Canadian Politics from Canada's Centre

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Quebeckers Not A Nation

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We Quebeckers do not constitute a nation, and the sooner the separatists here understand that, the better.

French Canadians are one of Canada's two founding peoples, it's true. But so are the British Canadians, and they're not a nation either! If the the "ethnic" argument for Quebeckers being a nation were true, then British Canadian Anglos would also be a nation. They're not, however, and this prove that the ethnic origin argument is nonsense.

Quebec is part of Canada, and Quebeckers are part of the Canadian nation.


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3 Comments:

At 8:37 a.m., Canadian Politico Blogger Somena Woman said:

"French Canadians are one of Canada's two founding peoples, it's true"

And Aboriginal Peoples are uh what?

 
At 11:11 p.m., Canadian Politico Anonymous Anonymous said:

I am a federalist, but still, Quebec is a nation, and separate from one with English Canada. They have their own customs, language, (traditional) religion, culture, etc. By most counts, they are a nation.

Aboriginal Peoples played only a small part in the founding of modern Canada (after the Riel rebellions, but they were in steep decline after the War of 1812). The sad fact is, they were marginalized - by war, disease, residence schools, etc. - into an insignificant minority. Most of Canadian life, English or French, are not influenced by the original inhabitants of the country

 
At 12:20 p.m., Canadian Politico Blogger lecentre said:

Meaghan, you make a good point. I should have said the two founding nations of Canadian government.

Babbler, Canada is a multi-ethnic/cultural nation. If there are subcultures amongst Canadians, the fact still remains that the citizens of Canada are members of the Canadian nation, and none else (unless they have dual citizenship, for example also being citizens of the US).

Canada's two official languages are English and French, so you can't say Quebec has its own language.

Contrast this with the First Nations who had a "country" (for lack of a more specific word) of their own prior to colonization. New France was never a country in its own right, as I recall from Canadian history class. Thus its residents were French. When they joined Canada, they became French Canadians. Not a separate nation.

 

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