Before the 1960s Sovereignty and
sovereignism are terms derived from the modern independence movement, which started during the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s. However, the roots of Quebecers' desire for political autonomy are much older than that. Francophone nationalism in North America dates back to 1534, the year
Jacques Cartier landed in the
Gespe'gewa'gi district of
Miꞌkmaꞌki claiming
Canada for France, and more particularly to 1608, the year of the founding of
Quebec City by
Samuel de Champlain, the first permanent settlement for French colonists and their descendants in New France (who were called Canadiens, Canayens or Habitants). Following the British
conquest of New France, the
movement, which lasted from 1760 to the late 18th century and sought to restore the traditional rights of French Canadians abolished by the
Royal Proclamation of 1763, began. During this period, French Canadians began to express an indigenous form of nationalism which emphasized their longstanding residence in North America. The period was briefly interrupted by the
Quebec Act of 1774, which granted certain rights to but did not truly satisfy them, and was notably exacerbated by the 1783
Treaty of Paris, which ceded parts of the Quebec to the United States, and the
Constitutional Act of 1791, which established the
Westminster system. The
Patriote movement was the period lasting from the beginning of the 19th century to the defeat of the Patriotes at the
Battle of Saint-Eustache in 1837, the final battle in the Patriotes War. It began with the founding of the
Parti Canadien by the . It stands out for its notorious resistance to the influence of the
Château Clique, a group of wealthy families in
Lower Canada in the early 19th century who were the Lower Canadian equivalent of the
Family Compact in
Upper Canada. is the period beginning after the defeat of the Patriotes in the rebellions of 1837–1838 and lasting until the Quiet Revolution. It concerns the survival strategies employment by the French-Canadian nation and the ultramontane of the Catholic Church following the enactment of the
Act of Union of 1840 which established a system whose goal was to force the cultural and linguistic assimilation of French Canadians into English-Canadian culture. In addition to , a phlegmatic character was adopted in response to the mass immigration of English-speaking immigrants. Some French Canadians left Quebec during this period in search of job security and protection of their culture. This phenomenon, known as the , is the origin of the
Quebec diaspora in New England and Northeastern Ontario among other places. It led to the creation of permanent resistance movements in those new locations. Groups of nationalists outside Quebec have since then promoted Quebec's cultural identity, along with that of the
Acadians in the
Maritime provinces and in
Louisiana, represented by the
Société Nationale de l'Acadie since 1881.
Louis-Alexandre Taschereau coming to power in 1920 created an upheaval in French-Canadian society for most of the
interwar period. The confrontations and divergence of political opinions led to the rise of a new form of nationalism, called clerico-nationalism, promoted by
Maurice Duplessis and the
Union Nationale party during the
Grande Noirceur of 1944 to 1959. During the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s to 1970s, the modern
Québécois sovereignist movement took off, with
René Lévesque as one of its most recognizable figures. Various strategies were implemented since its rise, and it constitutes a continuity in French-speaking nationalism in North America. Now the patriotism is Quebec-focused, and the identifier has been changed from French-Canadian nationalism or identity to Québécois nationalism or identity.
