Defining the Quebec Nation: Ten Years of Debates and an Emerging Consensus

Abstract

Defining the nation in Quebec has been the subject of heated debates since the 1990s. History will certainly see this period as politically interesting as lively debates have taken place to self-define Quebec society. The national question took a new turn when the Bourassa Government negotiated the Meech Lake Accord (rejected in 1990) wherein Quebec was referred to as a ‘distinct society.’ Later - and more so after the 1995 Referendum - the question of Quebec’s nationhood came once again to the forefront. Jacques Parizeau’s reference to “money and some ethnic votes” as the main causes of the defeat of the sovereigntists’ option and his use of “we, Quebeckers” raised many questions on the night of October 30^th 1995. Who exactly were the ‘we’ so often used not only by the Parti Québécois but also in many milieus of the Quebec society?