퀘벡의 한 농장에서 흑백 노동자들을 갈라,흑인 노동자들을 차별대우한 농장관리에 질타. 토요일,4월30일,2005년 3:40분. 토요일판 Globe and Mail 몬트리얼발-Celissa Michel은 2000년 어느날 공장에 일하러 갔을때,주간 노동자들은 농장안의 Cafeteria에서 식사를 할수 없다 라는 푯말이 세워져 있었던 기억을 잊지않고 있다. 대신에 그를 포함한 다른 100 여명의 일꾼들은 난방도 안되고, 물도 잘안나오고, 화장실도 신통치않고, 그외 냉장고시설을 포함한 다른 시설들이 불충분한 "흑인전용" 표시가 있는 Cafeteria 로 가야만 했다. "왜냐하면은 나는 이미 그곳이 사용 허가가 안되고 있는것을 알고 있었기 때문에, 나는 그러한 현실에 놀라지 않았다. 1998년에 이 농장에서 일을 시작한 이후로, 그곳에는 남자 안내원이 입구에서 이곳은 백인전용, 저곳은 흑인전용 푯말이 있는 식당으로 가라고 지시를 받았었다" 그를 포함한 다른 세명의 흑인 노동자들의 불평은, 몬트리얼에서 남서쪽으로 약 40분 거리에 있는, 캐나다에서 가장큰 농장의 주인 Centre Mariecher Eugene Guinois Jr.에 의해서 저지러진 만행의 대가로, 퀘백인권분쟁 위원회에서 강경한 벌칙을 내리게한 요인이 됐다. 32페이지에 달하는 보고서에서, 재판관 Pauze씨는 인종차별, 무시,분리수용등으로 범벅이된 스캔달이,1300 에이커에 달하는 거대한 농장에서, Michel을 포함한 많은 흑인 노동자들이 고용되여 농작물을 재배하고 있는 과정에서 발생했다는 사실에 경악을 금치 못한다 라고 평했다. 재판관은 "당신들이 지금 읽을려고 하는 이번 사건들은 2000-2001년 사이에 이곳 퀘백에서 일어난 것이다" 라는 문구를 서두로한 이번 사건에 한마디로 충격적일수 밖에 없다고 말했다. 그들의 증언에 따르면, 흑인 노동자들은 욕설과 때로는 구타를 당하는 경우도 있었으며, "이곳에는 우리들의 원숭이가 있다" 또는" 흑인들은 돼지와 같다"라는 낙서가 있기도 했다고 한다. 4명의 노동자가 진술하는,농장에서의 작업환경에 대한 심문을 듣는것은,미국남부에서 인종분리 정책을 폈던 그때와 다르지 않은 것임을 연상케 했다. 작업감독자 2명이 있었는데, 한명은 백인 노동자를, 그리고 다른 한명은 흑인으로, 흑인 노동자들을 분리 관리 했었다. 그이후, Michel은 용접공으로 직업을 바꾸어 현재 Laval에 있는 자동차 부품 생산 공장에서 일하고 있다. 그는 말하기를 현재는 동료직원들과 친분이 돈독하며, 어느누구와도 문제가 없이 잘 지내고 있다고 했다. 그래서인지 지금도 그는 Cafeteria 에서는 음식을 먹지 않고 있다. 이상은 오늘자 Globe and Mail지에 실린 기사중 일부입니다. 요즘은 또다시 캐나다에서 분리해 나가겠다고 협박을 하고 있지요. 이북의 김정일, 처럼 퀘백분리독립을 더많은 연방재정을 보조받기위한 수단으로 적절히 잘 사용하고 있는 그들의 본성을 봅니다. 이와 비슷한 인권유린사태가 아직 밝혀지지 않은 상당수의 퀘백농장에서 자행되고 있지 않다고 보기는 어렵겠지요? 치사한 우월주의자들.... 아래 원본 기사를 참조해 보시면 더이해가 될것같군요. 감사. Quebec farm segregated black workersRuling blasts management for discrimination against black labourers By MARTIN PATRIQUIN Saturday, April 30, 2005 Updated at 3:40 AM EST From Saturday's Globe and Mail MONTREAL — Célissa Michel arrived at work one day back in 2000, he saw a new sign posted reminding day labourers that they weren't allowed to eat in the regular cafeteria. Rather, he and roughly 100 others had to make do with a "blacks-only" cafeteria that lacked heat, running water, proper toilets, refrigeration and many other amenities. "I wasn't that surprised, because I already knew I wasn't allowed in there," Mr. Michel said. "Ever since I was there [in 1998], there was a guy who told us that one cafeteria was for whites, one was for black." But his eventual complaints, along with those of three other black workers, led to a damning decision recently by Quebec's Human Rights Tribunal against Centre Maraîcher Eugène Guinois Jr., one of Canada's largest commercial vegetable farms, located about 40 minutes southwest of Montreal. In her 32-page report, Judge Michèle Pauzé said she was "stunned, even scandalized" by the racism, neglect and segregation that took place at the 1,300-acre farm where Mr. Michel and scores of other black workers were hired to pick and process vegetables. The judge was so shocked by the case that she prefaced her decision with the phrase, "The events you are going to read happened here, in Quebec, during the years 2000 and 2001.'' The four workers testified to conditions on the farm that wouldn't seem out of place in the segregation era of the U.S. South. There were two superintendents, a white man for the white workers, and a black man for everyone else. According to their testimony, the black workers were verbally and physically abused on several occasions, and were the targets of graffiti reading "here are our monkeys" and "blacks are pigs." One