Activist defends comments on video after Futur Montreal removes her as candidate

Anastasia Marcelin is defending herself after upstart municipal party Futur Montreal dropped her as a candidate for borough mayor in Montreal North. (Source: Anastasia Marcelin/Facebook)

A prominent Black activist is defending herself after upstart municipal party Futur Montreal removed her from its slate of candidates.

A clip of a video she posted in 2019 resurfaced that included what the party called “a loud and troubling rant that may be interpreted as derogatory.”

Anastasia Marcelin was introduced as the Montreal North borough mayor candidate on Tuesday and removed later that day.

Projet Montreal candidate for councillor in 2017 told CTV News she livestreamed the 40-minute video in question in response to the CAQ’s Bill 9, which allowed the government to cancel around 16,000 immigration applications.

“It was about students. I was at UQAM then, and when I read the bill, I was angry. Even though I’m a Canadian citizen, I’m still concerned about immigration because I’m a child of immigrants,” said the woman, who was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and moved with her family to Montreal in 1999.

During the livestream of the video, people began making derogatory, racist and violent comments while she was on camera.

“Let me tell you the words they used: they called me a prostitute, they shared violent images, I got death threats. They said I should ‘go back to South Africa,’ and we know that in the 1980s Haitians were blamed for bringing AIDS to Quebec,” said Marcelin. “I know my history very well. When someone tells me that, they’re disrespecting my community.”

She posted a screenshot of the comments on her Facebook page.

A clip of the video was shared in 2019 and resurfaced on Tuesday, where, in addition to criticizing the CAQ government and promoting the value Haitians bring to Quebec society, she also said that “the majority of you all” sit around collecting welfare cheques while immigrants do all the work.

“It was extremely violent,” she said of the comments directed at her.

“And when people insult me, I don’t stay silent. Sorry, I’m not that kind of person. I won’t lie, I’m not a hypocrite. So when they were insulting me, I responded. I said things back, like ‘You’re on welfare.’ Was that right? Maybe not, but it was in the heat of the moment. I refused to apologize. Why should I, when I was the victim?”

Former MNA Paule Robitaille was among those who defended Marcelin at the time and other reports highlighted the abuse women, and specifically women of colour, receive online.

Futur Montreal said in a news release that the party was not aware of the video when they were vetting Marcelin to be a candidate.

“As is our practice, all candidacies undergo a thorough review of backgrounds and public activities,” the party said. “This content does not reflect the values of Futur Montréal and stands in direct contradiction to the principles and policies that guide our movement.”

“They told me: ‘We saw a video on social media. It doesn’t give the party a good image. It’s a problem. Anastasia, explain your version of the story,’” said Marcelin.

She posted on her Facebook that the clip was taken out of context and that she would not apologize as the party had asked.

Marcelin said she is unsure of whether she will continue to pursue a career in politics.

“I’m very saddened, and I told them yesterday I find it unfair,” she said. “A lot of emotions come out of this. But since I’m seen as someone strong, I have to stay strong. That’s the problem. When you’re perceived as strong, even in hard circumstances, you try to keep it together — but that doesn’t mean you’re truly strong.”