Québec et la géographie sociale en questions

Questioning Québec through social geography In the early 1960s, two revolutions were underway: the quiet revolution in Québec and the quantitative revolution in geography. Apparently unrelated, these episodes of change probably shared common underlying values associated with modernity. Since then, the transformations experienced in Québec have been interpreted in a multitude of ways, including geographical considerations. Research careers, mine included, have been shaped by this undertaking. All along, I have found that social geography, with the capacity it has to reinvent itself, has helped making sense of this turbulent environment. In the 1970s, exploring the structural dynamics of Canada's social space helped in figuring out the place occupied by Québec in this ensemble. Then, analyzing the historical relationships between cosmopolitan Montréal and provincial Québec City suggested that the oxymoron ‘quiet revolution’ stood for a central process in the cultural dynamics of Québec's social space, where new ideas arriving through Montréal are sifted and institutionalized by the state in Québec City. Nevertheless, Québec City is also capable of initiating progressive urban movements, as illustrated by the odyssey of the Rassemblement populaire de Québec, documented through participant observation. Such urban movements may affect the urban fabric but, as intense and creative social networks, they may affect even more their interacting members, as it seems to have been the case with regard to rapidly evolving gender relations during the last decades. All in all, after more than four decades, I keep the conviction that a practice of social geography that is open to various theories and methods is capable of producing liberating knowledge.     

Migration and ethnic nationalism: Anglophone exit and the ‘decolonisation’ of Québec

This article explains the effects of ethnic nationalism on Anglophone and Francophone migration. The rise of Québec ethnic nationalism in the 1960s dismantled the cultural division of labour, which created new opportunities for Francophones but threatened Anglophones' traditional dominance over the Québec economy. This had negative consequences for Anglophones but positive outcomes for Francophones, which in turn accounts for differences in migration patterns. Drawing from the internal colony model as well as migration and exit‐voice theories, and using ecological census data, micro‐census data and election panel data, I find that the key variables that increase the likelihood of Anglophone out‐migration either do not explain Francophone out‐migration or have opposite effects. This is because ethnonationalist policies decreased the economic return particularly for well‐educated, higher‐earning, professional Anglophones in Québec, while increasing the economic position of Francophones and in particular well‐educated professionals.     

Variabilité et fréquence des cycles de gel‐dégel dans la région de Québec, 1977–2006

Freeze‐thaw cycles are most common at the beginning or near the end of the winter season. These cycles have various effects on the ecosystems of Eastern Canada, affecting both biotic and abiotic components of temperate cold environments. Using air temperature minima and maxima from four meteorological stations close to Québec City, we determined the frequency of daily freeze‐thaw cycles for the last 30 years. The results show no significant increase in the number of freeze‐thaw cycles despite a small increase in air temperature. Polynomial curves describing the relationship between mean air temperatures and the number of freeze‐thaw cycles were calculated. Based on these equations and anticipating a climate change scenario, we projected future freeze‐thaw cycles. Assuming a 5 °C increase in mean air temperatures by 2100, we estimated that the number of days with a freeze‐thaw cycle could increase by approximately 20 days per winter. The increase in the number of such cycles will be concentrated during the coldest months of the winter (January and February).     

Essai de typologie des centres de santé et de services sociaux au Québec

Given the importance of contextual factors—physical, social and institutional environments—for understanding health landscapes, this article examines the situation in the province of Québec and suggests a spatial typology at the scale of the health and social services centres (CSSS). These CSSS provide services for 95 areas which are the finest territorial delineation in terms of health policies since a reform instituted in 2003. While delivery of primary health and social services is defined at this local scale, overall health policy is decided at the provincial scale. The challenge for stakeholders is to supplement their local knowledge with that of the broader context. In this article, we use principal components analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis to identify eight profiles of CSSS. The final results of the cluster analysis demonstrate that two‐thirds of the health and social services centres correspond with two marginally differentiated profiles and the remaining third shows specificities that are highly spatially anchored.     

Accommodation and the politics of fiscal equalization in multinational states: The case of Canada

The politics of accommodation in multinational states sometimes features an important, yet often overlooked, fiscal dimension. In fact, the scholarly literature on the accommodation of nationalist movements emphasizes territorial autonomy, access to power and representation within central institutions, and the promotion of the state national identity, but it is virtually silent on how patterns of territorial fiscal redistribution, and more specifically programs of horizontal fiscal equalization, may contribute to accommodating sub‐state nationalism. This article looks at the Canadian case and analyses the multidimensional relationship between equalization policy and Québécois nationalism. It explains how a key motivation behind the creation of Canada's fiscal equalization program in 1957 was to “end” the institutional and political isolation of Québec and how equalization may have, thereafter, contributed to making Québec's secession less appealing to a good number of Quebeckers than it would have been in the absence of this program. Simultaneously, the article discusses how equalization may have contributed to a certain political backlash against Québec in the other provinces, thus providing mixed evidence in the assessment of the accommodation potential of equalization policy.     

