From our correspondent in Montreal,
Hundreds of events celebrating Quebec’s identity are held throughout Quebec on June 24, National Day. In Sir-Wilfrid-Laurier Park, in central Montreal, a small stage and barnums welcome hundreds of spectators, separatists or not, who have come to hear and celebrate concerts by local artists. The event is organized by the United Organizations for Quebec Independence, OUI Quebec.
That same morning, dozens of young volunteers were busy in the park making sure the stage was ready on time. Among them Sonalie, 22 years old. She has just joined the board of directors of OUI Québec. However, less than a year ago she was far from being a separatist. “I came to help organize the event last year because I enjoyed doing concerts. That’s when I was told about independence and it appealed to me because it wasn’t approached politically in the classic way, but through ideals, debates and events,” she explains passionately. His comrade Roxanne, 24, agrees: “Thanks to these events we really socialize, we develop a sense of community, it really lit a fire in me that I didn’t have before!” »
Alex Valiquette, one of the youth representatives of OUI Quebec, with her hair loose and the Quebec flag in hand, admires the scene that is being set up a little further away. “I am convinced that political struggles run through the culture,” the young 22-year-old affirms calmly. “We really promote a festive, liberating and inclusive independence that also includes civil society.” However, this strategy is anything but innocent. JA Quebec has made civil society its raison d’être, the cornerstone of restoring independence. But the most difficult thing is to revive the faith. “My parents voted for independence in the 1995 referendum, but losing so few votes discouraged them,” the young activist regrets.
Parties between retreat and reorganization
Indeed, to understand the current situation of separatism in Quebec, we must go back to the last referendum on self-determination organized in the province on October 30, 1995. After a tough election campaign, the “No” wins with almost 55,000 votes before the “Yes”, namely 50.58% and 49.42% of the votes.
Stunned by this horrific defeat, the Separatist political parties tried to reorganize but failed, disagreeing as to what action to take for the movement. “Then there was a break, a split between the separatists, for example the two provincial parties Québec Solidaire and Parti Québécois were supposed to come together, but they broke off negotiations and came into the provincial parliament in October, significantly weakened,” regrets Kristina Michaud, 30, member of the Federal Parliament and member of the Bloc Québécois, the independence group.
The political independence landscape in Quebec
At the Quebec level, the pro-independence political landscape is represented by two parties that faltered in the province’s last general election in late 2022. On the one hand, the Parti Quebecois (PQ), perceived as more “classic” and “classic”, led by Paul Saint-Pierre Plamondon, which has only three MPs in the Quebec Parliament. On the other hand, Québec Solidaire (QS), a progressive and ecological left-wing party, has twelve elected MPs, including Ruba Ghazal, who is running for the post of the party’s mixed speaker alongside leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. The majority centrist party, Quebec Premier François Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), is made up of former separatists and is characterized more as a defender of Quebec but within Canada.
Despite this split, Québec Solidaire and the Parti Québécois occupied the media scene. The charismatic elected officials multiply the declarations and benefit from sharp communication on social networks. Recently, Paul Saint-Pierre Plamondon managed to get Parliament unanimously to open the archives on the 1995 “No” referendum campaign, in which irregularities were suspected.
What independence?
In this context, pro-independence civil society must play its part in trying to restructure the movement. According to polls, 30 to 40% of Quebecers want independence. The challenge, therefore, is to convince that the independence project has its place today. “It doesn’t matter to have 100 young activists, we need to have events where we bring together hundreds, thousands of people, young people who don’t really believe in independence and who understand,” explains Camille Goyette. Gingrat, thirty years old and President of OUI-Québec.
However, the new generation that Camille belongs to comes with new ideals. Independence is now in line with ecology, inclusivity and interculturality. Deputy candidate for Québec Solidaire spokesman Ruba Ghazal was born in Lebanon, of Palestinian origin, and “raised à la Québécoise”. She is a self-confessed Quebec Solidarity separatist who does not hesitate to highlight immigration’s interest in the cause provided they are allowed to integrate: “I arrived in Quebec, I was ten and a half years old, I didn’t speak any word French, but I got the opportunity to learn it and quickly became a separatist. Without comparing Quebec to Palestine since it is of Palestinian origin, it strikes me that Quebec is a non-independent nation. »
Defy the government
At the federal level, Quebec’s independence project is sparking a mixture of sarcasm and fear in the hallways of Ottawa’s parliament. “Some say we must move on, others say it’s not serious. There’s a kind of paternalism, but I think deep down there’s a little bit of fear,” laughs Kristina Michaud, MEP for the Bloc Québécois. According to the elected official, the French language itself is not treated equally: “We have to fight every day to get transcriptions and translations into French, in the corridors we mainly speak English.” »
Ecology is one of the MP’s main motives, who is one of Canada’s youngest elected officials. For them, Quebec could become a leader in terms of ecology, far from the “paradoxical” positions of Canada, which on the one hand ensures measures against climate change and on the other hand continues to invest in oil. A situation that annoys the MP: “Quebec is still being restricted in its ecological ambitions by the federal government, we are talking about hydroelectric power, wind power, we could go further in this direction, the Quebecers want that, but we are integrated into an oil association .” , which has great economic ambitions at this level.”
The separatists are leaving the door on the road to independence open for the time being. The Catalan and Chilean experiences in terms of civil society mobilization, referendums or even the creation of a constituent body are mentioned and enrich the speeches of all. At the moment, however, and everyone agrees, the main thing is to convince the people of Quebec of the merits of their struggle.