Research Paper About Quebec City

The province of Quebec has been part of Canada since the very beginning. Quebec, originally a colony of France, is the only province in Canada with a predominantly french speaking population. Quebec is an important factor in Canada's diversity, as the culture in Quebec is vastly different than the rest of Canada. A fact that Canadians are proud of. However, many in Quebec see themselves as too different, in a sense, from the rest of canada, and believe that Quebec should become its own sovereign nation. The political party Bloc Quebecois has been trying to gain independence for Quebec since 1991 (Goldsworthy 10), although unsuccessfully. Canada needs quebec in order to keep the same amount of influence it has in the world,

The historical context of the Quebec Separatist movement included The Quiet Revolution. The Quiet Revolution was when small groups try to make Quebec independent especially FLQ. The small groups members were Francophones, French-speaking citizens. Their ideals was to make Quebec independent from Canadaś government. First, Canada made a bill stating that it will create a better future for Canada. “The Official Language Bill is a reflection of the nature of this country as a whole and of a conscious choice we are making about our future.” (World History: The Modern Era) Canada thought it was necessary to have one language, and it will make them feel united. After this bill was established, Canada’s government regretted and believed that there should be two official language. Yet the citizens of Canada were still deciding if they wanted that law to pass. “We believe in two official languages and in a pluralist society, not

In 1976 Rene Levesque won the provincial election and became premier of Quebec with his party, Parti Quebecois. The separatists wanted to strengthen the French language and didn’t care about official bilingualism. So not long after taking office, the Parti Quebecois passed Bill 101, which is also known as the Charter of the French Language. It decreed that French was the single official language of the province of Quebec and that employees of the government had to work in French. Outdoor commercial signs had to be in French only and the children of immigrants would have to go to French schools. The Quebecois likes this new law because they thought their language and culture was becoming endangered. Birth rates in Quebec had gone down and the

Ontario, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland border Quebec. Unoriginally, the capital is also Quebec. However, Quebec City is not the most populated city and falls second on the list. The population census conducted in May 2016 reports that the top five major cities are Montreal with 1.7 million people, Quebec with 5.3 hundred thousand people, Laval with over 4.2 hundred thousand people, Gatineau with more than 2.5 hundred thousand people, and Longueuil with 2.4 thousand people (“Canada: Quebec: Major

Quebec was founded by French settlers during the 16th century. It was then conquered by the British (known as the conquest of New France in 1760). “The Philosophy of the Enlightment” allowed Britain’s victory to treat the French people with dignity as both nations were civilized societies (source?). The British allowed the French occupants to maintain cultural aspects such as language and traditions (source?). In effect, The Quebec Act was published in 1974, in efforts to ensure loyalty from the French as the British government worried that the remaining French people would support the American Independent War (source?). The act was favourable for French people; allowing the continual practice of

Now that we have studied the history surrounding the issue of Quebec's unique place within Canada, we will explore the pros and cons of recognizing Quebec as a

Between 1976 and 1981, nearly 20% of Quebec's Anglophones left the Province. 25% of this group were aged 20 - 34. As well, a number of head offices moved West, complaining of high taxes, language legislation etc. This, of course, had the effect of reducing the relative importance of the English-speaking population.

This book contains several volumes about the Aboriginal languages spoken in Quebec. It demonstrates how the Quebec government has initiated policies on the languages in comparison with the Canadian federal government. Since both Quebec and NWT share some common aboriginal languages such as Inuktitut and Cree I would like to compare and contrast both the Quebec and NWT’s language planning fields as one is the largest province in Canada and the other is a territory with lower amount of language speakers than Quebec. Also, the book argues that standardizing the Quebec aboriginal languages is needed, as there are three different language families in nine languages that construct huge complexities across dialects, writings and grammatical systems.

During the passing of Bill 101, Quebec’s birth rate was the lowest to date (Bain and others). The majority of French speakers live in Quebec, however, not everyone speaks French. This creates a large concern that the French language will be extremely limited to a select few in the near future because of the low population. By ensuring that everyone in Quebec is competent at speaking French, it protects one of Canada’s two official languages from disappearing. Furthermore, the percentage of anglophones who can speak French is; 67% in Quebec, but only 6% in the other provinces (Mougeon).

