A Quebec City woman says she was kicked out of the recently-created Anglophones for Quebec Independence group for trying to start a discussion about new Parti Québécois leader Jean-François Lisée.
Freelance writer Nora Loreto says she and another member were "unanimously" voted out of the closed Facebook discussion group at a meeting this week in Montreal for trying to start the discussion about statements Lisée had made during the leadership campaign about Muslim religious headgear for women.
She suggests among members of the group, there was lots of excitement among its members about Lisée's election as PQ leader. Then, Loreto and the other woman started posting about Lisée on the group's Facebook page.
"We were saying, 'okay, but can we talk about some of the positions that he's taken, specifically during the leadership race around Islam, around how he interacted with [leadership runner-up Alexandre] Cloutier for having wished people a happy Eid, and his positions on the niqab and hijab', and that was immediately shut down," Loreto says.
In a private Facebook message, Loreto and the other woman were told by the group's founder, Jennifer Drouin, that having that discussion veered too far away from the group's mission, which is to discuss and promote Quebec independence. "You both stated that your support for independence was conditional on a laundry list of specific demands," the message read.
In addition, they were also told they were being "belligerent and disrespectful" with their posts, with Drouin likening their behavior to that of "Internet trolls" that "nobody has the time or energy to deal with."
Loreto says she's disillusioned about the apparent lack of room for genuine debate within the group — and suggests it will serve to drive away English-speakers who may be open to the idea of Quebec independence.
"To come across this in English with activists in Montreal was shocking. I just don't understand the political perspective of anyone who thinks that that is the way to attract anglophones to this cause. I think it's quite destructive."