Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Quebec separatist movement in Canada
Essay on complexities of quebec separation
Essay on complexities of quebec separation
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Quebec separatist movement in Canada
French Canadians play a huge role in Canadian society, for it to separate is unimaginable. Canada is known as a multicultural and acceptance land. Yet, the hypocrisy comes in as the belief of Quebec sovereignty rises. Over the course of history, there was much unrest between the Anglophones and francophones, which leads to an unstable relation between the two ethnic groups today. In the past, the English-speaking community were always much more larger and tended to exercise control over the French-speaking community. This caused the French-speaking citizens to question the authority and protest against all English government political ideas and policies. The unfair treatment felt by French Canadians shaped them into nationalists who needed to stand up for themselves in an English dominated society. In terms of the future of Canada, French and English Canadians can eliminate idea of separatism, as long as they agree to work together and put their pasts behind. Ultimately, the aim of this letter is to make citizens aware of the glass ceiling that exists between the two groups and potentially Quebec and Canada will finally unite. …show more content…
Furthermore, Canada will gain a true reputation on the nation’s ability in peacekeeping different cultures. Bilingualism plays the most significant role in Canada today and had made a positive change for French Canadians.
However, the discrimination that exists before have left the French Canadians bitter until present day. English Canadian must prove to the French Canadians that they are willing to give them the rights and needs they deserve as long as it is shared equally among the English Canadians as well. English Canadians should know not to push Quebec to accept the English culture, because the result will be the repeat of history. On the other hand, French Canadians should brush the past of their shoulders, be grateful of the bilingual and bicultural policy that has been created, and as a province, Quebecois should open up to different cultures and opinions, since other ethnic groups could embark on being part of the Quebec French
culture. Locally, an individual can mend the strained relationship between the French and English Canadians by introducing the topic in educational institutions. In the Anglophones community, French as a second language should be compulsory along with lessons about Quebec throughout elementary and secondary school. As a teacher, there should also be clubs and programmes that allow students to participate in researching and finding solutions regarding the issue between the French and English community. As for Quebec, there should be teachers that teach Canadian politics in both French and English, so Quebec students can get a glimpse of the political views on the English Canadian side. By having both sides adjusting their educational system, both communities will have the chance to be in each other’s shoes, thus they will be willing to accept, forgive and as these generations grow up, they can make positive differences that will eventually achieve Canada’s true unification. Nationally, political parties should have platforms that view French Canadians as their subjects and suggest changes they will bring for these individuals so they are satisfied and become more involved in Canadian politics rather than their own individual politics. This will allow Quebec to open up, and by showing what Canada is willing to do for Quebec, the tension will loosen. This will hopefully enable Quebec to loosen its immigration policy, so other ethnic groups can enter and the sovereignty will slowly die down. Last but not least, bilingualism and biculturalism should be made aware globally. This can be done by recruiting representatives belonging to the Francophone community to advice the prime minister of Canada. As a result, the French community will feel safe and accepted, as their voices are heard and communicated through these representatives. Not to mention, mass media plays a significant role in the global community, therefore any Canadian commercial, posters and other source of media should be both in English and French, especially if it is the issue regarding Canadian politics.
Although, Quebec’s population share many similar characteristics amongst one another it is not essential to decide “the people” (Heard, 2013). To be considered a state you must represent all the people in it. Quebec prefers independences for the reason of a commonality
Although Quebec is in Canada, a majority of Quebecers do not identify with the national identity of Canada. Both societies create a sense of identity as well as nationalism (Hiller, 295). Hiller mentions two approaches to assessing Canadian identity; the unitary approach and the segmentalist approach (Hiller, 277). The unitary approach suggests that society consists of people who regardless of their ethnic back ground, identify as belonging to the national society, while the segmentalist approach concentrates on groups and communities that share racial, linguistic, occupational, or cultural similarities (Hiller, 28). While most Anglophones are more unitary or pan-Canadian, Quebec heavily identifies with the segmentalist approach. This dissimilarity of identity perspective may be problematic for the country, at the same time however, it can also be viewed as a struggle where contradictory parties find a way to compromise and reshape Canadian society together (Hiller, 277). Canada’s former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau made it his objective to unite Quebec with the rest of Canada. In 1969 Trudeau’s government implemented Bill C-120, otherwise known as the Official Language act, which made French an...
...to identity with at least one of the countries predominate languages, English or French, dictated the degree in which they could participate in Canadian life. According to the Commission, this participation was real under two conditions: “that both societies, the French-speaking as well as the English-speaking, accept[ed] newcomers much more rapidly than they have done in the past; and that the two societies willingly allow other groups to preserve and enrich, if they so desire, the cultural values they prize[d]” (RCBB Book 1 xxv). It creates an interesting take on the acceptance of those “othered” groups, as change was necessary not only on the part of the minorities but also from Canada’s French and English-speakers. The Commissions work remains focused on language and culture, more so than ethnicity amongst a bilingual, bicultural and “othered” Canadian society.
In the year 1957, Canada elected its first Prime minister without English or French root, John Diefenbaker. While growing up in the city of Toronto, because of his German name, he was often teased. [1] He grew up as an outcast, and so he was able to relate to the discrimination and inequality many of the minorities in Canada felt. This essay will attempt to answer the question: To what extent did Prime Minister John Diefenbaker help promote equality to the minority communities. . The minorities in this time period were the women, aboriginals, and immigrants. During his time as the Prime Minister, he was able to help protect the rights of this group because many of their rights were being abused by the society. Diefenbaker also helped the minorities to stand up for themselves and other groups. Diefenbaker was able to bring positive change to the minority communities by making an official Bill of Rights and appointing people of discriminated groups to the parliament while other members did not.