James Murton argues that public history in Quebec is an opportunity to see the authentic core of the province, “the rural habitant” (Murton 421) through the Canadian Steamship Lines (CSL) and the cultural background of the province. Quebec was popularized by tourism and supported the idea of an authentic Quebecker. Though, it played an interesting role in challenging the ideals of English-Canadian nationalists residing in the region. The CSL painted a myth and memory of Quebec as a romantic place where its population was interested in preserving the Old World (422). For the province, the nature of public memory often reflects the French-Canadian folklore development, seen “to have preserved the essential culture of the race or of the nation”

Finally in 1867, the United Canadas joined two other British Colonies, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to form the Dominion of Canada (McRoberts 1991, 413). French-Canadians continued to fight against assimilation and received autonomous privileges with exclusive jurisdiction over matters regarding its cultural distinctiveness***. Thus, the Francophone language and culture has always been at the forefront of Quebec priorities. Since Confederation, Quebec nationalist have felt that the Francophone language and culture has been at risk of assimilation by the rest of Canada. As a result, Quebec nationalism is fundamentally rooted in the preservation of the Francophone language and culture (Guiberneau 2006, 52). Political leaders in Quebec continuously urge for the recognition that Canada is composed of two nations or cultures (McRoberts 1991, 413). Prior to confederation Quebec enjoyed numerous autonomous privileges. Unfortunately, post-confederation Quebec did not enjoy as many autonomous privileges because Canada was created as a relatively centralized federation (Beland and Lecours 2007, 406). A centralized federation not only took several of these autonomous powers away from Quebec, but it also threatened the Francophone language and culture (Beland and Lecours 2007, 406). With this said, Quebec nationalism has placed a great deal of pressure on the federal government to decentralize, giving more powers to provincial governments.

The linguistic split in Quebec is a shaping factor in the province’s education system. Coupled with government subsidization of private schools, Quebec’s education system is unlike any other in the world. In 1977, the Parti Quebecois government passed Bill 101, stating that every person eligible for instruction in Quebec has a right to receive that instruction in French until the post-secondary level. An exception allows for children to attend English-language public schools if either one of their parents received their education in English in Canada (“Bill 101: Charter of the French Language”). As a result of the bill, the education system has been split up into two separate linguistic education systems; the French education system and the

Quebec, being the second-largest Canadian province, has a separate skilled worker visa category for it. This province is different from the rest of the country as it is the only official French-speaking province. However, to qualify for this program, applicant(s) has to go through points based assessment for immigration to Canada. Quebec offers permanent residency status for workers with desirable skills.

While the rest of Canada employs the concept of multiculturalism, Quebec emphasizes on another theory: interculturalism, or the notion of support in cross-cultural dialogue and challenging self-segregation tendencies within cultures. In the province, the word multiculturalism announces pejorative meanings. This was due, in part, to the fact that “a federal commission which was charged several years ago with the task of developing policies for Canada, based on its bicultural and bilingual character emerged with a recommendation that Canada think of itself as a multicultural and bilingual country.3”. Francophones, on the other hand, felt that this concept placed them at the same level as minority ethnic groups, thus erasing their thoughts of being seen as one of the country's founding nations.

According to the city of Ottawa’s website, Ottawa’s current population numbers 870,250, which reflects a 7.9% growth rate since 2001 (“Population,” n.d.). The City of Ottawa contends that this growth rate is faster than Ontario's rate (6.2%) and Canada's overall growth (4.8%) (“Population,” n.d.). The city has a diverse immigrant population, with immigrants making up more than 18% of the total population -- the largest immigrant groups come from West India, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and China (“Population,” n.d.). The City of Ottawa’s “Diversity Snapshot” (2010) states that the visible minority population makes up 20.2% of Ottawa’s population, 32.8% of which are Canadian by birth and categorized as follows: 4.9% black, 3.8% Chinese, 3.3% South Asian, 3% Arab, and 5.2% “other” (p.3). Regarding employment, the Canadian government and technology firms are the largest employers in the city (City of Ottawa, 2006, p. 3). The predominant language spoken is English (60%), with approximately 20% of the remaining population speaking French and the other 20% classified as “non-official languages” (City of Ottawa, 2006,