Quebec Sovereignty Movement After The 1960s

This thesis attempts to examine the complicated relations between federalism and nationalism in Ottawa and Quebec. Confronted with a perennial siege mentality fostered by the predominance of the English language in Canada, Quebec nationalism is essentially a quest for the survival of the French tongue, which has taken a pro-active form since 1960s in the pursuit of renewed federalism championed by the Quebec Liberal Party and in the sovereignty movement led by Parti Quebecois. In response, the federal government has tried to accommodate Quebec’s needs for linguistic equality and autonomy by adopting bilingualism, multiculturalism, a more decentralized form of federalism and constitutional negotiations. But the approach chosen by Ottawa lays too much emphasis on symmetrical federalism to the extent of disregarding Quebec’s distinctiveness. This is because continuously different visions of Canadian Federalism between Ottawa and Quebec. For Ottawa, Confederation is a compact between equal provinces, and Quebec is defined as one of equal provinces, so the rights of the individual and provinces equality should precede Quebec’s quest for a distinct society. From this vision, Ottawa ensure that all Canadian citizens are equal and the provinces they inhabit should be treated in an identical manner. However, Quebec has long seen itself as a founding nation and seen the federation as a compact between two nations, with one nation represented by the Quebec government and the other occupying the rest of Canada. Quebec is thus entitled to enjoy asymmetrical federal arrangements or at least a special status in Canada as opposed to federal government encroachment into its jurisdictions. Besides, the constitutionally entrenched Charter of Rights and Freedoms, with the aim of ensuring that all Canadian citizens and provinces are equal, will be violated if Canadian accommodate Quebec with asymmetrical institutions or recognized Quebec’s distinct legal.In general, due to different conceptions of the Canadian nation and federation, Ottawa and Quebec have respectively turned to nationalist strategies to fulfil their ideals of political and cultural units. The tension between Quebec’s struggle to strengthen and reinforce its particularities and the federal government’s efforts to act as a national government has determined much of Canadian history.The conflict between these two nation-building projects can be subsumed under several components. Firstly, in terms of language and culture policy, after Quiet Revolution federal authorities have adopted two sets of responses to Quebec nationalism:official bilingualism and bilingual framework of multiculturalism. However, the two policies are based on the primacy of liberalism and individualism. That is to say, everyone has free and power to choose their own language and cultural. This has yet to accommodate Quebec in the pursuit of the development of French culture in the province. Besides, although an important degree of decentralization has worked to the benefits of Quebec’s nationalist demands, the uniformity principle in terms of power division among provinces is suspected of an intention on the part of the federal government to undermine rather than respect the distinct nature of Quebec.Secondly, in terms of the constitutional negotiations, the Meech Lake Accord and the Charlottetown Agreement try to accommodate Quebec asymmetrical federal arrangements or at least a distinct society for an attempt at reconciling Quebec to the 1982 constitutional revision. But in accordance with the tradition of liberalism and Charter of Rights and Freedoms providing a pan-Canadian focus on individual and collective rights, the English-speaking Canada believes that human dignity can only be achieved when an individual has the freedom to choose what he or she sees best without being held hostage by pre-determined cultural ties. So they refuse to constitutionally recognize Quebec as a nation or a distinct society. However, given the precarious position of the French language and its importance in sustaining Quebec national identity, Quebec subscribes to substantive liberalism, viewing communitarian identification a prerequisite for human dignity, which explains the necessity of the French Charter and its unilingual approach.In conclusion, to surmount the conflicting views of liberalism, it is important to allow for national recognition of Quebec and the co-existence of different layers of national identities so as to better reflect the deep diversity within the Canadian multinational society.