The Psychology and the History of Quebec Nationalism - Essay Example

THE HISTORY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF QUEBEC NATIONALISM Introduction Since the beginning of civilization, people have had a desire to form and bond with groups. As civilization progressed, so did the organization and structure of these groups. Groups became towns, then states, then nations; with the rise of organized nations based upon common goals of people emerges the concept of nationalism. Researchers are quick to point out the difference between the words nation and nationalism. "A nation is a community of individuals cemented together by a sense of solidarity and wishing to perpetuate its existence in the future"1 Belanger then goes on to characterize nationalism as an ideology that cannot exist unless a nation first exists. "While nationalism does not necessarily arise in all nations, it, nevertheless, cannot exist without the context of the existence of a nation."2 Quebec is a nation that has repeatedly attempted to separate from Canada. Specifically, they are seeking to independence from Canada while retaining an economic partnership. Quebec was founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain, became an English colony in 1763, was reestablished with French law in 1774, divided by the English in 1791, and reunited by the Act of the Union in 1840. Since then, Quebec has been in a constant battle with Canada to become its own nation. Recently, Canada has opposed all efforts and even some compromises of Quebec's drive for separation.3 In order to examine this issue within the context of Quebec, one must examine it from both an historical and a psychological perspective. The historical perspective will trace the significant developments within this struggle and analyze its historical (including legislative and judicial) issues and impacts. In addition, the psychological perspective will examine the underlying ideas of the conflict on a behavioral and socio/personal basis. Integrating these two approaches will effectively paint an overall picture of the political and social aspects involved with Quebec's battle for a national identity. __________________ 1. Belanger, Claude,(2000),Events, Issues, and Concepts of Quebec History: Quebec Nationalism. Quebec History. Available from: Http://www2.marianopolis.edu/ quebechistory/events/natpart1.htm 2. Belanger 3. Perspective and History of Quebec Nationalism, UNI, Available from: http://www.uni.ca/history.html History of the Conflict It is impossible to analyze and issue of politics without first setting up its historical canvas. Before the mid 1900s, most nationalistic movements in Canada had to do with French Canadians as a whole rather than specifically Quebec nationalism. In 1962 Jean Lesage requested that Quebec be granted a type of "special status"; Daniel Johnson asked that proposed an establishment of "associated states" in 1967; Robert Bourassa asked that Quebec be given "distinct society" status in 1970, 1973 and 1976. All met with failure.4 Following this was the 1976 election of the Parti Quebecois. This party held a referendum in 1980 that sought to negotiate a political sovereignty from and an economic association with Canada. The people voted it down by a measure of 60/40. Many interpret this failure as a result of the belief in false promises of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. In fact, the federal government repatriated its own constitution which enabled Canada to then make modifications to it. The federal government did not reach this agreement with the provinces but on its own. It took effect in 1982 even though Quebec vociferously opposed it because it limited Quebec's ability to control matters of language and culture. Quebec has never signed this constitution. 5 In an attempt at compromise, Quebec asked the federal government to consider five clauses to be added to its constitution in a 1990 vote. These clauses became known as the Meech Lake Accord, and passing them would have allowed Quebec to sign the Canadian constitution. Two provinces refused to agree to the Meech Lake Accord, finding problems with allowing Quebec to be granted the "distinct society" status that Belanger discussed earlier. A similar referendum was brought forth the next year. It was also defeated. 6 In 1995, the Parti Quebecois regained power in the National Assembly and promised to hold yet another referendum. It was aided, in part, by the formation of another federal party, the Bloc Quebecois which was founded in 1993. In fact, in that same year, Bloc Quebecois ____________________ 4. Turp, Daniel (1999),Quebec Sovereignty: A Legitimate Goal. Intellectuals for the Sovereignty of Quebe, Available from http://www.rocler.qc.ca/turp/eng/Intellectuals/Intel.htm 5. Turp 6. Turp members claimed 54 of Quebec's 75 seats in Parliament. This referendum proposed that Quebec be granted sovereignty after formally agreeing to an economic and political partnership to all the other provinces in Canada. The party hoped that this would appeal to those Quebecers that feared a complete separation would make them suffer economically. This referendum failed, but only by the slightest of margins - 50.6% to 49.4%. 