Toula Drimonis
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Quebec columnist | Montreal
About Toula Drimonis
Toula Drimonis is a Montreal-based writer, editor, and award-winning columnist. A former News Director with TC Media, her freelance work, which focuses mainly on Quebec politics and women's issues, has appeared in the National Post, the New York Times, Women in the World, Ricochet Media, Ms. Magazine, Buzzfeed Canada, and Mic, among others. She is a women's issues and political panel contributor for City Life, a local Montreal current affairs TV show and was on the advisory board for Use the Right Words, a national media guide on how to report on sexual violence.
Solidarity with Muslim women remains elusive at the Fédération des femmes du Québec
During a special meeting, the Fédération des femmes du Québec took a controversial stance to support sex workers, officially declaring that women can make a free-will decision to enter the sex trade as a legitimate career choice. However, that reasoning of free will does not seem to extend to Quebec’s Muslim women who choose to wear religious head coverings, such as hijabs and niqabs.
Munk Debates: Cancelling Steve Bannon isn’t censorship
It's an absurd notion that we are adding oil to the fire of populism, harming democracy, somehow capitulating to the “flaky, easily flustered” PC crowd, or turning off moderates who will inevitably jump into the arms of white supremacy if denied the right to listen to Steve Bannon’s hateful rhetoric, writes columnist Toula Drimonis.
'You can’t trust the Saudis when it comes to human rights’: Daniel Turp
"The war in Yemen and in Syria, in which Saudi Arabia plays a role, has created a refugee crisis around the world that is having national repercussions here," says Marie Lamensch, project coordinator at the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS) at Concordia University.
The 'heritage' crucifix in Quebec's legislature is barely older than my mom's furniture
Unbeknown to many Quebecers, the infamous Duplessis cross in the Blue Room isn’t even the original one. In 1984, during renovation and restoration work, the old crucifix was replaced. This so-called "historical artifact” is barely older than the furniture in my mom's house, writes columnist Toula Drimonis.
If far-right white nationalists are congratulating you, Mr. Legault, time to reassess your politics
Many Quebecers worry that the newly-elected Quebec government's policies will affect social cohesion, paint immigrants as an unwanted and undesirable threat, and marginalize some people.
Change isn't always a good thing
While Legault may claim that he's not a social conservative, his win is a sad testament to the fact that tribalism, fear mongering, and xenophobia were powerful motivators for a lot of people. And if not outright motivators, they were simply not enough of a deterrence for many people to abstain from voting for him, which is just as disconcerting
Quebec voters were the real winners in last night's historic English debate
Showing respect to a group that has been instrumental in shaping the Quebec of today is not pandering, or endangering the progress that’s been made in safeguarding the French language.
Were voters swayed after the first Quebec debate? Pas tellement
While all four engaged in some heated debates, the occasional jovial ribbing, and even managed to get some vital points across occasionally amid the cacophonous yelling, one would be hard pressed to see how anything that took place Thursday night would necessarily change the opinion of undecided voters. I suspect that all it did was validate the choices of those who have already decided which part
Quebec elections: contentious candidates, social media blunders, and the 'well-treated dwarf'
Political controversies do more than just temporarily embarrass party leaders. Repeated controversies can have a serious, long-lasting impact on the trust voters place in a party and a leaders’ sense of judgment and the candidates they choose.
Is this Quebec's most uninspired election ever?
By all means, it should be an interesting campaign, yet the promises — from all parties, not just the Liberals — are so milquetoast, nearly 40 per cent of Quebecers remain undecided about who to vote for in October.