Since Wilfrid Laurier is a francophone prime minister, the help he brought to unify English and French speakers was significant. His action of compromising French and English in Canada allows the two cultures to come and prosper together. When Laurier finally triumphed in the 1896 election. The main issue at that period was the Manitoba School Question, a complex tangle of French and English language rights. The Manitoba Schools Question punched all the hot buttons of nineteenth century Canadian politics: it was a French-English issue, a Catholic-Protestant controversy, a conflict over the roles of the federal and provincial governments, and a struggle about the proper relationship between church and the state. It brought down a federal government and its shaky and ultimately short-lived resolution was a major defeat for French language and Catholic educational rights outside the province of Québec. So the action of compromising these two languages effectively solved the problem of disunion in the education system. The Balancing Act Wi...
The Quebec referendum that was held in 1995 was a second round of vote that was meant to give the residents of the Quebec province in Canada the chance to determine whether they wanted to secede from Canada and thus establish Quebec as a sovereign state. Quebec has had a long history of wanting to secede from Canada, considering that it is the Canadian providence that is predominantly inhabited by the French-speaking people, whose political relationship with the rest of the Canadian provinces, mostly inhabited by the English-speaking people has been characterized by conflicting ideologies . Thus, the 1995 referendum was not the first political attempt to have Quebec gain its own independence. The discussion holds that the Quebec 1995 referendum would have had both positive and negative implications. Therefore, this discussion seeks to analyze the political consequences that would have f...
"Contact & Conflict: First Nations, French, & English in Canada." Canada's First Peoples. N.p., 2007. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. .
To decide what to do after Quebec separates, First Ministers and the ROC, must first look at why it happened. Perhaps Quebec's profound nationalism and unique national identity conflicted with citizens in the ROC; in order to gain understanding of their decision the ROC must look at Quebec's past. Quebec was not always treated fairly nor where they given many rights in regards t...
The Dual Nation Theory took its heading starting in 1960, with the beginning of the sovereignty movement (Gorman, Robert F. 2008. 2018-2020). It truly took off, however, with the Quiet Revolution, where the idea of “maîtres chez nous” and the shift from being a distinct part of Canada to Quebec being a nation in its own right begins to take hold. Québécois nationalism defined Confederation as being an agreement between two peoples: the French and the English. “Quebec constitutes within Canada a distinct society, which includes a French-speaking majority, a unique culture and civil law tradition” (Chotalia, 1993). This is significant to mention because this is the theory that ultimately leads to the Three Nation Theory.
One of the most contentious issues in Canada’s history is that of the Metis. Some people feel this unique group of people does not deserve any sort of recognition, whereas others believe their unique history and culture is something to be recognized and cherished. The history of the Metis people is filled with struggle; not only struggles against other powers, but also a struggle for self-identification. Despite strong opposition, the Metis people of Canada have matured as a political force and have taken great strides towards being recognized as a unique people.
Our government’s predecessors have attempted to eradicate Canada’s first people, which is not only an insult to the indigenous people of the past, but to the present. This country did not start off as a joint endeavor of the two general groups of people that inhabited it during its birth, but decimation and forced assimilation of great traditions and people. The assimilation of a great culture, the destruction of oral histories, and the forced loss of language destroyed the chance trust. Only by teaching disgust towards that type of attitude and action, by not excusing it or attempting to justify, will begin a new age of
Canada is known by outsiders to be a very peaceful country. But if you ask any Canadian they well tell you that is unfortunately not the case. For there is a large ongoing conflict between Canadians. The conflict is between the French and the English, or more specifically between Quebec and the rest of Canada. As a result of this conflict, along with some wrongdoing and propaganda. Quebec has considered and has gone as far to hold referendums over Separatism (Surette,2014). Separatism is that the province of Quebec separates from the rest of Canada to form its own country. Which would have immense effects on indubitably Quebec but also the rest of Canada (Martin, 2014). This report will focus on the root causes and origin of Quebec Separatism, the current state of Quebec Separatism and finally how we as a society can act towards Quebec Separatism.
In this paper, I plan to take a deeper look at this situation and try to figure out what it would actually be like if Quebec was its own country. & nbsp ; & nbsp ; & nbsp ; & nbsp ; & nbs The premier of Quebec, Lucien Bouchard, has been attempting to separate from Canada for quite sometime. If he had it his way, this topic would be old news by now. His main problem is the Federalist, English speaking citizens of his province. They have been very vocal on their stance to stay apart of Canada. They have sent around several resolutions stating this.
Multiculturalism policy was first adopted in Canada in 1971, which reaffirms the dignity and value of all its citizens regardless of ethnic origins, race, religious affiliations, or language. Part of this policy, Canada confirms the rights of all the aboriginals along with the recognition of two official languages. Indeed, multiculturalism has great importance since its main purpose is to give equal treatment to all the citizens (Daniel, 2010). It ensures that all individual citizens could still maintain their identities, and have pride with their ancestry. Through this initiative, the Canadian government was able to give their citizens a feeling of self-confidence, making them more open to their diverse cultures. The multiculturalism policy
government, t. p. (n.d.). Quebec Nationalism - Quebec History. Faculty.marianopolis.edu. Retrieved May 27, 2012, from http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/events/natpart4.htm