French-English Relations

 Wave of social change against the traditional French-Canadian values focused on church, home, and family  Aimed to reduce corruption, reform education, and make the province stronger and more economically independent from Canada  Roman Catholic church lost its primacy and was replaced by Québec nationalism

 Sent across Canada in 1963 to gather opinion about English-French relations  Revealed the anti-French bias in English provinces and the federal government  Recommended that both French and English be made official languages in Parliament and federal offices, and that Ottawa be declared officially bilingual

 Was passed in 1969  Made Canada an officially bilingual country

 France`s president visited Québec in 1967, and helped encourage separatists  ended his speech with `Vive le Québec libre!`

 The Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) was a terrorist organization trying to achieve and independent Quebec  in the 1960s they set of several bombs in the province to protest against English control

 In 1970 they kidnapped James Cross, a British Diplomat and Québec Labour Minister Laporte  Trudeau responded by imposing the War Measures Act – allowed the government to station soldiers in the streets and gave extraordinary powers to police

 Pierre Laporte was found dead, two months later James Cross was found alive  The crisis made it clear that Québec’s concerns had to be acknowledged

 Formed in 1968, led by René Lévesque  Was dedicated to separatism by peaceful means  Elected to power in 1976

 Once in power, the PQ passes the Charter of the French language in 1977  Made French the only official language of government and limited the use of English

 The PQ held a referendum in 1980 asking Quebecers if they wanted to leave Canada  Quebec voted 60% non, 40% oui  Another referendum was held in 1995, the no side won again, but by a much narrower margin