Une histoire de résidus : à propos des facteurs généraux et locaux de croissance régionale au Canada,de 1971 à 2001

Starting from an econometric model of local employment growth, applied to Canada (1971–2001), residuals—relative to model predictions—are analyzed over time and over space, in turn allowing us to draw a distinction between general explanatory variables and factors of a more local, cyclical or accidental nature. The model's explanatory power grows over time, founded on variables such as urban size, market access and industrial structure, allowing us to conclude that local employment growth in Canada follows an increasingly geographically predictable pattern. However, an examination of the residuals reveals more localized processes. Growth volatility is most manifest in Alberta and British Columbia, home to the most erratic local economies. Emerging patterns are visible in the last period, most notably the underperformance of Northern Ontario and of non‐metropolitan communities between Windsor and Québec City, lying along the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence. The over‐performance—compared to model predictions — of small and mid‐sized towns in south‐eastern Québec can, on the other hand, be interpreted as a sign of truly local social processes, generally associated with a particularly dynamic local entrepreneurial class.     

Appreciating difference? A view from Indigenous rivers

While the Saint‐Laurent river is considered to be the cradle of Québécois society, many other great rivers are found across the province—other cradles of civilizations, indigenous to the continent, notably the Chisasibi and the Manicouagan. These rivers played a key role in the Québécois movement of affirmation and modernization in the twentieth century. They are valued by many people in Quebec for their hydroelectric output rather than for their cultural richness and significance for the Eeyou (Cree) and Innu Nations. Since the 1990s, I have been able to study Quebec's historical geography from the standpoint of these rivers thanks to the expertise of Eeyou and Innu knowledge holders. Using the concept of decolonization as a practice, I explore how this has impacted both my work as a geographer and my cultural identity as a Québécois woman.     

Une méthode illustrée pour la sectorisation morphodynamique de la rivière Neigette (Québec)

An illustrated methodology for the morphodynamic sectoring of the Neigette River (Québec) Fluvial hydrogeomorphology is little recognized in policy management and planning in Québec. A better understanding would result in more enlightened planning for waterways. The deficiency could result from the fact that too few methodologies have been developed that take account of the particular nature of Québec rivers. This study tests the applicability of a methodology of dividing rivers into homogeneous morphodynamic units. This compartmentalization results from the analysis of longitudinal changes in stream power, sedimentary composition of the banks, channel entrenchment, and planform geometry. The method is tested on a section of the Neigette River, which encompasses a wide variety of forms and processes frequently found in Québec rivers. Results suggest the presence of three morphodynamic sections: wandering with multiple channels, dynamic meandering and stable meandering. The method provides an effective basis for discriminating between these morphodynamic environments and their respective limits. Stream power is the variable with the greatest discriminating capacity. The efficacy of the approach, the ease of its application, and its flexibility make this a valuable tool for the management of fluvial environments.     

Five Decades of Canadian and Québec Content in French Textbooks in the United States

This study investigates the evolution of Canadian and Québec content in a sample of 65 first-year university French textbooks in the United States from the 1960s through 2010. Overall indicators of Canadian and Québec contexts and cultural notes were tabulated for each decade in addition to particular content such as Canadian history, Québec identity, and Canadian French language. The chronological analysis challenges the popular notion that teachers and textbooks authors are inherently uninterested in Canada. Instead, the analysis finds Canadian and Québec content increasing over the five-decade period reaching an all-time high point in the most recent decade. Results are explained by dynamic Québec-based factors of language politics and foreign relations initiatives rather than static US-based attitudes toward Canadian French. The analysis offers optimism for the role of Canadian and Québec Studies as a source of content for the teaching of French in the United States.     

