The clause has become a secular version of unquestionable authority. This mechanism declares the State cannot be wrong even when it harms the very people it claims to defend.

It is framed as protection, as a way to keep order, as a safeguard for “our way of life,” yet it functions as a tool to block challenge and shut down democratic discourse and debate.

If the Catholic Church once claimed infallibility to silence dissent, the government now uses the notwithstanding clause in the same spirit.

What once was obedience to God has become obedience to the State. It’s a shift in object that leaves the logic of control entirely intact.

We are being asked to believe that real belonging only happens if you look, speak, and act a certain way. That is not the freedom Quebec once promised. It is a return to old oppression under new rules.

See, I and others like me were slowly abandoned in the “return to normal.” I’m not shocked or surprised of the outcome of the election because you all quietly accepted eugenics and ableism, hallmarks of fascism. You were complicit in this.

When I’d see pictures of you having brunch, and getting on planes to go to conferences, I felt like you do right now, except you have each other to comfort and post inspirational messages about care and compassion.