by GABRIEL NADEAU-DUBOIS
Last Thursday, a police officer from the Service de police de la ville de Québec (SPVQ) shot 18-year-old Noémie Trudeau-Tremblay in the face with a tear gas canister at point-blank range. The images of the assault that circulated were qualified as “shocking” and “troubling” by Quebec’s Liberal minister of public safety and provoked a wave of indignation across social networks. Beyond the anger that the event produced, one thing is obvious: Quebec has a serious police brutality problem. However, the roots of the issue go deeper than just police training and culture. In order to grasp this phenomenon, one must also question the reigning climate in our public spaces. Whose voices are on the minds of the police officers when they so viciously attack protesters?
The day following the incident, one of the capital city’s radio hosts affirmed, “as a taxpayer,” being “very proud of the work of the police officers yesterday.” A few days earlier, a headline in the Journal de Québec touted “The Québec City method,” praising the efficiency of the previous day’s police intervention, which saw nearly 250 protesters surrounded and then arrested under a mere municipal by-law. That same day, a host from another radio station in the capital congratulated the police dog that seriously bit a protester: “The police dog deserves a good Gaines-Burger!” he exclaimed on-air.
These questionable statements are the climax of the dangerous rhetorical escalation we have been witnessing since the beginning of the student mobilization a week ago. The airwaves of the capital region carry the message that it is imperative that “the Quebec government request the enforcement of the War Measures Act and that the army take over Quebec.” On the same station a few days prior, it was declared that “the government should pass an anticipatory special law. To warn people that if there are troublemakers, we’ll get them right away. We’ll shoot on sight if necessary!”
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