LES RÉSEAUX TERRITORIALISÉS D'INFORMATION FACE À LA COMMUNICATION-MONDE: UNE EXPÉRIMENTATION QUÉBÉCOISE

L'information devient de plus en plus un enjeu crucial pour les institutions et acteurs engagés dans des processus territoriaux de développement. Comme la littérature sur les NTIC le démontre, l'accès a l'information concernant leur environnement global (sources de capitaux, tendances globales, débouchés, encadrement) ainsi qu'à celle concernant leurs atouts locaux et spécifiques (ressources humaines, physiques, financièrs et institutionnelles, identités, possibilités de mobilisation) fournit des indications indispensables pour faction des collectives locales engagées dans des projets de développement. Cependant, ce qui est souvent négligé c'est que le processus même par lequel cette information est produite et diffusée constitue en soi un facteur intervenant dans l'orientation que prend le développement. L'information marque les territoires concernés. Aussi est-il essentiel de construire des inforoutes permettant la participation des collectivités à la production de l'information qui les concerne. L'Atlas du Québec et de ses régions est une expérience qui vise cet objectif. Dans ce texte, nous présentons l'état d'avancement et les conclusions préliminaires de cette expérience. Information networking is a crucial issue for organizations and socio-economic actors. As the literature on development shows, information at the global level (financial perspectives, global tendencies, markets, and regulations), as well as at the local level (demographic and social characteristics; human, physical, economic, institutional, and organizational resources; specific assets; quality of life; etc.) is indispensable to local collectivities involved in development projects. Nevertheless, often overlooked is the fact that the very process by which this information is produced and disseminated has a significant effect on the direction of development. Information has an impact on the local community. There is a need for building territory information networks that allow local communities to produce the information that concerns them. This paper presents first a global survey of globalization and the effects of information highways on specific territories, and second, an experiment in progress about building a territory information network in the province of Québec, the Atlas of Québec and Its Regions.     

Is nationalism left or right? Critical junctures in Québécois nationalism*

ABSTRACT. Sub‐state nationalist parties of the industrialised West occupy different positions along the left–right political spectrum. Despite the similarities of their political agendas, these parties adopt different ideological identities. This paper seeks to explain the choice of party position and the long‐term consistency of these positions by employing a path‐dependent perspective. The focus is first, on the critical junctures during which such choices are made; and second, on the mechanisms of continuity ensuring the persistence of the left–right identities. The argument is explored within the empirical context of Québécois nationalism.     

De Gilles Groulx à Jean-Marc Vallée: Transnationalisme,Américanité et Territoire dans le Cinéma Québécois

As a recent phenomenon which strongly resonates with a transnationalism that can be understood as a desire to transcend both physical and cultural borders, the exile of Québécois filmmakers to Hollywood raises issues surrounding the notions of identity and territory that are relevant to Québec politics and cinema. This vast migration of successful filmmakers who are invading Hollywood with their Québécois imprint allows us to revisit the notions of Americanness (américanité) and territory, at a time where globalization and cultural diversification are blooming. In order to better explore those issues, we will retrace the evolution of the notion of Americanness in Québec films produced at various periods of time. Likewise, the study of the more recent works of Québécois director/auteur Jean-Marc Vallée will allow us to discover the director’s diversified representations of contemporary American dreams and landscapes.     

Tracing the Distribution of Late 16th and Early 17th Century European Copper Artefacts in Southern Québec and Ontario,Canada

To understand the nature of trade/exchange of ‘Basque’ copper kettles and their fragments among Indigenous communities from Québec to Ontario, Canada, we examined 948 copper samples from 75 archaeological sites. We found that 936 samples were sortable into 11 coarse chemical groups: seven biased towards Ontario, three favouring Québec and only one balanced between the two provinces. This pattern may represent kettles and pieces ‘mostly traded’ or ‘mostly kept’ by Indigenous groups within Québec. Chemical group distribution within individual provinces is complex. A tentative chronology of copper chemical groups provides additional insight into the complex trading/exchange patterns among the Indigenous groups of southern Ontario.     

Has Québec Become a Northern Mexico? Public Opinion and America's “Long War”

In contrast with Mexico, a consistent pattern of anti-Americanism has never been present in Québec, but there has been an ostensible upsurge in anti-American sentiment recently. This article asks whether Québec has become a “northern Mexico” with respect to societal attitudes displayed toward the United States. To answer this, we first explore the argument that Mexico is effectively an axiomatically anti-American land. We then examine public opinion in Québec, with a view to contrasting it with Mexican views, especially on the all-important question of the use of force in international politics. We argue that Quebeckers show themselves to be more supportive than Mexicans of the idea that the “international community” in certain instances does have both a right and a duty to intervene in the domestic affairs of states.     

At the Intersection of Gender and Language: Why do Francophone Women have Lower Levels of Political Participation?

In Canada, research has found few differences in levels of political participation between Francophones and Anglophones despite traditional differences in resources leading to participation. This study argues that it is when gender is considered alongside language that differences emerge. Differences in conditions between Francophone and Anglophone women may mean that the explanations for the gender gaps differ. Findings show that Francophone women in Québec have lower levels of political participation than Anglophone women and men across Canada. These gender gaps are small but significant. Differences in resources and involvement in voluntary associations help account for Québec Francophone women’s lower participation. Additionally, these results indicate that the different political context and the different political influence of the women’s movement in Québec matter in determining explanations for gender gaps in political participation.     

