Sunday, April 18, 2010

NY Times obit of Michel Chartrand shows ignorance

The Sunday April 18 NY Times obituary of Michel Chartrand hit a nerve.
In the first sentence, Chartrand is called a firebrand 'Canadian' labor leader. Right away, here's bias or stupidity or both! Chartrand spent his entire adult life fighting to be identified as Québécois instead of Canadian.
Douglas Martin, one of the Times' veteran obituary writers, then refers to Chartrand's court outburst as 'vulgar'. A cheap, very cheap shot. Chartrand was one of the more than 400 individuals arrested and jailed for months during Québec's October Crisis of 1970 when Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act and suspended civil liberties. At his trial several months later on a charge of sedition, Chartrand spoke to the judge in strong terms, accusing him of being "prejudiced, partial and fanatical." Looking down on the judge (Chartrand was very tall and large), he added: "You're smaller than I thought." That's how Montreal's English language press translated it. In French, 'petit' in this context would have referred to intellect as much as stature. Fiery, imprudent, yes; vulgar, no.
Also, in his obiturary, Martin retells how Chartrand entered the Trappist monastery as a young man. His comment about Chartrand being able to keep the vow of silence as 'remarkable' is gratuitous and shows a true lack of respect.
I doubt that the writer knows much about the unrest and turbulence in Québec in the 60s and 70s. His obituary of Chartrand, one of the icons of that era, is a rewrite of the English-language press items in Canada since his death April 12. If Douglas Martin had bothered to, or been able to, read what the French media had to say, the NY Times piece might have been more nuanced and more honest.