Barbada is a very popular drag queen in Montreal. In addition to appearing in Village bars, she has been presenting stories for children in Quebec public libraries for several years.
Posted at 7:07
Created by Sébastien Potvin, this character is so popular that a series of ten programs has been produced for ICI Tou.tv. I told you about it in a column last March.
A few months ago, Sébastien Potvin was invited to offer L’heure du conte in the two libraries of the commune of Saint-Laurent (Du Boisé and Vieux-Saint-Laurent). The meetings with the little ones must take place in November.
The management of this district’s libraries has long wanted to welcome Barbada. The autumn program of the companies was recently presented to the municipal council.
When the five elected representatives of Saint-Laurent saw the name of Barbada in the list of activities, their minds filled with questions, fears and anxieties.
Ouch! Voters should not be disappointed! Ouch! We shouldn’t shock conservative citizens.
Before we continue, it should be noted that the Saint-Laurent district is governed by a council composed entirely of members of the Ensemble Montréal: Alan DeSousa (mayor), Aref Salem (leader of the official opposition), Vana Nazarian, Jacques Cohen and Annie Gagnier.
According to a library staff member I spoke to, who prefers to remain anonymous, the decision to cancel the event was made a few days ago. It was irreversible.
This council decision has sown “anger” among some library staff. “The staff is outraged,” the employee told me. It’s intolerance, it’s censorship. »
Employees find this position difficult to understand because they are asked by the City of Montreal General Manager to propose activities and initiatives that promote diversity and inclusion.
I wanted to speak to Alan DeSousa on Monday morning. I wanted to know how it went and what the reasons for this decision were. A few hours later I had him on the line. He dodged all of my questions about how the elected officials came to shut the door on this dual event.
Instead, he told me that he and other elected officials would meet with Sébastien Potvin (a suggestion by the latter and the library management) to discuss the remarks that will be made during storytime. “We don’t care if it’s a drag queen,” he told me. We are mainly concerned about the issues being discussed that might be sensitive. »
I repeat: the Barbada who cracks salty jokes in the village bars at 2am is diametrically opposed to the one who perches on a stool in front of children on Saturday morning.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
Barbados
I asked Sébastien Potvin to give me examples of stories he reads to children. There is the crocodile that was afraid of water. It tells the story of a crocodile that falls into the water and begins to sneeze. Sneezing, he starts spitting fire. The crocodile then realizes that it is a dragon. That’s why he was afraid of water.
There’s also Ada, the grumpy woman in a tutu, by Élise Gravel, who tells the story of a little girl who doesn’t like the ballet classes that are forced on her. She discovers her passion for karate. And then there’s The Princess and the Pony, which plunges us into the dream of Prunelle, who wants to have a muscular horse to become a warrior.
You can imagine the scene: Sébastien Potvin will meet elected municipal officials of metropolitan Quebec to tell them that he will tell children stories of crocodiles and princesses and that he will not talk to them about cocks and balls and nouns!
Do we need to calm down at this point? It seems so.
If there’s one message Barbada is passing on to children through its stories, it’s: You can be who you really are in life! It’s not nice, is it?
Alan DeSousa reminded me that “living together” was “made up” in his district. He also pointed out that his district has great cultural diversity.
Especially if this district has known “living together” for decades, shouldn’t it open up to this reality? Barbada isn’t the only drag queen in the world telling stories to children. Anyone who is interested in what is happening elsewhere knows exactly what is at stake.
What bothers me about this extreme caution is that elected officials want to decide what is good or bad for the morale of the citizens. Nobody is obliged to look at Barbada in a library. Can parents decide what is good or bad for their children?
This isn’t the first time the passage of Barbada into libraries has caused upheaval. Last June, the announcement of his arrival in Dorval sparked some scornful comments on social media. As a precaution, the organizers of the event called the police to make sure everything went well.
This fear, this damned fear of being afraid to offend, to stir up well-intentioned ideas, to create a storm on social media, this has led the five elected representatives of Saint-Laurent to hit the brakes together.
It would have been so much easier to get the information, trust the library managers who came up with the idea, and most importantly, rely on the good judgment of the citizens. Those who are open minded.