Quebec's longest serving MNA has apologized for using the N-word while speaking to high school students last month.
While visiting with kids at the Ecole secondaire La Camaradière in Quebec City, Francois Gendron said he "worked like a n-----."
Speaking exclusively to CTV News, the Parti Quebecois MNA for Abitibi-Ouest admitted to using racial epithet when responding to a question about the toughest ministry he worked in—but in the context of an old Quebec expression.
"I responded that when I was in natural resources, I loved the ministry but I had to work hard and instead of saying that, I said, ‘I worked like a n-----,’” Gendron said.
“Normally when we use this expression in Quebec, it means 'to work hard,'" he continued, adding he didn't understand what the fuss was about. "There is in no way any link with cultural communities, which I respect and I am happy to welcome."
"So I can't believe this [...] to try and make an issue out of this. I don't understand."
The school sent a complain to the National Assembly following Gendron's visit, saying "certain African and Haitian students were shocked to hear the expression."
Despite the complaint, the school's vice-principal declined to be interviewed, saying he believed the incident to have been blown out of proportion.
“It's an old expression. It appeared first in French in 1812,” explained Benoit Melançon, a professor of French literature at l'Université de Montreal and member of the Order of the Francophones of America.
“It was directly related to slavery," he continued. "When you ‘travailler comme un negre’, it means you work a lot, you have lots of work to do, it’s difficult.”
The term “negre” has been used in Quebec in many contexts over the years, he added, citing Pierre Vallieres' 1968 political manifesto called “Negres blancs d'Amerique”, and the 1985 book “Comment fair l’amour avec un Nègre sans se fatiguer” by Haitian-born writer Dany Laferriere.
“Of course sensibilities have changed. For a number of years, nobody cared much about the expression,” said Melançon.
“But over the last few years, things have changed radically. Nobody would use that today without noticing that some people could be hurt by that expression [...] People are more sensitive now than they used to be, and I really don’t understand how someone cannot be sensitive to these things in this day and age."
Gendron has represented Abitibi-Ouest since 1976.
—with files from CTV Quebec City Bureau Chief Maya Johnson