Quebec has played a special role in Canadian history; it is the site where French settlers founded the colony of Canada (New France) in the 17th and 18th centuries.
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Main article: Aboriginal peoples in Quebec |
Indigenous settlements were located across the area of present-day Quebec before the arrival of Europeans. In the northernmost areas of the province, Inuit communities can be found. Other indigenous communities belong to the following First Nations:
The indigenous cultures of present-day Quebec were diverse, with their own languages, way of life, economies, and religious beliefs. They did not have a written language, and passed their history and other cultural knowledge along to each generation through oral tradition.[1]
Today, around three-quarters of Quebec's aboriginal populations lives in small communities scattered throughout the rural areas of the province, with some living on reserves.
Existing archaeological evidence attests to a human presence on the current territory of Quebec sometime around 10,000 BC. Paleo-American populations preceded the arrival of the Algonquian and Iroquois people in southern Quebec about 10,000 years ago.[2]
The Paleoindian period was followed by the Archaic, a time when major changes occurred in the landscape and the settlement of the territory of Quebec. With the end of glaciation, the inhabitable territory increased in size and the environment (such as climate, vegetation, lakes and rivers) became increasingly stable. Migrations became rarer and moving around became a seasonal activity necessary for hunting, fishing or gathering.[3]
The nomadic populations of the Archaic period were better established and were very familiar with the resources of their territories. They adapted to their surroundings and experienced a degree of population growth. Their diet and tools diversified. Aboriginal peoples used a greater variety of local material, developed new techniques, such as polishing stone, and devised increasingly specialized tools, such as knives, awls, fish hooks, and nets.[4]
Agriculture appeared experimentally toward the 8th century. It was only in the 14th century that it was fully mastered in the St. Lawrence River valley. The Iroquoians cultivated corn, marrow, sunflowers, and beans.[5]
In 1508, only 16 years after the first voyage of Christopher Columbus, Thomas Auber, who was likely part of a fishing trip near Newfoundland, brought back a few Amerindians to France. This indicates that in the early 16th century, French navigators ventured in the gulf of the St. Lawrence, along with the Basques and the Spaniards who did the same.[6]
Also, Jacques Cartier wrote in his journal that when he made his first contacts with the Amerindians (St. Lawrence Iroquoians), that they came to him in their boats to offer him furs. All these facts and several other details encourage us to believe that this was not the first meeting of Amerindians and Europeans.[citation needed]
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Main article: Giovanni da Verrazzano |
In 1524 an official voyage, financed by merchants and the King of France, was organized. Like several other European nations, the French put their trust in an Italian navigator. Indeed, Spain had hired Christoforo Colombo (Christopher Columbus), Amerigo Vespucci, England paid Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot), and France called upon Giovanni da Verrazzano. Seeking a shorter passage toward Asia, Verrazzano ventured in an area which had not really been visited by the other European travelers. He thoroughly skirted the Atlantic coast of North America between Florida and Nova Scotia, seeking the coveted passage to the Sea of China. He came back empty handed, but not without taking note of the beauty of the landscape which he compared to a region of Greece which he probably knew, Arcadia.[citation needed]
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Main article: Jacques Cartier |
On June 24, 1534, French explorer Jacques Cartier planted a cross on the Gaspé Peninsula and took possession of the territory in the name of King Francis I of France.[7]
On his second voyage on May 26, 1535, Cartier sailed upriver to the St. Lawrence Iroquoian villages of Stadacona, near present-day Quebec City, and Hochelaga, near present-day Montreal.
In 1541, Jean-Francois de la Roque de Roberval became lieutenant of New France and had the responsibility to build a new colony in America. It was Cartier who established the first French settlement on American soil, Charlesbourg Royal.
France was disappointed after the three voyages of Cartier and did not want to invest further large sums in an adventure with such uncertain outcome. A period of disinterest in the new world on behalf of the French authorities followed. Only at the very end of the 16th century interest in these northern territories was renewed.[7]
Still, even during the time when France did not send official explorers, Breton and Basque fishermen came to the new territories to stock up on codfish and whale oil. Since they were forced to stay for a longer period of time, they started to trade their metal objects for fur provided by the indigenous people. This commerce became profitable and thus the interest in the territory was revived.