Quiet Revolution (1960s–1970s) The Quiet Revolution in Quebec brought widespread change in the 1960s. Among other changes, support for Quebec independence began to form and grow in some circles. The first organization dedicated to the independence of Quebec was the , founded by
Raymond Barbeau on January 25, 1957. A primary change was an effort by the provincial government to assume greater control over healthcare and education, both of which had previously been under the purview of the
Catholic Church. To achieve this, the government established ministries of
Health and
Education, expanded the public service, made substantial investments in the public education system, and permitted the
unionization of the civil service. Additionally, measures were taken to enhance Quebecois control over
the province's economy, including the
nationalization of electricity production and distribution, the creation of the
Canada/Quebec Pension Plan, and the establishment of in an effort to nationalize Quebec's electric utilities. Furthermore, during this period, French Canadians in Quebec adopted the term to distinguish themselves from both the rest of Canada and France, solidifying their identity as a reformed province. On September 10, 1960, the
Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale (RIN) was founded, with
Pierre Bourgault quickly becoming its leader. On August 9 of the same year, the (ASIQ) was formed by . The "independence + socialism" project of the ASIQ was a source of political ideas for the (FLQ). On October 31, 1962, the and, in November of the same year, the were set up. These two groups were formed by RIN members to organize non-violent but illegal actions, such as vandalism and civil disobedience. The most extremist individuals of these groups left to form the FLQ, which, unlike all the other groups, had made the decision to resort to violence in order to reach its goal of independence for Quebec. Shortly after the November 14, 1962,
Quebec general election, RIN member
Marcel Chaput founded the short-lived . In February 1963, the (FLQ) was founded by three members who had met each other as part of the . They were
Georges Schoeters,
Raymond Villeneuve, and
Gabriel Hudon. In 1964, the RIN became a provincial political party. In 1965, the more conservative (RN) also became a party. During this period, the
Estates General of French Canada are organized. The stated objective of these Estates General was to consult the French-Canadian people on their constitutional future. The historical context of the time was a period when many former European colonies were becoming independent. Some advocates of Quebec independence saw Quebec's situation in a similar light; numerous activists were influenced by the writings of
Frantz Fanon,
Albert Memmi, and
Karl Marx. In June 1967, French president
Charles de Gaulle, who had recently granted independence to
Algeria, shouted "" during a speech from the balcony of
Montreal's city hall during a state visit to Canada. In doing so, he deeply offended the federal government, and English Canadians felt he had demonstrated contempt for the sacrifice of Canadian soldiers who died on the battlefields of France in two world wars. The visit was cut short and de Gaulle left the country. Finally, in October 1967, former
Liberal cabinet minister René Lévesque left that party when it refused to discuss sovereignty at a party convention. Lévesque formed the and set about uniting pro-sovereignty forces. He achieved that goal in October 1968 when the MSA held its only national congress in Quebec City. The RN and MSA agreed to merge to form the (PQ), and later that month Pierre Bourgault, leader of the RIN, dissolved his party and invited its members to join the PQ. Meanwhile, in 1969 the FLQ stepped up its campaign of violence, which would culminate in what would become known as the
October Crisis. The group claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Montreal Stock Exchange, and in 1970 the FLQ kidnapped British Trade Commissioner
James Cross and Quebec Labour Minister
Pierre Laporte; Laporte was later found murdered. Jacques Parizeau joined the on September 19, 1969, and
Jérôme Proulx of the joined on November 11 of the same year. In the
1970 provincial election, the PQ won its first seven seats in the
National Assembly. René Lévesque was defeated in Mont-Royal by the Liberal
André Marchand. Though the improvements made to Quebec society during this era make it seem like an extremely innovative period, it has been posited that these changes follow a logical revolutionary movement occurring throughout the Western world in the 1960s. Quebec historian took this
