’s independence movement.
In a country that is “officially” bilingual there is more chances for an english speaking person to obtain a response in Quebec then it is the Yukon. “Quebec bashing” is a Montreal Gazette specialty.Meanwhile, while the American airwave have saturated us with American culture, Quebec is the only province that produce the most French content intended to preserve our culture. Quebec as long ago shared many things with the Anglophones. Mary Travers gave us La Bolduc and Céline Dion ambraced the whole wide world. Isn’t time to bury the ax?