A TIMELINE OF QUEBEC

1998 - Supreme Court Decision

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 21:17:50 -0400

In 1998, the Supreme Court of Canada released an opinion on the legality of the unilateral secession of Quebec. In Reference re Secession of Quebec, the Supreme Court stated

Since, the principle of federalism and the desire to “reconcile diversity with unity” applies to Canada holistically, which has included Quebec since its inception, unilateral secession was not legal. However, if it were to be decided in a referendum that it was the wish of Quebec to secede, the rest of Canada would have no right to deny them independence.
International law “does not specifically grant component parts of sovereign states the legal right to secede unilaterally from their ‘parent’ state” and that the right of a people to self determination was expected to be exercised within the framework of existing states, by negotiation, for example.

Both sides of the debate claimed to be happy with the court’s decision. The Prime Minister Jean Chrétien was pleased that Quebec could not secede unilaterally, while Quebec premier Lucien Bouchard claimed that the ruling validated the referendum strategy which separatists had been pursuing since 1998.

1982 - The Canada Act

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:51:00 -0400

(Trudeau and Queen Elizabeth II)

The 1982 Canada Act was passed by the British Parliament at the request of the Canadian government, ending the “request and consent” provisions from the 1931 Statute of Westminster that tied the Canadian government to the British in a subordinate way. The Act unilaterally patriated the Canadian government, meaning, for example, that the question of Quebec sovereignty could be explored without reference to the British Parliament.

Furthermore, because of Canada’s bilingualism, the British Parliament produced the bill in both English and French, making the Canada Act the first piece of British legislation passed in French since the middle ages.

Quebec, demanding greater protection for its distinct society, failed to ratify the Canada Act, although this move was symbolic and did not affect the legal application of the Act.

1980 - Quebec Referendum

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:28:00 -0400

1980 saw the first referendum on whether or not Quebec should pursue sovereignty. The Parti Quebecois government, led by René Lévesque, strongly favored secession and called the referendum accordingly.

The question on the ballot read:

«Le Gouvernement du Québec a fait connaître sa proposition d’en arriver, avec le reste du Canada, à une nouvelle entente fondée sur le principe de l’égalité des peuples ; cette entente permettrait au Québec d’acquérir le pouvoir exclusif de faire ses lois, de percevoir ses impôts et d’établir ses relations extérieures, ce qui est la souveraineté, et, en même temps, de maintenir avec le Canada une association économique comportant l’utilisation de la même monnaie ; aucun changement de statut politique résultant de ces négociations ne sera réalisé sans l’accord de la population lors d’un autre référendum ; en conséquence, accordez-vous au Gouvernement du Québec le mandat de négocier l’entente proposée entre le Québec et le Canada?»

Ultimately the referendum was defeated 59.56 to 40.44 percent on May 20, 1980.

1977 - Loi 101 Passes Assembly

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

La Loi 101, or The Charter of the French Language, established French as the official language of Quebec under the first Parti Quebecois government. Expanding upon the 1974 Official Language Act, Loi 101 articulated fundamental language rights for francophones:

The right to have the civil administration, the health services and social services, the public utility enterprises, the professional corporations, the associations of employees and all enterprises doing business in Quebec communicate with him in French. (article 2)
The right to speak French in deliberative assemblies. (article 3)
The right of workers to carry on their activities in French. (article 4)
The right of consumers to be informed and served in French. (article 5)
The right of persons eligible for instruction in Quebec to receive that instruction in French. (article 6)

1970 - The October Crisis

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 22:40:00 -0400

The October Crisis was a series of events sparked by two political kidnappings (British Trade Commissioner James Cross and Quebec Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte) by the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) after several years of bombings by the same organization.

At the request of Robert Bourassa, Premier of Québec, and of Jean Drapeau, Mayor of Montréal, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoked the only peacetime use of the War Measures Act, deploying Canadian troops throughout Québec and endowing Police with the extraordinary power to arrest and detain citizens without charge.

