Photo: Jacques Boissinot The canadian Press
Dieudonné Ella Oyono was elected to the presidency of the PQ in November 2019.
When he was elected to the presidency of the Parti québécois (PQ) there are less than a year, Dieudonné Ella Oyono was given the mission to create a constant dialogue with the new Quebec. Today he’s trying to recruit activists pq members from diverse backgrounds to go to the meeting of the cultural communities in their region.
“What I would like to do is apply the same process by which I arrived at the PQ “, he explained in an interview. This immigrant originally from Gabon, settled in Quebec since 2001, had heard of the independence party through Nicolas Marceau, who was then one of his economics professors during his doctoral studies at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). Mr. Marceau became mp and later minister of Finance in the government of Pauline Marois.
Mr. Oyono first joined the executive of the association of riding of Pointe-aux-Trembles and has also tried his luck in the elections of 2018 against the liberal Dominique Anglade in the riding of Saint-HenriSainte-Anne, where it has bitten the dust. The PQ had received the worst defeat of its history through the election only ten members. There are only nine since the defection of Catherine Fournier, become mp independent in march 2019.
However, the PQ needs more support within communities cultural if he wants to take back the power and possibly win a referendum on sovereignty, according to Mr. Oyono. “The independence of Quebec will not be without the new Quebecers who are not familiar with the PQ outside of how he is described by his opponents “, noted it in February, in his report on his first 100 days in the presidency of the party.
Charter of quebec values, application of the secularity of the State for daycare workers and non-recognition of the systemic racism, the positions of the Parti québécois yesterday and today seem to have away from the newcomers. “The people with whom I speak personally and what I hear in the various communities, the position of the new Quebec is not very far from the position of Quebecers in general, so I don’t think it is an obstacle for us “, has he supported. He recalled that the Parti québécois had proposed 20 measures to fight racism in 2018, addressing, for example, to the recognition of prior learning. Mr. Oyono wants to demonstrate to the neo-Quebecers that his party is concerned about issues related to their integration.
Quebec independence will not happen without the new Quebecers who are not familiar with the PQ outside of how he is described by his opponents
— Dieudonné Ella Oyono
A first meeting took place in June with a dozen or so activists who will act as” ambassadors ” of the PQ among cultural communities. Mr. Oyono already planning a second meeting for training new representatives. Its goal is to recruit thirty people who are going to the meeting of all the cultural communities of their region. “More people are going to meet, the more people will share, the more they will realize that we wear the same aspirations,” said the one who has met members of the communities of haitian, algerian and cameroon during the months that preceded the pandemic.
These new ambassadors could, however, face another obstacle : the sense of belonging of Quebec in Canada. According to a poll by Leger conducted on behalf of the Association for canadian studies, 80% of Quebecers — all origins combined — say they are proud to be Canadians. The non-probability survey was conducted online with of 1514 Canadians, including 414 in Quebec.
Mr. Oyono believes that this surprising result is due to the current circumstances. “You get out of a pandemic, the federal government has opened the flood gates with the Providing canadian emergency and Delivery canadian emergency for the students and all of these measures-there, ta-t-he advanced. I think that the people who responded still have this in mind and probably have in mind what happened in our CHSLD the opposite of what happened in residences for seniors elsewhere in Canada. “He remains convinced that taking the time to explain the independence of Quebec, some of the newcomers will eventually join.
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