The Bouchard-Taylor commission on reasonable accommodation has touched down in Laval, the most polyglot city it has yet visited. (About 15 percent of Laval residents are immigrants, and 20 percent are allophones, which is not much by Montreal standards but way more diverse than anywhere else in Quebec.) Its proceedings have been, until now, frustrating and emotionally draining, especially for anyone who cherishes cultural and linguistic diversity. There seems to be an excess of rhetoric — usually of a nationalist or, often, downright xenophobic nature — without any grass-roots reality check as to how things work in a truly multicultural environment.
That’s where Karina Goma steps in. The Montreal filmmaker has just released a new documentary, Un coin du ciel, that offers a frank and open-minded look at the people of Park Extension. With more than two thirds of its inhabitants born outside of Canada, home to large South Asian and Greek communities as well as people from West Africa, China, Vietnam, the Middle East, South America and just about everywhere else, Park Ex is one of the most heteogeneous neighbourhoods in North America, let alone Montreal. Anchored in the Park Ex CLSC, Goma’s film is an intimate and personal look at the challenges of integration, racism and culture shock.
Un coin du ciel will be shown publicly for the first time today at the reasonable accommodation hearings in Laval. As Stéphane Baillargeon wrote in yesterday’s Devoir, in this film, “L’accommodement raisonnable n’est nulle part et partout. Les humains rient, pleurent et rient. Ainsi va la vie sous ce coin de ciel…” Hopefully, Gorma’s film will be offer a refreshing change in the tone of the discussion at the Bouchard-Taylor commission. We owe it to Montreal to truly explore and understand its diversity.
After today, you can catch Un coin du ciel when it makes its official premiere at the Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal this Saturday, November 17th, at 6:15pm. I wouldn’t be surprised if the screening sells out quickly, but don’t worry: the film will start a commercial run at Ex-Centris in early December. Mark your calendars.