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‘The place of Quebec in Canada is at the heart of the debate on constitutional reform but is not the only source of discontent within the Canadian federal system’.
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Canadian politics has become an ever-changing whirlwind of diversity. What is certain is that since the 1960’s ‘Quiet Revolution’ in Quebec, the synthesis of federalism with parliamentary government, and the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms as the three institutional pillars, have forged a battle between federal-provincial relations. Without doubt, Quebec has been at the heart of this debate leading the way into the constitutional change of 1982 with the inaugurating of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. However, other forces are at work in Canada, which are not based on the existence of: "familiar territorial and linguistic cleavages associated with federalism but from non-territorial sources based upon gender and ethnicity." Therefore, the ‘constitutional odyssey’ as Russell states, cannot associate itself with Quebec as the only or main protagonists of constitutional reform. They must be placed in a broader consensus, which includes the rights of women, multicultural groups and Aboriginal peoples. Ironically, Canada appears to be a country on the edge political separation. It has however, been in relative harmony since the rebellions in 1837. The recommendations of Lord Durham leading to the British North America Act of 1867 have seen the Canadian constitution come under little if no threat for some 120 years. This has somewhat changed in recent times. Quebec has become a province that views itself as ‘nationality-based unit’, becoming Franco-phone Canadians rather than just Canadians. This has developed the principle element to the argument of the Québécois, for they see themselves separate from Canada on the basis that their mother tongue is French-Canadian; they debate stems from this one issue of linguistics. Language politics really took off during the period of the ‘Quiet Revolution’ in the 1960s. It was the principle as Alain-G. Gagnon points to that: "in 1961, Francophone Quebecers were next to last worst-paid "ethnic" group in Quebec." This was coupled with major social change in Quebec with a move towards a secular state: "most important impact of secularisation came with the 1964 transfer of control over education from the church to the Quebec Ministry of Education." This changing Quebec gave birth to a nationalist movement carrying the slogan "Maîtres chez nous," or "masters in our own house." This movement has furthered the argument by believing that the Québécois are not like any other province within the Confederation. Being home to nearly 25 per cent of the national electorate with 82.8 per cent (1991 Census figures) speaking French-mother tongue you could arguably see why. It was at this point that the intentions of certain Québécois became clear.
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