Fur commerce made a permanent residence in the country worthwhile. Good relations with the indigenous providers were necessary. For some fishermen however, a seasonal presence was sufficient. Commercial companies were founded that tried to further the interest of the Crown in colonizing the territory. They demanded that France grant a monopoly to one single company. In return, this company would also take over the colonization of the French American territory. Thus it would not cost the king much money to build the colony. On the other hand, other merchants wanted commerce to stay unregulated. This controversy was a big issue at the turn of the 17th century.[citation needed]
By the end of the 17th century, a census showed that around 10,000 French settlers were farming along the lower St. Lawrence Valley.[8] By 1700, fewer than 20,000 people of French origin were settled in New France, extending from Newfoundland to the Mississippi, with the pattern of settlement following the networks of the cod fishery and fur trade, although most Quebec settlers were farmers.[9]
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Main article: History of New France |
Modern Quebec was part of the territory of New France, the general name for the North American possessions of France until 1763. At its largest extent, before the Treaty of Utrecht, this territory included several colonies, each with its own administration: Canada, Acadia, Hudson Bay, and Louisiana.
The borders of these colonies were not precisely defined, and were open on the western side, as the maps below show:
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Main article: Acadia |
Although Acadia was a separate colony from Quebec, they were both included within the territory of New France. Acadia was first established as a settlement on Saint Croix Island, in the Saint Croix River between modern day Maine and New Brunswick, in 1604 by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts and his navigator Samuel de Champlain. The settlement at Saint Croix was abandoned after a harsh winter, in which over half of the settlers died. It was moved the following year to the opposite side of the Bay of Fundy at Port Royal. The settlement was again disbanded in 1608 and Champlain sailed to modern day Quebec City where he began the settlement that would become New France. Though settlers returned to and re-established Acadia in 1611 and it remained a de facto French colony until 1713, it was largely left to its own governance and its people became known as the neutral French.
Three quarters of a century after being explored by Jacques Cartier and unsuccessfully colonized by Roberval, Samuel de Champlain laid out the foundation of French Canada, the most important and historically most successful French colony in North America.
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Main article: Canada, New France |
Quebec City was founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain. Some other towns were founded before, most famously Tadoussac in 1604 which still exists today, but Quebec was the first to be meant as a permanent settlement and not a simple trading post. Over time, it became the capital of French Canada and all of New France.
The first version of the town was a single large walled building, called the Habitation. A similar Habitation was established in Port Royal in 1605, in Acadia. This arrangement was made for protection against perceived threats from the indigenous people. The difficulty of supplying the city of Quebec from France and the lack of knowledge of the area meant that life was hard. A significant fraction of the population died of hunger and diseases during the first winter. However, agriculture soon expanded and a continuous flow of immigrants, mostly men in search of adventure, increased the population.
The French quickly established trading posts throughout their territory, trading for fur with aboriginal hunters. The coureur des bois, who were freelance traders, explored much of the area themselves. They kept trade and communications flowing through a vast network along the rivers of the hinterland. This network was inherited by the English and Scottish traders after the fall of the French Empire in Quebec, and many of the courier des bois became voyageurs for the British.[10]
The Roman Catholic Church would be given en seigneurie large and valuable tracts of land estimated at nearly 30% of all the lands granted by the French Crown in New France.[11] In 1627, after meeting with Samuel de Champlain, Cardinal Richelieu granted a charter to the Compagnie des Cent-Associés (or Company of One Hundred Associates). This gave the company control over the booming fur trade and land rights across the territory in exchange for the company supporting and expanding settlement in New France (at the time encompassing Acadia, Quebec, Newfoundland, and Louisiana).[12] Specific clauses in the charter included a requirement to bring 4000 settlers into New France over the next 15 years. The company largely ignored the settlement requirements of their charter and focused on the lucrative fur trade, only 300 settlers arriving before 1640.
The early years of the company's rule were disastrous for Quebec. Because of war with England, the first two convoys of ships and settlers bound for the colony were waylaid near Gaspé by British privateers under the command of three French-Scottish Huguenot brothers, David, Louis and Thomas Kirke. Quebec was effectively cut off. On 19 July 1629, with Quebec completely out of supplies and no hope of relief, Champlain surrendered Quebec to the Kirkes without a fight. Champlain and other colonists were taken to England, where they learned that peace had been agreed (in the 1629 Treaty of Susa) before Quebec's surrender, and the Kirkes were obliged to return their takings. However, they refused, and it was not until the 1632 Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye that Quebec and all other captured French possessions in North America were returned to New France. Champlain was restored as de facto governor but died three years later.