revisionist stance in arguing that the Quiet Revolution may have accelerated the natural evolution of Quebec's francophone society rather than having turned it on its head. The revisionist argument that describes this period as a natural continuation of innovations already occurring in Quebec cannot be omitted from any discussion on the merits of the Quiet Revolution. Though criticized as apologists for , Robert Rumilly and Conrad Black did add complexity to the narrative of neo-nationalists by contesting the concept of a , the idea that Duplessis's tenure in office was one of reactionary policies and politics. Dale Thomson, for his part, noted that , far from seeking to dismantle the traditional order, negotiated a transition with (and sought to accommodate) Quebec's Catholic Church. Several scholars have lately sought to mediate the neo-nationalist and revisionist schools by looking at grassroots Catholic activism and the Church's involvement in policy-making. Montreal municipal politics were also going through an important upheaval. became Montreal mayor on October 24, 1960. Under Drapeau, Montreal was awarded the 1967 International and Universal Exposition (
Expo 67), whose construction he oversaw. On August 26, 1977, the PQ passed two main laws: first, the law on the financing of political parties, which prohibits contributions by corporations and unions and set a limit on individual donations, and second, the
Charter of the French Language. On May 17 PQ
Member of the National Assembly Robert Burns resigned, telling the press he was convinced that the PQ was going to lose its referendum and fail to be re-elected afterwards. At its seventh national convention from June 1 to 3, 1979, the adopted their strategy for the coming referendum. The PQ then began an aggressive effort to promote sovereignty-association by providing details of how the economic relations with the rest of Canada would include free trade between Canada and Quebec, common tariffs against imports, and a common currency. In addition, joint political institutions would be established to administer these economic arrangements. Sovereignty-association was proposed to the population of Quebec in the
1980 Quebec referendum. The proposal was rejected by 60 percent of the Quebec electorate. In September, the PQ created a national committee of Anglophones and a liaison committee with ethnic minorities. The PQ was returned to power in the
1981 election with a stronger majority than in 1976, obtaining 49.2 percent of the vote and winning 80 seats. However, they did not hold a referendum in their second term, and put sovereignty on hold, concentrating on their stated goal of "good government".
René Lévesque retired in 1985 (and died in 1987). In the
1985 election under his successor
Pierre-Marc Johnson, the PQ was defeated by the Liberal Party.
Sovereignty-association The history of the relations between French-Canadians and English-Canadians in Canada has been marked by periods of tension. After colonizing Canada from 1608 onward,
France lost the colony to
Great Britain at the conclusion of the
Seven Years' War in 1763, in which France ceded control of
New France (except for the two small islands of
Saint Pierre and Miquelon) to Great Britain, which returned the
French West Indian islands they had captured in the
1763 Treaty of Paris. Over the next century,
French Canadians were supplanted by waves of Anglophone immigrants, notably outside of Quebec (where they became a minority) but within the province as well, as much of the province's economy was dominated by English-Canadians. The cause of Québécois nationalism, which waxed and waned over two centuries, gained prominence from the 1960s onward. The use of the word "sovereignty" and many of the ideas of this movement originated in the 1967
Mouvement Souveraineté-Association of René Lévesque. This movement ultimately gave birth to the Parti Québécois in 1968. Sovereignty-association () is the combination of two concepts: • The achievement of sovereignty for the Quebec state. • The creation of a political and economic association between this new independent state and Canada. It was first presented in Lévesque's political manifesto, . The Parti Québécois defines sovereignty as the power for a state to levy all its taxes, vote on all its laws, and sign all its treaties (as mentioned in the
1980 referendum question). The type of association between an independent Quebec and the rest of Canada was described as a monetary and customs union as well as joint political institutions to administer the relations between the two countries. The main inspiration for this project was the then-emerging
