Will The Emerson Avenger Be Able To Astonish Bernard Landry? Time Will Tell. . .

Well I finally got around to making two French language picket sign slogans for my ongoing protest in front of the Québec Human Rights Commission yesterday and just in a nick of time too. . . since Bernard Landry, the former Parti Québecois leader and premier of Québec walked out of the building that houses the offices of what is known in French as La Commission des Droits de la Personne du Québec as I was protesting during the lunch hour this afternoon. He stopped and stood less than ten feet in front of me as I faced the doorway where people were exiting the building and he took the time to read the bilingual picket sign slogans that were directly facing him. I briefly explained to him that I was protesting against the failure, and even the refusal, of La Commission des Droits de la Personne du Québec to responsibly act upon my grievances about religious discrimination and harassment. I did not go into any details of my case as there was simply no time to do so but when he said, "Ca m'etonnerais." (That would astonish me.) in response to my initial assertions I responded that the Quebec Human Rights Commission actually has a rather poor track record when it comes to dealing with complaints about religious discrimination and harassment and, at least in my own case, is extremely reluctant to handle them at all. M. Landry said something to the effect that he would "look into it" and then crossed the road to get into an awaiting car. I am seriously thinking of following up on that providential meeting with a former premier of Québec and asking Bernard Landry to see to it that the Quebec Human Rights Commission's handling of my own case, and other cases involving religious discrimination and harassment, are responsibly subjected to some "oversight" by an appropriate department of the Québec government.

Last night I protested as people were leaving from work between about 4pm and 6pm. Two different people leaving the building approached me and expressed their own dissatisfaction and disillusionment with the handling of their own cases by the Quebec Human Rights Commission. Neither case involved religious discrimination and harassment but that does not change the fact that two people who had some experience with the QHRC were far from impressed by how it responded to their complaints. The first person was a tall gentleman and I have an idea who he might be but will keep it to myself for now just in case I am mistaken. He saw my picket signs slogans and immediately said, "You're right. . . They f*ck you." He did not go into any detail about his case but made it clear that he felt that he had been seriously jerked around by the Quebec Human Rights Commission and that they had failed to protect his human rights. He said that he was writing a book about his unsatisfactory experience with the QHRC. The second person to approach me was an American expatriate who went into considerable detail about how the Quebec Human Rights Commission had not only failed to protect her from age discrimination but how it's handling of her case was characterized by bureaucratic bungling and incompetence. We actually spoke for quite some time and I encouraged her to write about her experience in detail and post it to the internet.

That's all for now. More later. . .

The above photo of The Emerson Avenger aka Robin Edgar was taken by noted Montreal photojournalist Benoit Aquin.

Merci Benoit!