On the verge of bankruptcy, the company lost its fur trade monopoly in 1641 and was finally dissolved in 1662.[13]
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Main article: Sovereign Council of New France |
The establishment of the Conseil souverain, political restructuring which turned New France into a province of France, ended the period of company rule and marked a new beginning in the colonization effort.
Outside the home, Canadian women had few domains which they controlled. An important exception came with Roman Catholic nuns. Stimulated by the influence in France of the popular religiosity of the Counter Reformation, new orders for women began appearing in the seventeenth century and became a permanent feature of Quebec society. [14]
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Main articles: French and Indian War and Seven Years' War |
In the middle of the 18th century, British North America had grown to be close to a full-fledged independent country, something they would actually become a few decades later, with more than 1 million inhabitants. Meanwhile New France was still seen mostly as a cheap source of natural resources for the metropolis, and had only 60,000 inhabitants. Nevertheless, New France was territorially larger than the Thirteen Colonies, and there was friction along some of the borders.
The earliest battles of the French and Indian War occurred in 1754 in the Ohio Country, when British colonial forces led by George Washington disputed the establishment of forts by the French near what is now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. These battles marked the beginning of the conflict that eventually widened into the worldwide Seven Years' War two years later. The territory of New France at that time included parts of present-day Upstate New York, and a series of battles were fought there. The French military enjoyed early successes in these frontier battles, gaining control over several strategic points in 1756 and 1757.
The tide began to turn when the British administration of William Pitt the Elder decided to send substantial military forces against the French colonies, while the British Navy controlled the Atlantic, preventing France from sending significant military assistance. In 1758 the British captured Louisbourg, gaining control over the mouth of the St. Lawrence, and also took control of key forts on the frontier in battles at Frontenac and Duquesne. In spite of the spectacular defeat of the supposed main British thrust in the Battle of Carillon (in which a banner was supposedly carried that inspired the modern flag of Quebec), the French military position was poor.
In the next phase of the war, begun in 1759, the British aimed directly at the heart of New France. General James Wolfe led a fleet of 49 ships holding 8,640 British troops to the fortress of Quebec. They disembarked on Île d'Orléans and on the south shore of the river; the French forces under Marquis de Montcalm held the walled city and the north shore. Wolfe laid siege to the city for more than two months, exchanging cannon fire over the river, but neither side could break the siege. As neither side could expect resupply during the winter, Wolfe moved to force a battle. On 5 September 1759, after successfully convincing Montcalm he would attack by the Bay of Beauport east of the city, the British troops crossed close to Cap-Rouge, west of the city, and successfully climbed the steep Cape Diamond undetected.[15] Montcalm, for disputed reasons, did not use the protection of the city walls and fought on open terrain, in what would be known as the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. The battle was short and bloody; both leaders died in battle, but the British easily won. (The Death of General Wolfe is a well-known 1770 painting by artist Benjamin West depicting the final moments of Wolfe.)
Now in possession of the main city and capital, and further isolating the inner cities of Trois-Rivières and Montreal from France, the rest of the campaign was only a matter of slowly taking control of the land. While the French had a tactical victory in the Battle of Sainte-Foy outside Quebec in 1760, attempts to resupply the military were dashed in the naval Battle of the Restigouche, and the Marquis de Vaudreuil, New France's last Royal governor, surrendered Montreal on 8 September 1760.