European Community. In Lévesque expressly identified the EC as his model for forming a new relationship between sovereign Quebec and the rest of Canada, one that would loosen the political ties while preserving the economic links. The analogy, however, is counterproductive, suggesting Lévesque did not understand the nature and purpose of the European Community nor the relationship between economics and politics that continue to underpin it. Advocates of European integration had, from the outset, seen political union as a desirable and natural consequence of economic integration. The hyphen between the words "sovereignty" and "association" was often stressed by Lévesque and other PQ members, to make it clear that both were inseparable. The reason stated was that if Canada decided to boycott Quebec exports after voting for independence, the new country would have to go through difficult economic times, as the barriers to trade between Canada and the United States were then very high. Quebec would have been a nation of 7 million people stuck between two impenetrable protectionist countries. In the event of having to compete against Quebec, rather than support it, Canada could easily maintain its well-established links with the United States to prosper in foreign trade. Sovereignty-association as originally proposed would have meant that Quebec would become a politically independent state, but would maintain a formal association with Canada — especially regarding economic affairs. It was part of the 1976 platform which swept the Parti Québécois into power in that year's provincial elections – and included a promise to hold a
referendum on sovereignty-association. René Lévesque developed the idea of sovereignty-association to reduce the fear that an independent Quebec would face tough economic times. In fact, this proposal did result in an increase in support for a sovereign Quebec: polls at the time showed that people were more likely to support independence if Quebec maintained an economic partnership with Canada. This line of politics led the outspoken
Yvon Deschamps to proclaim that what Quebecers want is an independent Quebec inside a strong Canada, thereby comparing the movement to a spoiled child that has everything it could desire and still wants more. In 1979 the PQ began an aggressive effort to promote sovereignty-association by providing details of how the economic relations with the rest of Canada would include
free trade between Canada and Quebec, common tariffs against imports, and a common currency. In addition, joint political institutions would be established to administer these economic arrangements. But the cause was hurt by the refusal of many politicians (most notably the premiers of several of the other provinces) to support the idea of negotiations with an independent Quebec, contributing to the Yes side losing by a vote of 60 percent to 40 percent. This loss laid the groundwork for the
1995 referendum, which stated that Quebec should offer a new economic and political partnership to Canada before declaring independence. An English translation of part of the
Sovereignty Bill reads, "We, the people of Quebec, declare it our own will to be in full possession of all the powers of a state; to levy all our taxes, to vote on all our laws, to sign all our treaties and to exercise the highest power of all, conceiving, and controlling, by ourselves, our fundamental law." This time, the lost in a very close vote: 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent, or only 53,498 votes out of more than 4,700,000 votes cast. However, after the vote many within the camp were very upset that the vote broke down heavily along language lines. Approximately 90 percent of English speakers and allophones (mostly immigrants and first-generation Quebecers whose native language is neither French or English) Quebecers voted against the referendum, while almost 60 percent of Francophones voted Yes.
Quebec premier Jacques Parizeau, whose government supported sovereignty, attributed the defeat of the resolution to "
money and ethnic votes." His opinion caused an outcry among English-speaking Quebecers, and he resigned following the referendum. An inquiry by the director-general of elections concluded in 2007 that at least $500,000 was spent by the federalist camp in violation of Quebec's election laws. This law imposes a limit on campaign spending by both option camps. Parizeau's statement was also an admission of failure by the Yes camp in getting the newly arrived Quebecers to adhere to their political option. Accusations of an orchestrated effort of "election engineering" in several polling stations in areas with large numbers of non-francophone voters, which resulted in unusually large proportions of rejected ballots, were raised following the 1995 referendum. Afterward, testimony by PQ-appointed polling clerks indicated that they were ordered by PQ-appointed overseers to reject ballots in these polling stations for frivolous reasons that were not covered in the election laws. While opponents of sovereignty were pleased with the defeat of the referendum, most recognized that there were still deep divides within Quebec and problems with the relationship between Quebec and the rest of the country.