(Trudeau on his employment of the War Measures Act)

Although there was much support for the War Measures Act at the time, many criticized the suspension of personal liberties the Act allowed. Critics included Parti Québecois leader René Lévesque and New Democratic Party leader Tommy Douglas, who said, “The government, I submit, is using a sledgehammer to crack a peanut.”

Click here for a full chronology of the Crisis.

1970 - "Speak White"

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Michele Lalonde recites “Speak White”

1968 - Official Languages Act

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 20:00:00 -0400

The Official Languages Act was a cornerstone of the newly elected Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s government. (Trudeau is the last speaker in the video.)

The Act establishes both English and French as national languages of Canada and giving all Canadians the right to receive services from their federal government in either language of their choosing.

Not only did this Act make government services, including the legal system, more accessible to francophone Canadians, but it also gave them greater access to roles in the civil service. (Before the Act was passed, only 9% of jobs within the federal public service had been occupied by Francophones, even though French-speakers formed a quarter of the Canadian population.)

1967 - Vive le Québec Libre!

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 19:00:00 -0400

Charles de Gaulle excites the crowd at Expo ‘67 in Montreal with separatist sentiments. From the balcony of the Montreal City Hall, de Gaulle shouted ‘Vive le Quebec Libre!” in what has been seen as a show of support for Quebec sovereignty, a movement which gained momentum during the Liberal era of the Quiet Revolution. De Gaulle left Canada shortly thereafter in the wake of his impromptu breach of diplomatic protocol.

1963 - First FLQ Bomb Death

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

On April 21, 1963, after a series of urban bombings targeted at British-owned banks, businesses, McGill University, and so on, the extreme separatist organization Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) claimed its first death: Wilfred O’Neill, the night guard at the Canadian Forces Recruitment Center in Montreal.

Later that year, Gabriel Hudon and Raymond Villeneuve were sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for O’Neill’s death. The increasing violence of the FLQ’s tactics foreshadows the 1970 October Crisis. The following video is the FLQ Manifesto during aforementioned crisis.

1960 - The Quiet Revolution

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 19:00:00 -0400

After the end of Maurice Duplessis’s reign as Premier of Quebec in 1959, sometimes referred to as La Grande Noirceur (The Great Darkness), Quebec experienced a period of unprecedented social and economic progression throughout the 1960s, called La Revolution Tranquille (The Quiet Revolution).

Over the course of the 1960s, the newly Liberal provincial government took control of the healthcare and education systems that had formerly been in the hands of the Catholic Church, creating government ministries for both. This was also a period of intense economic reform, unionization of public service, and the creation of a welfare-state.

The Quiet Revolution (or Revolution Tranquille) also produced the surge in Quebecois nationalism that divided the province into Federalists and Separatists, whose enthusiasm was illustrated during Charles de Gaulle’s 1967 visit to Montreal.

1955 - The Richard Riot

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:00:00 -0400

On March 13, NHL president Clarence Campbell suspended star player for the Montreal Canadiens, Maurice “Rocket” Richard, for hitting a lineman during a game. The suspension was to last for the remainder of the 1954-1955 season, a punishment which Canadien fans regarded as too severe and motivated by Richard’s French Canadian ancestry.

When Campbell appeared at the Montreal Forum for the following Canadiens game, the fans rioted, with a result of $100,000 of property damage and 100 arrests. Richard managed to assuage his fans eventually by publicly accepting his punishment, but the affair cost him the 1954-55 scoring title and his coach, Dick Irvin, who was fired as a result.

The riot is widely seen as a manifestation of rising tensions between Anglo- and French Canadians in Quebec, and an early precursor to the Quiet Revolution.

1948 - Le Refus Global

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Le Refus Global was a manifesto signed and disseminated by a group of French artists and intellectuals called les Automatistes, led by artist Paul-Émile Borduas.

