Artist and former Quebec Solidaire member Catherine Dorion’s new essay is aimed at “all the disrespectful people in Quebec” who want to escape the doldrums. By exposing in her book the obstacles that sapped her energy during her tenure in the National Assembly, particularly within her party, she hopes it can be of use to other activists.
The woman, who left politics more than a year ago, sits in the Oui oui Café in Quebec and emphasizes the importance of “awakening disrespect among the population.” His essay, which is also entitled “Les têtes brûlées”, is intended to represent a reappropriation of this derogatory term. “I’ve carried this with me my whole life. My mother told me: “You don’t see the danger.” But I was also told at many points in my life: “You’re going too far.” Have you thought about the consequences?” » She counters this with a sentence from the filmmaker Pierre Falardeau: “We always go too far for people who aren’t going anywhere.” »
Catherine Dorion is more of the opinion that what is currently a problem is the “failure of hope” that affects Quebec society. “We no longer believe in the future, we no longer know the point of investing energy, we are defeatist to the core, we no longer want to rise up.” » His book, which will be published in bookstores on Monday, should therefore be a call to collectively stop behaving like a “deer stopped in front of the truck headlights”.
“Speak freely”
In order to achieve this, politicians must be able to express themselves freely without being restricted by party boundaries, says the woman who sat in the Salon Bleu from 2018 to 2022.
In her essay, she recalls her speeches in public spaces, which made headlines but also irritated Solidarity co-speaker Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, as she reports. “It expresses to me very clearly the core of the problem […] : “You have more media attention than the speakers, that’s not normal.” As they say in the theater: I’m on stage. “That’s not happening,” she writes.
Catherine Dorion says she understood at the time that the media “attacks” on her clothing – such as wearing hoodies at Salon Bleu – would “divide” Mr Nadeau-Dubois and her.
Rather, the mother of three had hoped that the 33-year-old politician would take the same stance as he did in 2018, shortly after the election of ten Solidarity MPs. “Are we bothering you, are we pushing you? Get used to it,” he said at the time. “I thought that was the style [du parti] and that in the face of this disrespect we would develop a sense of belonging, which I think is essential,” she emphasizes.
She laughs that the “punk” attitude is spread evenly across all social groups in Quebec. “It’s very common among immigrants, local people, young and old,” she notes.
Between doubt and necessity
The 41-year-old admits that she had doubts when writing her book, particularly fearing that certain passages would be picked up by “right-wing commentators to weaken the left”. “But at the same time, it will only be temporary. And I think the insights I provide can lead to debates and reflections that can be useful in the longer term,” she adds.
She also mentions Mr Nadeau-Dubois, who she says, like many others, is involved in an important part of the political game, which is to engage in “emotional pressure and power negotiations”.
Ms. Dorion hopes that Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois and Manon Massé, who is preparing to pass the co-speaker torch while remaining MPs, will take the time to read her essay. “They won’t be happy, but I just hope that they understand why and that they don’t think it should directly harm them because there is no such thing,” she whispers. Her eyes are blurry.
It’s more about recognizing and thinking about the different power relationships, especially in party politics, she explains. “We have become so convinced that the enemy has a name and that he is called “the other party” or whatever, that your brain then acts as if the other forms of power that want to limit and crush you do act as if it doesn’t exist. And the closer he is to you in your work environment, the harder it is to see him,” she explains with a sharp look.
Stolen energy
She regrets that the sum of obstacles robbed her of some of her vitality during her time in office. However, the former Taschenreau MP believes she is doing much better now than before she left politics. When she read her essay, friends confessed that they were unaware that she had suffered so much during her time in office, particularly because of the media barrage. “I was cursed. But I no longer feel cheated. What is certain, however, is that I won’t come back with the energy I had before. »
She admits that her exhaustion reached such a level during her time in the National Assembly that she was no longer able to immerse herself in reading novels or essays. “It happened so quickly that I could read scraps of texts and reports, but I no longer had the concentration for the books or to write. I wanted to bring art into politics, but at the end of my term I was no longer able to create anything. »
Looking back, Catherine Dorion certainly doesn’t get bored with an MP’s busy schedule, “just thinking about it makes her want to throw up.” “But we had a weight on the line. “That’s the hot side of a party,” she emphasizes, referring to the mobilizations that she organized against the Third Link, among others.
She does not rule out a return to active politics one day. “Maybe later in life, around sixty. But right now I have zero energy. » The artist who left the Salon Bleu to “ignite the social movement” with his creations will take the stage in 2025 to present a documentary theater piece about politics. “It’s a little inspired by the book, but goes further into our relationship and our submissiveness to work. »
The hotheads. Punk Hope Notebooks
Catherine Dorion, Lux Éditeur, Montreal, 2023, 376 pages