In the wake of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash and the death of a young woman named Noreen Bousquet, we take a look at the impact of her tweet calling for more empathy for the victims of the crash.
00:00:00.000Let me begin with you. What do you think of the terrible backlash to Nora and do you think she, you know, and her response?
00:00:12.560Well, first I do want to say that that was a very powerful statement and she said some really true and valid and authentic statements or words within that statement that I think we should reflect on.
00:00:23.560And those words are inequality, systemic racism, and the fact that she's been experiencing violent threats.
00:00:31.180And this isn't new for anybody who speaks out against injustices within this country.
00:00:35.700There's always a risk that comes with that.
00:00:37.920And particularly when women, people of color, racialized communities, indigenous communities, when they do speak out against systemic racism, they often risk having these type of violent tweets issued towards them.
00:00:53.560So what I think about all of this is, yes, the tweet may have been inappropriately timed, but nobody, nobody deserves what Nora has been, has gone through over these last couple of days.
00:01:05.480I think the timing was probably ill-advised, but if you read what she said, she was in no way diminishing the grotesque horror of what happened.
00:01:14.600She was acknowledging, as any sane person would, how grotesque it was.
00:01:18.560What she was pleading for is a leap of empathy so that every community, every person who suffers should be treated with equal compassion and love.
00:01:29.680When it comes to, for example, indigenous women disappearing, being murdered, inner city black kids, gay men in Toronto's village, is that same compassion and love and shared grief observable?
00:01:42.660Well, I would say not, but that's in no way to diminish what happened. Surely we can define ourselves by more than just someone being like us.
00:01:49.940So what she said was not actually wrong. Now, the response to her, and I've corresponded with her a bit since all this happened, has been extraordinary.
00:01:57.720Vicious, misogynistic, racist. There were even anti-Semitic attacks.
00:02:01.780She's not Jewish, but some of these people were so manic and so violent.
00:02:06.240And I think this is a point that has to be made.
00:02:08.080They were so compassionate towards the people who died in Humboldt that they wanted to kill someone.
00:02:14.360They were so sensitive to other people's grief that they were screaming for someone to be killed and going after her family.
00:02:21.340And I have to say, I mean, it is principally women and people who speak out about injustice.
00:02:25.840But about five years ago, when I had a change of opinion on equal marriage and some moral issues, I saw the gates of hell.
00:02:34.360I think the social media sphere is not the best place to have these sort of intellectual dialogues.
00:02:41.560And it's very difficult to have these conversations when we're feeling so deeply.
00:02:45.220It's very difficult to have these conversations when we're outpouring our love and support for people.
00:02:50.900And I think, you know, speaking for myself, you know, there are times in my life where tragedy hits the LGBTQ community.
00:02:59.120We can look directly at the Pulse Massacre and we hope that the nation stops and mourns.
00:03:05.360And, you know, I'll be honest, there were people who didn't stop and mourn.
00:03:10.700There were people who kept on walking.
00:03:13.620And I think Humboldt is a reminder that we as Canadians have the capacity for great compassion and great love and great financial support for people when they're in need.
00:03:24.280And I think we need to look forward now and set this as the new bar, the new standard for that, for the next time when someone's hurt, that we step up in this significant and powerful way.
00:03:35.100The notion of free speech, and this is something else that has to be said, you know, both left and right can be oppressive and rude and abusive and vulgar.
00:03:45.240Anyone who thinks it's only the right or only the left doesn't understand social media and the nature of politics.
00:03:50.800But some of those people who have been attacking this tweet and other similar situations are the first to say that their free speech is being limited.
00:03:59.360For example, the Jordan Peterson issue, here was someone who has got millions of people now around him who says he's a champion of free speech.
00:04:06.580Well, I'm not saying that he's the issue here, but does free speech apply to all people?
00:04:11.840One tweet would not have hurt anyone, really.
00:04:15.600And I can't imagine many people in Humboldt were even aware of this.
00:04:18.680But it was made a public issue and a major issue and an international issue, but all the reaction to it.
00:04:23.740And can I just say, just to circle back to the free speech conversation, it's very clear.
00:04:29.000Free speech defenders are only interested in defending white nationalism, defending white supremacy within this country,
00:04:35.140and defending those who don't want new immigrants, let's say, or racialized people within their borders.
00:04:41.220So we always come back to this conversation when we ask, where are the free speech defenders?
00:04:45.760When it comes to racialized communities who speak out against injustice, how come they aren't coming to our defense?
00:04:50.880If we look at it time and time again, free speech defenders are only really interested in white nationalist conversations.
00:04:58.740It was a poorly timed tweet, but no one in their right mind deserves to seek violent death threats.
00:05:04.400And this should not be playing out on social media.
00:05:06.660And when it comes to McLean's, it's quite interesting because they're casting subjective punishment,
00:05:12.080depending on who you are as an individual.
00:05:14.360They have many individuals on their roster, whether they're staff writers or whether they're freelancers,
00:05:19.620who say wildly inappropriate things all the time.
00:05:23.080So how is it that this one particular person faces this particular punishment and receives this statement while others don't?