Forgotten World (119): Quebec
Quebec is one of the 10 provinces of Canada. It is the country’s largest province by area and its second-largest administrative division (only the territory of Nunavut is larger). It is the second most populated province with almost 7M citizens out of the country’s total of 33M.
The official language of Quebec is French; it is the sole Canadian province whose population is mainly francophone, and where English is not an official language at the provincial level except in the legislature and the courts, where it is co-equal. Quebec has a strong and active nationalist movement, and has had referendums on independence in 1980 and 1995. Although these failed to secure a majority for a break-away, nationalist sentiment is still strong.
In 2003, the National Assembly of Quebec voted unanimously to affirm “that the Quebecers form a nation”. Then, in 2006, the House of Commons in Ottawa passed a motion declaring that “this House recognize[s] that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada.”, although there is considerable debate and uncertainty over what this means.
January 10th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Hmmm…but the most interesting thing about the place is that all home rental leases end on the same day, meaning that July 1st is known as ‘Moving Day’. There was a great documentary about this ages ago.