The referendum of 1995 The PQ returned to power in the
1994 election under Jacques Parizeau, this time with 44.75% of the popular vote. In the intervening years, the failures of the Meech Lake Accord and
Charlottetown Accord had revived support for sovereignty, which had been written off as a dead issue for much of the 1980s. Another consequence of the failure of the
Meech Lake Accord was the formation of the
Bloc Québécois (BQ), a federal political party, under the leadership of the charismatic former
Progressive Conservative federal cabinet minister Lucien Bouchard. Several PC and Liberal members of the federal parliament left their parties to form the BQ. For the first time, the PQ supported pro-sovereigntist forces running in federal elections; during his lifetime Lévesque had always opposed such a move. The
Union Populaire had nominated candidates in the
1979 and
1980 federal elections, and the
Parti nationaliste du Québec had nominated candidates in the
1984 election, but neither of these parties enjoyed the official support of the PQ; nor did they enjoy significant public support among Quebecers. In the
1993 federal election, which featured the collapse of Progressive Conservative Party support, the BQ won enough seats in Parliament to become
Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the
House of Commons. At the Royal Commission on the Future of Quebec (also known as the Outaouais Commission) in 1995, the
Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada made a presentation in which the party leader,
Hardial Bains, recommended to the committee that Quebec declare itself as an independent republic. Parizeau promptly advised the Lieutenant Governor to call a new referendum. The
1995 referendum question differed from the 1980 question in that the negotiation of an association with Canada was now optional. The open-ended wording of the question resulted in significant confusion, particularly amongst the "Yes" side, as to what exactly they were voting for. This was a primary motivator for the creation of the
Clarity Act (see below). The "No" campaign won, but only by a very small margin — 50.6% to 49.4%. As in the previous referendum, the English-speaking (
anglophone) minority in Quebec overwhelmingly (about 90%) rejected sovereignty, support for sovereignty was also weak among
allophones (native speakers of neither English nor French) in immigrant communities and first-generation descendants. The lowest support for the Yes side came from Mohawk, Cree, and Inuit voters in Quebec, some first Nations chiefs asserted their right to self-determination with the
Cree being particularly vocal in their right to stay territories within Canada. More than 96% of the Inuit and Cree voted No in the referendum. However, The
Innu,
Attikamek,
Algonquin and
Abenaki nations did partially support Quebec sovereignty. In 1985, 59 percent of Quebec's Inuit population, 56 percent of the Attikamek population, and 49 percent of the Montagnais population voted in favour of the Sovereignist Parti Québécois party. That year, three out of every four native reservations gave a majority to the Parti Québécois party. By contrast almost 60 percent of
francophones of all origins voted "Yes". (82 percent of Quebecers are Francophone.) Later inquiries into irregularities determined that abuses had occurred on both sides: some argue that some "No" ballots had been rejected without valid reasons, and the October 27 "No" rally had evaded spending limitations because of out-of-province participation. An inquiry by "Le Directeur général des élections" concluded in 2007 that the "No" camp had exceeded the campaign spending limits by $500,000.
The 1998 Quebec general election Expecting Bouchard to announce another referendum if his party won the
1998 Quebec general election, the leaders of all other provinces and territories gathered for the
Calgary Declaration in September 1997 to discuss how to oppose the sovereignty movement. Saskatchewan's
Roy Romanow warned "It's two or three minutes to midnight". Bouchard did not accept his invitation; organizers did not invite Chrétien. Experts debated whether Quebec was a "
distinct society" or "unique culture". The Parti Québécois won re-election despite losing the popular vote to Jean Charest and the Quebec Liberals. In the number of seats won by both sides, the election was almost a clone of the previous 1994 election. However, public support for sovereignty remained too low for the PQ to consider holding a second referendum during their second term. Meanwhile, the federal government passed the
Clarity Act to govern the wording of any future referendum questions and the conditions under which a vote for sovereignty would be recognized as legitimate. Federal Liberal politicians stated that the ambiguous wording of the 1995 referendum question was the primary impetus in the bill's drafting. While opponents of sovereignty were pleased with their referendum victories, most recognized that there are still deep divides within Quebec and problems with the relationship between Quebec and the rest of Canada.
The Clarity Act In 1999, the
Parliament of Canada, at the urging of
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, passed the
Clarity Act, a law that, amongst other things, set out the conditions under which the
Crown-in-Council would recognize a vote by any province to leave Canada. It required a majority of eligible voters for a vote to trigger secession talks, not merely a plurality of votes. In addition, the act requires a clear question of secession to initiate secession talks. Controversially, the act gave the House of Commons the power to decide whether a proposed referendum question was considered clear, and allowed it to decide whether a clear majority has expressed itself in any referendum. It is widely considered by as an illegitimate piece of legislation, who asserted that Quebec alone had the right to determine its terms of secession. Chrétien considered the legislation among his most significant accomplishments.