7 Analysis of Historical Factors As the numbers edge closer and closer to a favourable vote for Quebec, resistance to it provides for a multitude of historical analysis. The first is immigration. Quebec, as discussed earlier, is 83% French-speaking. Most immigrants believe that they have the best chances of integrating into a community if they speak the same language. Thus, in the last referendum vote, if only French-speaking votes had counted, then the referendum would have passed 60/40. However, the English speaking and other native speakers feared losing their position in the English speaking majority of Canada but wanted to continue living in Quebec. Finally, some immigrants felt as if Canada was their welcoming nation, not Quebec, and that their allegiance lay there. 8 This immigration issue is tied closely to what could be called the very first immigration issue, that of individuals to Canada in the first place. Pierre Elliot Trudeau viewed Canada as "one nation, two linguistic communities, five economic regions, ten provinces, two territories and a multicultural mosaic." 9 This characterization of Canada has been generally accepted for years. In fact, Canada has repeatedly asserted that it is one nation - uninational instead of multinational. Yet, the federal government and many federalists interpret Quebec's continued attempts as a force of isolation based upon language and culture, that being primarily French. Clearly the federal government considered Quebec as merely one of the Canada's ten provinces. Yet, Quebec represents nearly one fourth of Canada's total population. The big ____________________ 7. Turp 8. Turp 9. Seymour, Michael, Quebec Nationalism and Canadian Federalism, Talk at the University of Cambridge and University of Edinburgh, Available from: http://pages.infinit.net/mseymour/apage/cambridge.html difference is that 83% of Quebec's people speech French. At one point an asymmetrical form of government was suggested by Quebec's leaders in which Quebec, being so large, was granted more power and influence (one being sovereignty) than other provinces. At this point, Quebec seems to be going beyond the objective factors of nationalism. Historically speaking, nationalism has emerged as a source of conflict due to the need for common territory, common language, freedom of cultural expression, freedom from racial or ethnic bias, and freedom of religion, to name a few.10 Yet Quebec has not experienced rights violations or restrictions in any of these areas. Quebec has additionally claimed that international law supports its attempts at sovereignty. It is true that the Canadian Constitution cannot overtly force Quebecers to abandon their aspirations for sovereignty. The United Nations does support the right for nations to become sovereign states but insists that it be done democratically and that the nation in question have the ability to rule itself. At this point, Quebec has not democratically passed any of the referendum's to move forward to that end. The last indications of the Canadian supreme court regarding the legality of Quebec's drive for sovereignty has made it clear the federal government should write the referendum, to avoid intentional manipulation, and should determine the percentage vote needed to pass the referendum, to avoid extremely close margins like the 1995 referendum indicated. 11 Quebec has made it clear that they will continue pursuing the issue in the court system. Unfortunately for them, the court system to which they can appeal contain judges that are all appointed by the federal prime minister. Generally, these appointees tend to rule in favour of the federal government. 12 ___________________ 10. Belanger 11. Seymour 12. Seymour . Psychological Factors - Discussion and Analysis It is clear that Quebec's actions have failed on the legislative and judicial levels. What is left is to examine the underlying psychological factors that have made this issue so important to so many people. As one scholar notes, "to study nationalism and ignore its affective, emotional aspect would be folly" 13. These factors tend to polarize around the concept of identity and stereotypes. Belanger identifies "sentiment of reverence and loyalty to a nation" as a huge factor in the desire to achieve sovereignty. 14 Turp agrees that Quebec's attempts have always been based up a need to defend the language and culture of the French. 