France had hoped to secure the return of Quebec and the rest of New France by occupying British territories, and by invading Hanover. However Britain's success in the war forced France to cede all of Canada to the British at the Treaty of Paris. The Royal Proclamation of October 7, 1763 by King George III set out the terms of government for the newly captured territory, as well as defining the geographic boundaries of the territory.[16]
Issued on 7 October 1763, the British Royal Proclamation of 1763 laid out the policy of Great Britain regarding its newly acquired colonies of America. The three Quebec districts were united into the Province of Quebec. It was the British who were the first to use the name "Quebec" to refer to a territory beyond Quebec City; it has been speculated that they may have chosen to do this "to distinguish it from the former vast French Empire, that, apart from Louisiana, was now under British control".[17] Territory that had been settled mainly by English-speakers was partitioned from territory that was mainly settled by French-speakers, since the British hoped to limit losses to the land they had captured if France were to make military gains at some point in the future.[17]
The Quebec Act of 1774 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain setting procedures of governance in the Province of Quebec. Among other components, this act restored the use of the French civil law for private matters while maintaining the use of the English common law for public administration (including criminal prosecution), replaced the oath of allegiance so that it no longer made reference to the Protestant faith, and guaranteed free practice of the Catholic faith. The purpose of this Act was to secure the allegiance of the French Canadians with unrest growing in the American colonies to the south.[18]
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See also: Invasion of Canada (1775), Saratoga campaign, and Northern theater of the American Revolutionary War after Saratoga |
When the American Revolutionary War broke out in early 1775, Quebec became a target for American forces, that sought to liberate the French population there from British rule. In September 1775 the Continental Army began a two-pronged invasion, with one army capturing Montreal while another traveled through the wilderness of what is now Maine toward Quebec City. The two armies joined forces, but were defeated in the Battle of Quebec, in which the American General Richard Montgomery was slain. The Americans were driven back into New York by the arrival of a large army of British and German troops in June 1776.
Before and during the American occupation of the province, there was a significant propaganda war in which both the Americans and the British sought to gain the population's support. The Americans succeeded in raising two regiments in Quebec, led by James Livingston and Moses Hazen, one of which served throughout the war. Hazen's 2nd Canadian Regiment served in the Philadelphia campaign and also at the Siege of Yorktown, and included Edward Antill, a New Yorker living in Quebec City (who actually led the regiment at Yorktown as Hazen had been promoted to brigadier general), Clément Gosselin, Germain Dionne, and many others. Louis-Philippe de Vaudreuil, a Quebecer, was with the French Navy in the Battle of Chesapeake Bay that prevented the British Navy from reaching Yorktown.
After General John Burgoyne's failed 1777 campaign for control of the Hudson River, Quebec was used as a base for raiding operations into the northern parts of the United States until the end of the war. When the war ended, large numbers of Loyalists fled the United States. Many were resettled into parts of the province that bordered on Lake Ontario. These settlers eventually sought to separate themselves administratively from the French-speaking Quebec population, which occurred in 1791.[18]
The Constitutional Act of 1791 divided Quebec into Upper Canada (the part of present-day Ontario south of Lake Nipissing plus the current Ontario shoreline of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior) and Lower Canada (the southern part of present-day Quebec).[18] Newly arrived English-speaking Loyalist refugees had refused to adopt the Quebec seigneurial system of land tenure, or the French civil law system, giving the British reason to separate the English-speaking settlements from the French-speaking territory as administrative jurisdictions.[19] Upper Canada's first capital was Newark (present-day Niagara-on-the-Lake); in 1796, it was moved to York, now Toronto.
The new constitution, primarily passed to answer the demands of the Loyalists, created a unique situation in Lower Canada. The Legislative Assembly, the only elected body in the colonial government, was continually at odds with the Legislative and Executive branches appointed by the governor. When, in the early 19th century, the Parti canadien rose as a nationalist, liberal and reformist party, a long political struggle started between the majority of the elected representatives of Lower Canada and the colonial government. The majority of the elected representatives in the assembly were members of the francophone professional class: "lawyers, notaries, doctors, innkeepers or small merchants", who comprised 77.4% of the assembly from 1792 to 1836.[20]
This struggle finally led to armed rebellions in 1837 and 1838 led by reformers from the Parti canadien, also referred to as the "Parti patriote". Key goals for the rebels were to have responsible government and, for many, to terminate prejudicial dominance of the English minority over the French majority. Louis-Joseph Papineau was instrumental in acting as a leadership figure for the rebels, yet his ideological views were ambiguous concerning the relative importance of seigneurial landowners, the Roman Catholic Church, and the francophone bourgeoisie. Under his influence, the first rebellion of 1837 was directed at the seigneurs and the clergy as much as the anglophone governor.[20] The 1837 rebellion resulted in a declaration of martial law, and suspension of Canada's Constitution. To centralize authority under the Crown, John Lambton, Lord Durham was named governor of all of British North America.