From 2000 to the present "Sovereignty-Association" is nowadays more often referred to simply as "sovereignty". However, in the 1995 Quebec referendum, in which the sovereignty option was narrowly rejected, the notion of some form of economic association with the rest of Canada was still envisaged (continuing use of the Canadian dollar and military, for example) and was referred to as "sovereignty-partnership" (). It remains a part of the PQ program and is tied to national independence in the minds of most Quebecers. This part of the PQ program has always been controversial, especially since Canadian federal politicians usually refuse the concept. In 2003, the PQ launched the ("Season of ideas") which was a public consultation aiming to gather the opinions of Quebecers on its sovereignty project. The program and the revised sovereignty project were adopted at the 2005 Congress. In the
2003 election, the PQ lost power to the Liberal Party. However, in early 2004, the Liberal government of Paul Martin had proved to be unpopular, and that, combined with the federal
Liberal Party sponsorship scandal, contributed to a resurgence of the BQ. In the
2004 federal elections, the Bloc Québécois won 54 of Quebec's 75 seats in the House of Commons, compared to 33 previously. However, in the
2006 federal elections the BQ lost three seats and in the
2008 federal elections lost two additional seats, bringing their total down to 49, but was still the most popular federal party in Quebec up until the
2011 Canadian federal election, when the BQ was devastated by the federalist
NDP, with the Bloc at a total of four seats and the loss of official party status in the Commons (compared to the NDP's 59 seats, Conservatives' five seats, and the Liberals' seven seats in Quebec). Polling data by
Angus Reid in June 2009 showed the support for Quebec separation was weaker and separatism unlikely to occur in the near future. Polling data showed that 32% of Quebecers believed that Quebec had enough sovereignty and should remain part of Canada, 28% thought they should separate, and 30% say they believed that Quebec does need greater sovereignty but should remain part of Canada. However the poll revealed that a majority (79%) of Quebecers still desired more autonomy. The number one area of autonomy that those polled had hoped for was with regard to culture at 34%, the next highest areas were the economy at 32%, taxation at 26%, and immigration and the environment at 15% each. The 2009 Angus Reid poll also revealed some effects of the Clarity Act in which they asked two questions, one a straightforward question for a separate nation, and the other a more muddled version on separation similar to the one posed in the 1995 referendum. The data on the questions revealed as follows to the first hard line question of "Do you believe that Quebec should become a country separate from Canada?" 34% replied yes, 54% said no, and 13% were unsure. To the less clear question of "Do you agree that Quebec should become sovereign after having made a formal offer to Canada for a new economic and political partnership within a scope of the bill respecting the future of Quebec?" support for separation increased to 40% yes, the no vote still led with 41%, and the unsure increased to 19%. The most startling revelation of the poll was that only 20% or 1 in 5 polled believed that Quebec would ever separate from Canada. When asked whether they would vote Yes or No in the event of a referendum, 41% of the respondents said they would vote Yes. In 2011, the movement splintered, with several new parties being formed by disaffected politicians, with some politicians dissatisfied with slow progress towards independence, and others hoping to put the sovereignty question on the backburner. Leadership by PQ leader
Pauline Marois was divisive. During the
2015 federal election, the Bloc Québécois won 10 seats, in the 2019 election the BQ increased its number of seats from 10 in 2015, to 32 seats in 2019, both overtaking the NDP to become the third-largest caucus in the House of Commons and regaining official party status. In the
2021 Canadian federal election, the BQ won 32 seats, unchanged from the prior election. In 2021,
François Legault's
Coalition Avenir Québec government in Quebec proposed to amend the
Charter of the French Language and the
provincial constitution to more strongly entrench French as the sole official language. In response to this, the Bloc Québécois initiated a motion in the House of Commons endorsing the constitutionality of Legault's initiatives. The Commons passed the motion 281–2. There were 36 abstentions. In the
2025 Canadian federal election, the BQ won 22 seats, a loss of 10 seats. It retained official party status, and its status as the third-largest caucus in the House of Commons. == and sympathetic organizations==