15 Psychologically, the quest for identity has always included a sense of language and culture. Kathy Ottoman argues that many people view the "concept of power as a means of expressing identity." 16 The French language has held a tenuous position in Canada. Most French-speaking people outside of Quebec have assimilated into the English-speaking communities, and "French-Canadians have always feared assimilation." 17 Assimilation threatened their very identity, and "Humans have a strong capacity to construct identities for themselves." 18 Because Quebec perceived that Canada had not done enough to protect the French language and culture, Quebec proposed separation in order to do it itself. The reason that Quebec felt that Canada was not helping their cause was its tendency to verbally promote bilingualism but to actively seem to promote unilingualism. 19 It does seem a bit hypocritical for English-speaking individuals to negatively view Quebec's attempt to legitimize the French language in practice because it has made every avenue available to the English-speaking minority in Quebec to maintain English-speaking institutions. In fact, according to Turp, an English-speaking person can live and work i __________________ 13. Spencer, Metta, Introduction to Separatism, Available from: http://www.metta.spencer. name/papers/separatism-intro.html. 14. Belanger 15. Seymour 16. Ottoman, Kathy, (1992). Quebec Nationalism: The quest for identity," Interaction 4 (2), p12 17. Turp 18. Nationalism, United North American: Amalgamation of Canada and the United States of America, Available from http://unitednorthamerica.org/nationalism.htm 19. Turp in Montreal completely in English. 20 Another psychological factor that can create a desire to separate is stereotyping, along with its resultant racism. Some scholars feel that this racism began in the 1700s when the Americans won independence from the British. Because of their extremely anti-American feelings and because Canada was under British rule at that time, Canada was extremely subject to British influence. In fact, Tory-Americans, many of whom fled to Canada, were more than ready to disassociate with any American label. Canada was therefore designed to be anything non-American. "Although the Canadian sense of nationalism has changed a great deal over time, it remains an essentially 'non-American' sentiment. Ironically, a reason why Canadian nationalism has always seemed so indefinable beyond being 'not-American' is that Canada still is today, as it was at its birth, a nation of people in denial of their own Americanness." 21. Goerge Woodcock is cited in the "Nationalism" article as saying "Canadians make up for their physical weakness by assuming an air of moral superiority towards the Americans".22 Even more ironically, Quebec is the only province in Canada which truly differs from America in language and culture. Its separation from Canada would make Canada even more like the United States, a similarity they certainly do not want. Belanger argues that these racist sentiments are the result of a dominate and strong nation rather than an dominated and weak one. He gives examples of a dominant and strong nation becoming imperialistic and overbearing, such as what happened in Bosnia. He argues that dominated and weak nations react to subjugation and aggression. 23 The question is how to characterize Quebec It is certainly not a weak nation, subject to aggression from other nations. In fact, this conflict has been relatively violence-free. Is it a strong nation If so, will it meet the criteria of other dominate and strong nations and begin to attack weaker provinces Probably not. Qeubec seems to be a unique example of a people afraid of losing their culture and language in an environment where this does not seem likely to happen. _____________________ 20. Turp 21. Nationalism 22. Nationalism 23. Belanger Implications for the Future of Quebec Nationalism What will become of Quebec's quest for nationalism It seems logical to conclude that the efforts will continue. In fact, research shows that as the French-speaking population rises in Quebec, so does the fear of assimilation and the desire to separate. 24 This seems antithetical to the logic that brings strength in numbers. Also, as younger individuals age and assume civic responsibilities, their nationalist tendencies will begin to overshadow the older, federalist notions of those that consider themselves French Canadian. 25 They may even be able to muster enough support for a passing referendum. However, some scholars feel that Canada is becoming more and more centralized. Seymour asserts that "the Canadian government is therefore forcing its way into provincial jurisdictions like never before." 