The second rebellion in 1838 was to have more far-reaching consequences. In 1838, Lord Durham arrived in Canada as High Commissioner. Although skirmishes with British troops were relatively minor during the second rebellion of 1838, the Crown dealt forcefully in punishing the rebels. 850 of the Patriotes were arrested; 12 were eventually hung, and 58 were deported to Australian penal colonies.[20]
In 1839, Lord Durham was called upon by the Crown to deliver a Report on the Affairs of British North America as a result of the rebellions. The Special Council that governed the colony from 1838 to 1841 enacted many reforms with the aim of improving economic and bureaucratic affairs, such as land ownership and the establishment of new schools. These institutional reforms ultimately became the foundation of "responsible government" in the colony.[20]
Many American colonists who remained loyal to England left the 13 Atlantic colonies before American independence for Canada, with many settling in communities in southern Quebec.[18] In the 19th century, Quebec experienced several waves of immigration, principally from England, Scotland and Ireland. At the turn of the 20th century, immigrants to Quebec came mainly from Ireland, but large numbers of immigrants arrived from Germany and other areas of western Europe.
Lord Durham recommended that Upper Canada and Lower Canada be united, in order to make the francophone population of Lower Canada a minority within the united territory and weaken its influence. Durham expressed his objectives in plain terms.[21]
His recommendation was followed; the new seat of government was located in Montreal, with the former Upper Canada being referred to as "Canada West" and the former Lower Canada being referred to as "Canada East". The Act of Union (1840) formed the Province of Canada. Rebellion continued sporadically, and in 1849, the burning of the Parliament Buildings in Montreal led to the relocation of the seat of government to Toronto. Historian Francois Xavier Garneau, like other Canada East francophones during the 1840s, had deep concerns about the united entity and the place of the francophones within it.[22]
In the decades immediately before Canadian Confederation in 1867, French-speaking Quebecers, known as Québécois(e) in French, remained a minority within Canada East. Estimates of their proportion of the population between 1851 and 1861 are 75% of the total population, with around 20% of the remaining population largely composed of English-speaking citizens of British or Irish descent.[23] From 1871 to 1931, the relative size of the French-speaking population stayed much the same, rising to a peak of 80.2% of Quebec's population in 1881. The proportion of citizens of British descent declined slightly in contrast, from a peak of 20.4% of the population in 1871, to 15% by 1931. Other minorities made up the remainder of the population of the province.[24]
After several years of negotiations, in 1867 the British Parliament passed the British North America Act, by which the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia joined to form the Dominion of Canada. Canada East became the Province of Quebec. Canada remained self-governing locally, but the British continued to control its external affairs. George-Étienne Cartier, a "Father of Confederation", was the most prominent promoter of Confederation for Quebec.
Urban expansion characterized Montreal around the time of Confederation, as rural Québécois moved to the city to find work. Immigrants flocked to Montreal, Canada's largest city at the time, and so did many people from other parts of Canada. Major business and financial institutions were established in Montreal, including the headquarters of several national banks and corporations. Prominent businessmen included brewer and politician John Molson Jr., jeweller Henry Birks, and insurer James Bell Forsyth. Montreal's population grew rapidly, from around 9000 in 1800, to 23,000 in 1825, and 58,000 in 1852.[25] By 1911, the population was over 528,000. The City of Montreal annexed many neighbouring communities, expanding its territory fivefold between 1876 and 1918.[26]
Many aspects of life for French-speaking Québécois remained dominated by the Catholic Church in the decades following 1867. The Church operated many of the institutions of the province, include most French-language schools,[27] hospitals, and charitable organizations. The leader of the Catholic Church in Quebec was the Bishop of Montreal, and from 1840 to 1876 this was Ignace Bourget, an opponent of liberalism. Bourget eventually succeeded in gaining more influence than the liberal, reformist Institut Canadien. At his most extreme, Bourget went so far as to deny a Church burial to Joseph Guibord, a member of the Institut, in 1874. A court decision forced Bourget to allow Guibord to be buried in a Catholic cemetery, but Bourget deconsecrated the burial plot of ground, and Guibord was buried under army protection.[28] The conservative approach of the Catholic Church was the major force in Québécois society until the reforms of the Quiet Revolution during the 1960s.
