Long Live Free Quebec

Although francophone and anglophone Canadians are still both Canadians, they maintain very separate identities. Tensions between Quebec and the rest of Canada climaxed in 1995 when the Quebec separatist movement lead to a referendum in which residents of Quebec were prompted to vote on whether or not to separate from the rest of Canada and become its own sovereign nation. However, tension like this did not just appear out of nowhere. A lot of the meteoric rise can be traced back to the Quiet Revolution that took place through the 1960’s. The Quiet Revolution provided Quebec with a new-found sense of nationalism that saw them distance themselves from the rest of Canada more than ever before.

Entering the 1960’s in Quebec, the religious communities still controlled the schools and hospitals. As Quebec society began secularizing, management of such institutions began to be entrusted to the state. The Commission Parent was established in 1961 to examine the education system and bring forth recommendations, which eventually led to several reforms. In 1967 CEGEPs were created to offer post-secondary professional public education everywhere in the province. And in 1968 the government created the Universite du Quebec network to achieve similar goals for university-level education.

Economic reform saw the government attempt to increase francophone control over the province’s economy, which, until then had been largely under control of anglophone Canadian and American investors. The most noteworthy reform was the nationalisation of the province’s electric companies under Hydro-Quebec. Many other public institutions were created as well, to exploit the province’s abundant natural resources.