Neither ‘America’ nor ‘Québec’: constructing the Canadian multicultural nation

ABSTRACT. Although researchers have deconstructed the myth of stark social differences between the various North American sub‐societies, an assimilating American melting pot and an ethnically oppressive monocultural Québec are still popular representations within Canadian majority discourses, such as the English‐language mainstream media and parts of academia. In this paper, I argue that images of ‘America’ and ‘Québec’ play important roles for the multicultural reconstruction of Canadian nationhood. Examining selected op‐ed articles from two Toronto‐based mainstream newspapers during the 1990s, I develop and exemplify a theoretical understanding of how national identities are constituted and transformed within inter‐ and intra‐national relations of power and alterity. I pay special attention to the particularisation of Canada through the confrontation with American nationhood, the ambiguities of recognising the distinctiveness of Québec inside Canada, and the consequences of projecting Québec's supposedly ‘ethnic’ nationalism outside the boundaries of Canadianness.     

French: a language for everyone in Québec?*

Abstract. With the realisation that the future of French in Québec depends on its adoption by a growing number of immigrants, efforts have intensified in recent years to promote a less ethnic and more civic conception of Québécois identity. As attested by the title of the final report of the Commission des États généraux sur la situation et l'avenir de la langue française au Québec (French, a Language for Everyone), a key component of this new conception is the idea that French should be a langue publique commune (common public language) for all those residing in Québec, irrespective of ethnic origin. This article examines the notion of langue publique commune in more detail. While the concept assumes that language can somehow be ‘de‐ethnicised’ to become the property of all ethnic groups, observations made in other contexts only confirm the inextricable link between language and the ethnic, as opposed to the civic, dimension of national identity. The article also investigates the issue of language motivation, in particular the related challenge faced by the Québécois authorities of how to encourage so‐called new Quebecers to adopt French as their language of public communications.     

On the legitimacy of cultural policies: analysing Québec’s cultural policy with the Economies of Worth

This paper explores the question of the legitimation of cultural policies by examining the case of the Canadian French-speaking province, Québec, where the consensus over the legitimacy and the purpose of a cultural policy was not easily reached. To understand the evolution of the justifications for state intervention in this field, we have analysed three major policy statements issued by the government of Québec as well as the criticisms levelled at the moment of their publication using the analytic framework the Economies of Worth. Developed by French sociologist Luc Boltanski and economist Laurent Thévenot, this framework conceptualises different regimes of justification that can be retraced in cultural policy statements. We explore more particularly the concept of ‘compromise’ which enables us to understand why cultural policies have difficulty achieving consensus. This paper thus aims at assessing the heuristic value of this interpretative device for cultural policy analysis.     

ÉVOLUTION DE L'AGRICULTURE MARAÎCHÈRE AU QUÉBEC DE 1940 À 1990: SUPERFICIES,PRODUCTIONS ET DIVERSITÉ

Depuis plus d'un siècle, l'agriculture québécoise en général, et la production maraîchère en particulier, ont subi d'importantes transformations. Cette étude historique vise à comprendre comment la production maraîchère a évolué par rapport aux changements dans l'environnement décisionnel général de l'agriculture entre 1940 et 1990. L'analyse des données statiques de superficie, de production et de rendement pour 12 légumes ont permis d'identifier trois périodes, intercalées d'années transitoires, dans l'évolution de la production maraîchère référant chacune à une stratégie agricole particulière. La première (1940–1957) correspond à une stratégie agricole de type familial traditionnel; la seconde (1963–1975), à une agriculture marchande spécialisée fondée sur la maximisation des revenus à court terme par intensification; la troisième (1980–1990), à une agriculture marchande diversifiée fondée également sur une maximisation à court terme. Les facteurs externes de l'environnement décisionnel qui ont entraîné ces changements sont identifiés et discutès. For more than a century, Quebec agriculture in general, and market-gardening production in particular, have experienced important changes. This study, using a historical perspective, seeks to understand how market gardening evolved in relation to changes in the broad decision environment for agriculture between 1940 and 1990. Statistical analysis of data on the areas cultivated, production levels, and yields for 12 vegetable crops revealed three distinct periods, separated by periods of transition, in the evolution of market gardening. Each period is characterized by a particular type of agricultural development strategy. The first period (1940–1957) is characterized by a focus on the traditional family form; the second (1963–1975), by a specialized market agriculture driven by short-term income-maximization intensification; the third (1980–1990), by a diversified marketoriented agriculture, also based on short-term income maximization. External environmental factors that stimulated these changes are identified and discussed.