Catholic women started dozens of independent religious orders, funded in part by dowries provided by the parents of young nuns. The orders specialized in charitable works, including hospitals, orphanages, homes for unwed mothers, and schools. In the first half of the twentieth century, about 2-3% of Québec's young women became nuns; there were 6600 and 1901, and 26,000 in 1941. In Québec in 1917, 32 different teaching orders operated 586 boarding schools for girls. At that time there was no public education for girls in Québec beyond elementary school. Hospitals were another specially, the first of which was founded in 1701. In 1936, the nuns of Québec operated 150 institutions, with 30,000 beds to care for the long-term sick, the homeless, and orphans.[29]
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In 1896, Wilfrid Laurier becames the first Québécois to become Prime Minister of Canada. Educated in both French and English, Laurier remained in office as Prime Minister until October 1911. Laurier had several notable political achievements in Quebec, among them winning Québécois votes for the Liberal Party, against the desires of the powerful Catholic clergy.
In 1899, Henri Bourassa was outspoken against the British government's request for Canada to send a militia to fight for Britain in the Second Boer War. Laurier's compromise was to send a volunteer force, but the seeds were sown for future conscription protests during World War I and World War II. Well after the end of Laurier's time in office, Henri Bourassa remained a strong opponent of conscription; opposition to conscription led by Henri Bourassa resulted in the Conscription Crisis of 1917.
As more provinces joined Canadian Confederation, there was a pressing need to formalize provincial boundaries. Quebec's boundaries were expanded twice during this period, first in 1898, when the Parliament of Canada passed the Quebec Boundary Extension Act, 1898, and again in 1912, when the Parliament of Canada passed the Quebec Boundaries Extension Act, 1912, expanding the Province's borders to its current status.
Population migration also characterized life in late 19th century Quebec. In the late 19th century, overpopulation in the Saint Lawrence Valley led many Quebecers to immigrate to the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region, the Laurentides (region), and New England, providing a link with that region that continues to this day.
In 1927, a |Judicial Committee of the Privy Council decided in favour of the British Colony of Newfoundland in a dispute with Canada over the boundary of Labrador.
A major milestone for Canada came in 1931. In that year, the Statute of Westminster formally removed any legislating power of Britain over the Dominion of Canada. Canada's greater ability to govern its own affairs was soon to be tested by the Conscription Crisis of 1944. Once again, opponents in Quebec protested the conscription measure. Prime Minister McKenzie-King tried, but did not succeed, in avoiding full conscription in Canada, and it became a reality in the final months of World War II. The end of the war also meant the end of the crisis, however. McKenzie-King succeeded in portraying himself as "a moderate", and at the same time "limited the ethnic bitterness" that had marked the 1917 conscription crisis.[30]
At the end of World War II, Maurice Duplessis became Premier of Quebec, a position he held from 1945 to 1959. A highly controversial figure even today, Duplessis and his Union Nationale party dominated the province. Duplessis' years in power have been termed the La Grande Noirceur-era ("Great Darkness") by his opponents. The Duplessis years were ones of close church-state relations. Québécois society remained relatively culturally insular during this period, in contrast to the modernizing influences sweeping through the English-speaking parts of North America. Traditional Catholic morality and Church doctrine defined many aspects of daily life, so that Québécois came to be seen as possessing a conservative culture; for example, most schools and hospitals were still Church-controlled. Births outside marriage were rare, abortion was illegal, and divorce was not fully legalized in Quebec until 1968.[31] In recent years, many people in Quebec have spoken out about exploitation by Church and government institutions during the Duplessis years, such as the tragedy of the "Duplessis Orphans".
Agitation for reform came from some Québécois during the Duplessis years, although such provocative attitudes were often frowned upon and marginalized. In 1948, a collective of artists calling themselves Les Automatistes published [Le Refus global] Error: ((Lang)): text has italic markup (help), meaning "total refusal". The pamphlet was an attempt to start a new vision of Quebec. It has been described as "an anti-religious and anti-establishment manifesto and one of the most influential social and artistic documents in modern Quebec history".[32] It would have a lasting impact, influencing the supporters of Quebec's Quiet Revolution during the 1960s.
Other signs of frustration with the status quo appeared with the bitter Asbestos Strike of 1949. It led to a greater appreciation of labour and social-democratic issues in Quebec.
During the 1960s, the Quiet Revolution ushered in an array of socio-political transformations, from secularism and the welfare state to a specifically Québécois national identity. The baby boom generation embraced the changes that liberalized social attitudes in the province.