The manifesto decried the Church’s monopoly on French-Canadian history and culture, advocating strongly for the separation of Church and State. The manifesto further challenged Canadians to reject conventional thinking and to engage instead in a total freedom of ideas.

We are a small people sheltering under the wing of the clergy – the only remaining repository of faith, knowledge, truth, and national wealth; isolated from the universal progress of thought.

Many credit Le Refus Global with sparking the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s.

(Paul-Émile Borduas, Allegro furioso, 1949)

1917 - The Conscription Crisis

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Canada entered World War I when Britain did in 1914, promising to send a contingency of Canadian soldiers to Europe to aid the British. Relatively few francophones enlisted, afraid of ill-treatment and isolation in all English-speaking units, especially in the wake of Regulation 17.

After the Battle of Somme, Canada turned to conscription to refresh its supply of soldiers. Nearly all French Canadians opposed the draft, feeling obligation neither to England nor to France but only to Quebec, as Henri Bourassa insisted. In 1917, Prime Minister Borden announced the Military Service Act, which would allow him to conscript men throughout the country.

The passage and enactment of the Military Service Act caused huge rifts between anglophone and francophone communities, with the latter eventually rioting in March 1918 (the Easter Riots), causing 150 casualties, over $300,000 worth of damage, and the implementation of the War Measures Act by the Borden Government.

1912 - Regulation 17

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

In 1912, conservative Ontario Premier Sir James P. Whitney issued Regulation 17, an ordinance which limited the use of French language instruction in schools to the first two years of a student’s education.

Opposed by Quebecois like Henri Bourassa as well as Franco-Ontarians, Regulation 17 was so protested that the government issued Regulation 18 to coerce school boards compliance in 1913.

The regulation was eventually repealed by Premier Howard Ferguson in 1927, while trying to ally with Quebec Premier Louis-Alexandre Taschereau against the federal government. Despite the repeal, however, French schools in Ontario were not legally recognized until 1968 when Bill Davis was the Ontario Minister of Education.

(Protestors of Regulation 17 outside l’École Brébeuf, 1912)

1910 - Bourassa and Le Devoir

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 19:00:00 -0400

In 1910, Henri Bourassa, a former Liberal MP from Montreal who had risen to national prominence for resigning his seat in protest against sending Canadian troops to aid the British in the South African Boer War in 1899, founded a French-language newspaper, Le Devoir (or The Duty) for the expression of anti-imperialism, pacifism, and the rights of French Canadian citizens within a confederated Canada.

The first issue on January 10, 1910, framed Bourassa’s mission:

« Pour assurer le triomphe des idées sur les appétits, du bien public sur l’esprit de parti, il n’y a qu’un moyen : réveiller dans le peuple, et surtout dans les classes dirigeantes, le sentiment du devoir public sous toutes ses formes : devoir religieux, devoir national, devoir civique. De là le titre de ce journal qui a étonné quelques personnes et fait sourire quelques confrères.
La notion du devoir public est tellement affaiblie que le nom même sonne étrangement à beaucoup d’oreilles honnêtes. »

Bourassa continued to run the paper until 1932, when he was succeeded by Georges Pelletier.

1899 - The Boer War

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:35:00 -0400

In 1899, Britain went to war with the Dutch Boers in South Africa, and they called on Canada as a member of the Commonwealth to lend its support and its troops to the British cause. Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier supported the cause, saying that when “Britain is at war, Canada is at war.” This sparked discussion of Canada’s relationship to Britain and to their imperialist goals.

While most Anglo-Canadians favored sending troops, most French-Canadians did not, seeing themselves in the Boers as receptors of British aggression. Additionally, it begged several questions of Canadian autonomy — would the Canadian troops be fighting for Canada? who would pay for this war? should Canada fight when there is no risk of invasion?