witness, Ronald Champagne, said that when he tried to sit at picnic tables near the cafeteria, Denise Guinois, the owner's wife, told him the tables were "for Quebeckers only," and directed him to tables near the chemical toilets. Black workers, who were known as "the workers from Longueuil" after the Montreal suburb where many of them lived, were bused to and from the farm as day labourers, particularly during harvest time. They earned $350 a week. Mr. Michel, who was a staff member and not a day labourer, testified that he was once shoved out of the white cafeteria when he tried to reheat his food. By then, Mr. Michel had realized that the sign in the day-labourer cafeteria didn't apply only to those who were bused in every day, it meant blacks in general, he said. He stayed at the farm, he said, because he couldn't find work elsewhere. "The more I worked with whites, the more I wondered why even though I work on the same floor as them, I wasn't allowed to eat with them," he said. "It's frustrating and it hurts, but I had to stay there and just take it. The racism degenerated things so much." Even company supervisors admitted the facilities for black workers were sub par. In her defence testimony in front of Judge Pauzé, Jocelyne Guinois, the owner's daughter, said the cafeteria didn't have a sink, soap or even running water, but had several hoses outside that the workers could use. She said the extra cafeteria was constructed specifically for day labourers, partly because "white workers complained that their food smelled bad." One company manager, a white man who has been with the company for about 14 years, signed a deposition affirming the conditions at the cafeteria. For Mr. Michel the last straw came on Aug. 8, 2001. He was packaging carrots that day -- "Working like a crazy man because you have to move so fast," he said -- when one of the white workers, a woman, accused him of staring at her rear end. "When I told her that I didn't get up at 3:30 in the morning to fool around like that, she told me to shut up and stuffed a handful of carrots into my mouth." According to his tribunal testimony, nothing was done about his subsequent complaint, though Jocelyne Guinois allegedly said, "I've had enough of you, you blacks." When he threatened to quit, she allegedly said, "Okay, go ahead." In her ruling, Judge Pauzé heaped particular scorn on the defendants' testimony that the black workers were so dirty that the cleaning staff refused to enter. "They didn't have running water, no soap and no lockers to keep their stuff. Imagine after a week of not having the toilets cleaned! This has nothing to do with the colour of skin." Joanne Richard, deputy clerk of the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal, said this was the worst case of outright discrimination in the tribunal's recent history. "In my memory, I've never seen anything like this. It was like in the movies about the United States. It is really, really bad." The tribunal awarded Mr. Michel $12,500 in damages. The three other complainants were awarded $10,000. The company refused to comment on the case, and referred questions to its lawyer, Mathieu Poissant, who would say only that his clients were seeking to appeal the ruling. Mr. Michel has since found other work as a welder in an auto-parts shop in Laval. He says he likes his co-workers, and has had no problems with anyone. He still doesn't eat in the cafeteria, however.