CHC 2D8 Canadian History For Mr. Makarovski By: Baoning Chen Due Date: June 4, 2015
The 1995 referendum is an important historical event with the considerable impact on Canada. On Monday, October 30, 1995, most of the quebecers were participated in the referendum and casted their votes(Kizilos 22,1999). This was …show more content…
There are many reasons cause the separatism. Quebec is an unique province in Canada. It has its own French language and distinct culture. Quebec has the largest land within the ten provinces and also the three territories in Canada, which is about three times as large as France(Kizilos 11,1999). And due to the rich natural resources in Quebec, such as water and mineral, the living standard in Quebec is high. Under these objective situation, Quebecers are proud of their province and considered themselves as Quebecois. Francophones, known as the French-speaking people, will always remember how their ancestor hated the Britain when they took over Quebec. Britain and France had been enemies since the imperial time period. In 1760, Britain got the power to control Montreal, sixteen years later, it took over Quebec(Kizilos 34,1999). During the period under the power of Great Britain, Quebec can only have an non-elected council. Racism was existed in Quebec, most of the French-speaking Quebecers live in rural place while English-speaking Quebecers lived in big city and played a big role on trading and commerce. And also, the Constitutional Act of 1791, with the context to split Quebec into Upper Canada and Lower Canada, promoting the hatred of Quebecers toward the English-speaking Britain(Kizilos 35-36, 1999). Also, some political activities have enhanced the separatism even further. In 1982, the Meech Lake Accord failed, which proposed to separate the power of the federal government and gave them to the provinces directly(Gall,2005). It also considered Quebec as a distinct society. Once someone had more power, then the more ambitious he would be. The same as Quebec, It got his power, and then it wanted to be sovereign. Ten years later, the Charlottetown Accord failed as well. Nowadays, though Quebec is still belong to Canada, the separatism in Quebec made