26. Also, the nine provinces other than Quebec seem to be content in letting them do just that. Quebec is now truly alone in its fight. Even so, the Canadian government seemed to fear a possible YES vote. After the extremely close 1995 referendum, the federal government pressured the Supreme Court to rule that any secession would require not just a majority vote, but the unanimous vote of all provinces. The Court responded by ruling that any secession would require a constitutional amendment. 27 However, being a part of Canada may not be so bad for Quebec. According to Seymour, in the next twenty years, the federal government will have spent more money on programs in Quebec than Quebec will have spent on itself. Indeed, Quebec is becoming more and more economically self-sufficient; its culture is thriving, and Montreal, its capital city, is progressing into an internationally attractive city for business and tourism. 28 ____________________ 24. Lublin, David and Voss, Steven, (2002) Context and Francophone Support for the Sovereignty of Quebec: An Ecological Analysis., Canadian Journal of Political Science XXXV (1) 25. Lublin and Voss 26. Seymour 27 Seymour 28 Seymour Essentially, the only barrier that Quebec nationalists may have to obtaining their goal is themselves. According to Jonathan Kay, "all nationalist movements eventually come to exhibit certain predictable intellectual pathologies." 29 In a nutshell, Kay argues that a nationalist becomes incapable of understanding, interpreting, and, later, recognizing even the existence of any ideas that conflict with his own. He essentially creates a logical universe in which he is insulated from contrary proof. When he cannot create a credible refutation to these facts within this universe, he conveniently slips them into a type of memory hole to be lost forever. 30 While this sounds over simplistic, the truly zealous nationalist doesn't really lie about the verity of opposition. To him it simple never existed and does not exist. 31 At this point, argument is counterproductive. Conclusion In the entire history of socio-economic development of the human race it has been seen time and again that prosperity instigates both tendencies of fusion and fission of culture and community at the same time. The determining factor of the end result resides over favourable conditions in context of economic game theory. It is this game theory in a certain limited form that tends to vitalize into the clich use of the word- nationalism. The word nationalism used to incite images of Hitler and Mussolini. Of course, in North America in the 21st century, those images are remote. History maintains that nationalism can result from the strong in an attempt to dominate the weak or from the weak in an attempt to escape the strong. However, Quebec's quest for nationalism seems to stem more from the psychological factors associated with a need for identity through the maintenance of language and culture and the avoidance of assimilation. While legislative and judicial means have failed thus far, future efforts will undoubtedly continue. These efforts will meet opposition by the federal government of Canada, though. Attempts to explain Quebec's unique situation tend to fall back on racist leanings toward, ironically, Americans. As Quebec and Canada continue to interact, perhaps a compromise can be reached which makes all parties happy. ___________________ 30. Kay, Jonathan., What George Orwell Knew about Jacques Parizeau, National Post,Available from http://www.omnivore.org/jon/orwell/orwell_and_quebec_nationalism.htm 31. Kay REFERENCES Belanger, Claude. Events, Issues, and Concepts of Quebec History: Quebec Nationalism. Quebec History. (2000) Available from: Http://www2.marianopolis.edu/ quebechistory/events/natpart1.htm Kay, Jonathan. What George Orwell Knew about Jacques Parizeau. National Post. (no date). Available from http://www.omnivore.org/jon/orwell/orwell_and_quebec_nationalism.htm Lublin, David and Voss, Steven. Context and Francophone Support for the Sovereignty of Quebec: An Ecological Analysis. Canadian Journal of Political Science XXXV (1) (2002). Nationalism. United North American: Amalgamation of Canada and the United States of America. (no date). Available from http://unitednorthamerica.org/nationalism.htm Ottoman, Kathy. (1992). Quebec Nationalism: The quest for identity." Interaction 4 (2), p12 Perspective and History of Quebec Nationalism. UNI. (no date). Available from: http://www.uni.ca/history.html Seymour, Michael. Quebec Nationalism and Canadian Federalism. Talk at the University of Cambridge and University of Edinburgh. (no date) Available from: http://pages.infinit.net/mseymour/apage/cambridge.html Spencer, Metta. Introduction to Separatism. Available from: http://www.metta.spencer. name/papers/separatism-intro.html. Turp, Daniel. Quebec Sovereignty: A Legitimate Goal. Intellectuals for the Sovereignty of Quebec. (1999). Available from http://www.rocler.qc.ca/turp/eng/Intellectuals/Intel.htm Read More