The 1960s were largely a time of optimism in Quebec. Expo 67 marked Montreal's pinnacle as Canada's largest and most important city and prompted the construction of what is now Parc Jean Drapeau and the Montreal Metro. In 1962, the mayor of Montreal, Jean Drapeau (the man who later was behind Expo 67 and the '76 Olympics projects) instigated the construction of the Metro (subway). The first phase of the subway was completed in 1966. These mega-projects came in the same era as Canada's Confederation centennial celebrations in 1967, when a wave of patriotism swept through most of Canada.
The upheavals of the 1960s were also a time of conflict for some in Quebec. The emergence of extremist nationalist violence marked a dark chapter in the province's history, when 1963, the first bombs of the Front de libération du Québec were detonated in Montreal. A major recognition of Quebec's cultural importance came in 1964 when, under authority granted by the Government of Canada, the Province of Quebec signed its first international agreement in Paris. The same year, during an official visit by the Queen, the police were required to maintain order during a demonstration by members of the Quebec separatist movement.
In the midst of the political and urban changes, cultural change took root as well. Quebec was greatly affected by the baby boom; between 1960 and 1970, more than 1.2 million Quebeckers reached the age of 14.[33] As more young Québécois rejected Catholic teachings, they made life choices that were a complete change from tradition in the province. Cohabitation rates among young couples rose, as the institution of marriage gradually lost its obligatory status. Births outside of marriage began to rise, from 3.7 percent in 1961 to 10 percent in 1976, then 22 percent by 1984.[34] Student protests at local universities erupted, mirroring the youth protests throughout the United States and Western Europe during the 1960s and early 1970s. Reforms included an expansion of post-secondary educational opportunities for both English- and French-speaking Quebeckers. In 1968, the Université du Québec à Montréal opened. Protests by English-speaking students led to the establishment of Concordia University in Montreal that same year.[35]
Quebec nationalism, by now popularly termed Quebec separatism, began to gain momentum in the late 1960s as a vocal minority began to push to bring the movement into the mainstream. In 1967, René Lévesque quit the Quebec Liberal Party and founded the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association.
During an official visit to Quebec as a guest of the government of Canada, in front of a huge crowd the President of France, General Charles de Gaulle, declared from the balcony of the Montreal city hall; "Vive le Québec libre!" (Long live free Quebec!).[36] Surprised by this declaration, the crowd cheered and applauded loudly. A public outcry erupted over such an unprecedented interference in the affairs of another nation, an act to which the Canadian federal government strongly took offence. De Gaulle canceled his visit to Ottawa and left directly for Paris.[37]
Violence erupted in 1970 with the October Crisis, when Front de libération du Québec members kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross and Quebec Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte. Pierre Laporte was later found murdered. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau used the War Measures Act, which allowed anyone suspected of being involved with the terrorists to be held temporarily without charge. Not all reformists supported Quebec separatism, for example, the editors of the political journal Cité Libre.[38]
The growth of Quebec's government bureaucracy and its perceived interventionism produced friction with the federal government, particularly since the federal government followed a policy of close centralization.
English-speaking Canada showed concern at the changes happening in Quebec society and the protests of the Québécois. In 1963, Canada's Prime Minister, Lester B. Pearson, asked the famous question, "What does Quebec want?" as he instituted a royal commission of enquiry into bilingualism and biculturalism to find an answer for this question, and to propose measures to satisfy the demands of the Québécois. French-speaking communities beyond Quebec were also pushing for increased linguistic and cultural accommodations; in 1965 the report of the Laurendeau-Dunton royal commission recommended making French an official language in the parliaments of Canada, the provincial assemblies of Ontario and New Brunswick, in federal tribunals and in all federal government administration of Canada.
The implementation of the proposed measures only increased the divide between English Canada and Quebec francophones. English Canadians considered the measures put in place to be unacceptable concessions to francophones, while francophones considered the measures an insufficient response to their aspirations.
Throughout these constant frictions between the federal government and the provincial government, the Quebec nationalist movement transformed itself into an independence movement. The Ralliement national (RN), led by Gilles Grégoire, and the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale (RIN), led by Pierre Bourgault and Hubert Aquin, were founded in 1960 and quickly became political parties. In 1967, René Lévesque, who until then had been a leading figure in the Liberal Party of Quebec, quit the Liberals to found the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association (MSA).