In protest of Canadian intervention in the Boer War, Henri Bourassa, a Liberal MP from Montreal, resigned his seat in the Canadian House of Commons, saying,

As a British Citizen, proud of his rights and jealous of his liberty, loyal to England and its august sovereign, I am ready with my person and my money and by my words and deeds to defend the British flag throughout the length and breadth of the Canadian Confederation. But loyal above all and always to Canada, I promised the voters of my constituency to work for the progress of my country without departing from the fundamental spirit of the constitution.

1885 - Execution of Louis Riel

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 19:00:00 -0400

Riel was a political and spiritual leader of the Métis, or Canadians with both Native and European ancestry. In an attempt to preserve the rights and culture of his people against Canadian encroachment in their northwestern homelands, Riel staged two rebellions.

The first rebellion, known as the Red River Rebellion (1869-1870), involved negotiating the terms under which Manitoba entered into Canadian confederation. After ordering the execution of Irish-born Canadian Thomas Scott for plotting against Riel’s provincial government, Riel was forced into exile in the United States. During this time, he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons three times.

In 1885, he returned, this time to present-day Saskatchewan, to champion the rights of the Métis. His interference led to the North-West Rebellion, which ultimately ended in his trial and execution for high treason.

Riel’s execution had great resonance with the Québecois, who saw parallels in the fight for Métis sovereignty and the fight for Québec sovereignty and were sympathetic to the strong thrust of Roman Catholicism in his initial efforts. His execution left a significant rift in Ottawa-Quebec relations for years to come.

“He shall hang though every dog in Quebec bark in his favour.” - Sir. John A. Macdonald, who supported Riel’s sentence

1869 - Death of Joseph Guibord

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 19:00:00 -0500

In 1869, Joseph Guibord, a prominent member of the Liberal Institut Canadien de Montréal, died. Prior to his death, Bishop Ignace Bourget had condemned members of the Institut for possessing books on the Roman Catholic Church’s Index, or list of books which it was an ecclesiastical crime to read. Bourget insisted, “He who persists in the desire to remain in the said Institut or to read or merely possess the above-mentioned yearbook without being so authorized by the Church deprives himself of the sacraments at the hour of his death.”

After his death, therefore, Guibord was denied an ecclesiastical burial in the consecrated part section of the Church cemetery. His widow, Henriette Brown, challenged this decision in court, launching a back and forth series of legal cases eventually culminating in his burial within the cemetery on November 16, 1875, two weeks after the first burial attempt had been turned away by an angry mob.

The conflict was one of Church vs. State. If the Church was established by the State, taking governmental money, did it not have an obligation to perform civic duties such as burial? But do those civic duties extend to consecration?

1844 - Institut Canadien de Montreal Founded

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 19:00:00 -0500

Justice pour nous, justice pour tous; Raison et liberté pour nous, raison et liberté pour tous.

In 1844, 200 liberal professionals founded the Institut Canadien de Montreal, a space dedicated to housing debate and books on the liberal ideas of secular reason and scientific truth espoused by the Parti rouge.

The space also constituted a protected environment for academic French, containing the works of important French authors like Hugo, Voltaire, and Diderot. At the time of it’s incorporation in 1853, the Institut held over 2,000 volumes.

Despite the fact that most members of the Institut were Roman Catholic, the Institut came into conflict with the Catholic Church over the contents of their library, which contained volumes forbidden by the Church. The height of the conflict, the contentious burial of Institut member Joseph Guibord, stripped much of the fight from the Institut, whose membership and support faded away throughout the 1870s.

1840 - Act of Union

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0500

The 1840 Act of Union, formerly called the British North America Act abolished the legislatures of Upper and Lower Canadas to form one unified Province of Canada. Upper Canada was thereafter referred to as Canada West, while Lower Canada became Canada East.

While the distinct legal systems of the two colonies were retained, the Act contained measures against the use of French language in government, assuming that the French-Canadian cultural presence in Canada would eventually entirely assimilate.