Alex Bohr

10/6/16

C.I.

Nationalism

Quebec Nationalism and Sovereignty

Quebec has had a long history of nationalism that has impacted their sovereignty as a

nation. Their hunger for a unified nation only speaking French lead them to push laws into effect

banning English from their province. Nationalism in the province of Quebec grew tremendously

in the 1960s. This period of time in Quebec has been labeled as the Quiet Revolution. Quebec

citizens and their provincial governments wanted to unify Quebec as one nation and one culture,

French. At various periods, Quebec nationalists have worried that the English language might

come to dominate in Montreal, the metropolitan heart of the province.1 Quebec began to push

for more of a French based province, and started to push out news laws and regulations banning

English from the region. Quebec began to move toward a sovereign nation, and it's citizens had

ample amounts of nationalism as they also supported this notion to it's full extent.

In the 1960s, Quebec moved into a period dubbed the Quiet Revolution. This period in

time was when Quebec started, quietly, to transform into a French speaking only province, and

hopefully, to many Quebec citizens, an independent nation. In 1974, under former Premier,

Robert Bourassa, Bill 22 came into law. This law basically served to make French the sole

language in Quebec, especially concerning a number of key areas of public life such as education

1
Keith Banting and Stuart Soroka, Minority Nationalism and Immigrant Integration in Canada, (Queens
University and McGill University), 159.
and business.2 This law was not enforced entirely as it came into effect. Many school children

were still speaking english as their primary language in school, and signs were not entirely

changed to solely French. Although English was still widely spoken, the new resolution [bill

22] allowed for increased French-language instruction in schools, and promoted the use of

French in all aspects of business and government.3 Quebec has started to move into solely

French only province, but still had not entirely moved into the new law. In sum, the nationalism

that characterized the period of the Quiet Revolution was based on a dynamism of state action.

The Quebec state looked to take into it's own hands the economic and social development of

Quebec through numerous policies that sought to confer a new status on French Canadians, who

had been relegated for a long time to the inferior echelons of a society where they comprised a

majority.4 However, the state of Quebec soon moved out of the Quiet Revolution and took a

much more tense action into banning all English from the province.

Quebec moved into the next period of their move toward a more independent and

sovereign nation. In 1976, a French-Canadian nationalist party, the Parti Quebecois, was

formed. This new government initiated a series of language and cultural reforms whereby the

use of English was discouraged.5 The citizens wanted to protect their language and culture, and

to them, the only way to do this was to ban all English and only have people speak French. To

enforce more tightly and controllingly, the state government of Quebec pushed out a new bill in

1977, only three years after bill 22. The new bill, bill 101, clearly prohibits all English in the

2
Glen M.A. Duerr, Quebecs New Push for Sovereignty: Increasing Civic Nationalism and New Parti Quebecois
Strategies for the Next Provincial Election (Cedarville, Ohio, 2011) .
3
Sara Ann McGill, Quebec Separatist Movement, (MainFile, EBSCOhost), 1-2.
4
Francois Rocher, The Evolving Parameters of Quebec Nationalism, (Department of Political Science and School of
Canadian Studies), 6-7.
5
Quebec, Province, Canada (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia), 3.
province, on road signs, in education, everywhere. This new bill expanded a number of key

provisions in Bill 22 making french the language of communication for people in Quebec despite

a significant Anglophone population.6 the province of Quebec moved into eradicating any and

all English in their culture. Road sign, education, business, and commerce were all transformed

into only French language. Quebec wanted a more sovereign nation where they could embrace

their language of french and not worry about it being overtaken by English.

During the 1980s and into the 1990s, this idea of an independent and sovereign Quebec

was beginning to fade from people's sights. There had been a proposal of a national referendum

in October of 1992, but it was defeated.7 there was still the idea that quebec could and should

become an independent nation, but many people, and the Canadian government, began to move

away from this idea. Quebec, on the other hand, still held onto its belief that they should become

independent and sovereign. Quebec citizens still tried to push considerable amounts of proposals

into the Canadian govern to try and become independent, but nothing seemed to work.

Although the Canadian Parliament passed resolutions recognizing Quebecs unique culture and

granting it veto power over constitutional changes in 1996, the Supreme Court ruled in August

1998 that Quebec does not have the right to unilaterally secede from canada by popular vote.8

The end of Quebec war for sovereignty and independency had finally come, with no support in

the end for Quebec or its citizens.

Although Quebec was unsuccessful in gaining independence and sovereignty, there was

great nationalism behind this surge of proposals for independence. Quebec greatly wanted to

6
Glen M.A. Duerr, Quebecs New Push for Sovereignty: Increasing Civic Nationalism and New Parti Quebecois
Strategies for the Next Provincial Election (Cedarville, Ohio, 2011).
7
Quebec, Province, Canada (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia), 3.
8
Sara Ann McGill, Quebec Separatist Movement, (MainFile, EBSCOhost), 1-2.
become a sovereign nation, and it's citizens were behind it all the way, the French speaking

citizens that is. Nationalism, as it is defined as being loyal and devoted to one's country, is what

exactly Quebec had. The citizens were devoted and loyal to Quebec, and wanted to be it's own

nation so they could protect themselves from other languages and cultures.
 Works Cited

Quebec, province, Canada. (2016). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, 1.

McGill, Sara Ann. 2009. The Quebec Separatist Movement. Quebec Separatist Movement 1.

MainFile, EBSCOhost (accessed October 2, 2016).

Banting, Keith, and Stuart Soroka. 2012. Minority nationalism and immigrant integration in

canada. Nations & Nationalism 18, no. 1: 156 - 176. Academic Search premier, EBSCOhost

(accessed October 2, 2016).

Rocher, Francois. The Evolving Parameters of Quebec Nationalism. Publication. Vol. 4. Ottawa:

Department of Political Science and School of Canadian Studies, 2002. Print. Ser. 1.

Duerr, Glen M.E., Quebecs New Push for Sovereignty: Increasing Civic Nationalism and New

Parti Quebecois Strategies for the Next Provincial Election (2011). History and government

Faculty Presentations. Paper 1.