FREE ESSAY ON THE FUTURE OF QUEBEC: PROVINCE OR NATION?

THE FUTURE OF QUEBEC: PROVINCE OR NATION?

The idea of any separation movement is an emotional one, and the secession movement by the
Canadian province of Quebec is no exception. Quebec is a primarily French-speaking
province of 7 million that has been frustrated with being part of the primarily Anglo
Canada. It has held two independence referendums and in 1995 nearly voted to officially
split from Canada.
It is an emotional issue for both nationalists and separatists. It hurts both sides to
know that they each see the nation differently. Nationalists see a Canada that includes
Quebec; a province whose differences the Canadian government has respected ever since
Quebec was gained from France by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. For separatists, the nation
is Quebec, and only Quebec. They feel culturally isolated and wish to be politically
isolated as well. For separatists, secession is a matter of pride.
This is a province whose peoples' pride and culture has felt threatened since the
eighteenth century, when at the end of the Seven Years' War the people of Quebec were
handed over by France to Britain, as if they were property to be owned and traded.
Although the people were not mistreated or oppressed by Britain, it was a bitter feeling
then and remains so today. The province's sad motto is "Je me souviens" which means "I
remember," and it appears on every Quebec license plate and is inscribed in flowers in
Quebec City. It refers to a popular poem in which the author remembers being born happy
under France, and raised unhappy under Great Britain.
Still, is this unhappiness so deep, is the separation felt so strongly that the province
needs to be even more separate? Why exactly do Quebecois feel threatened? One of their
deepest complaints has to do with the protection of their language, the French language.
It seems that from as far back as 1763 both the French and the English have been waiting
for the other side to assimilate, to become mor