In 1968, the separatist forces reorganized into a single political party, the Parti québécois, under the leadership of René Lévesque. Separatist parties gained 8% of the popular vote in Quebec in 1966, 23% in 1970 and 30% in 1973. These results were not strong enough to result in a majority in Quebec's provincial assembly, but they showed the rapid development of a separatist ideology in Quebec.
Traditional values continued to be put into question, in particular at the moral and religious level. Every form of authority was questioned, and demonstrations by students and workers' unions were frequent. A noticeable, growing confidence was evident in Quebec, supported by economic and social successes. After a period of rapid change, Quebec paused to search for its path.
A period of fast economic growth was ending. Several factors contributed to the stagnation and even the reduction, in many cases, of the buying power of Québécois:
Quebec's Premier Robert Bourassa unveiled plans for the James Bay Project in 1971, which expanded the capacity of Hydro-Québec by creating one of the largest hydro-electric projects in the world and eventually created a new understanding of the relationship between Quebec and the Cree Nation.[39] Tensions with indigenous groups were to reemerge in the 1990s. In 1990, the Oka Crisis Standoffs in Kanesatake and Kahnawake over building of a golf course in a sacred religious area and cemetery in Oka led to the death of a police officer and better attempts to treat aboriginal issues.
On May 20, 1980, the first referendum was held on sovereignty-association but was rejected by a majority of 60 percent margin (59.56% NO to 40.44% YES).
1976 had seen the election of the separatist Parti québécois, which formed the first separatist government of the province. Tne Parti québécois promised in its campaign that it would not declare independence without obtaining a mandate through a referendum. The mandate of the Parti québécois was to govern the province well, and not to bring about independence. The first years of the Parti québécois government were very productive and the government voted to pass progressive laws that were well accepted by the majority of the population (such as French language protection laws, a law on the financing of political parties, a law for compensating road accident victims, for protecting farm land, and many other social-democrat type laws). Even opponents of the Parti québécois acknowledged that the Party governed the province well.
From 1976 up to today, the Parti québécois and the Parti libéral du Québec (Liberal Party of Quebec) (the latter does not support separatism) have formed governments: the Parti québécois from 1976 to 1985, from 1994 to 2003, and beginning again in 2012; the Parti libéral from 1985 to 1994 and from 2003 to 2012. Governments made up of both parties have had frequent quarrels over constitutional and jurisdictional matters with Canada's centralized federal government.
With the Canada Act 1982, an Act of Parliament passed by the British Parliament severed virtually all remaining constitutional and legislative ties between the United Kingdom and Canada. All provinces signed, except Quebec. The Meech Lake Accord and Charlottetown Accord negotiated during Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's government were attempts to reconcile Quebec and persuade Quebec to sign the Canada Act; however, concessions to Quebec were considered unacceptable to many in English Canada, who voted to reject the Charlottetown Accord. The failure of the Accord was a precipitating factor in the separatists' momentum moving towards the 1995 referendum.
On October 30, 1995, a second referendum for Quebec sovereignty was rejected by a slim margin (50.58% NO to 49.42% YES). An instrumental leader of the Quebec separatist side was Lucien Bouchard, who had left the senior ranks of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's government to support the separatist cause. Bouchard was Premier of Quebec during the 1995 referendum. Former Premier Jacques Parizeau, a leading figure in Quebec provincial politics, also supported the separatist cause.
A surviving piece of the 1995 referendum still exists: the Bloc québécois, which was founded in 1991 to bring about a second referendum on Quebec sovereignty, becoming the first separatist party on the Canadian federal political scene.
On November 27, 2006, the Canadian House of Commons passed a motion recognizing that the "Québécois form a nation within a united Canada". The motion was introduced in the House of Commons by the federal government.
Quebec elected Pauline Marois as its first female Premier on September 4, 2012. Marois serves as leader of the separatist Parti quebecois. The Parti quebecois was elected with a minority of seats in the province's legislative assembly, however, with remaining seats held by two federalist (non-separatist) parties. Shortly after the election, during a radio network interview in France, Marois stated that another referendum was not conceivable in the current circumstances, although she emphasized that she would support Quebec's interests.[40]
Names in bold refer to provinces, others to sub-provincial levels of government; the first names listed are those areas mostly nearly corresponding to modern Quebec.
