Wrapped in Two Flags: The Complex Political History of Nunavik

ABSTRACT

During the first half of the twentieth century, northern Quebec was under federal jurisdiction. Tired of English Canadian supremacy and increasingly aware of northern Quebec’s considerable natural resources, which could provide a solid basis for future moves toward independence, the Quebec government began to take over responsibility for its northern territories in the 1960s. It established a regional administration to take charge of its northern affairs and sent officers to northern Quebec’s remote communities. For two decades, both governments administered the region and imposed two political systems on the local Inuit. This article is based on lengthy fieldwork and archival research. The historical background is described to show how Nunavik has developed as a political and social entity through its relationships with the Quebec and Canadian governments. This conflictual situation has created tensions in the Inuit community, resulting in political dissensions over the goal of self-government. Finally, this article details how the Inuit have exploited federal–provincial tensions to further their own interests.     

Recalling modernity: how nationalist memories shape religious diversity in Quebec and Catalonia

In this article, I explore how nations without states, or ‘stateless nations’ respond to new forms of religious diversity. Drawing on the cases of Quebec and Catalonia, I do so by tracing the historical emergence of the cultural narratives that are mobilized to support institutional responses to diversity and the way they bear on contemporary controversies. The article builds on recent research and theorizations of religious diversity and secularism, which it expands and specifies by spelling out how pre‐existing cultural anxieties stemming from fears over national survival are stored in collective memories and, if successfully mobilized, feed into responses to migration‐driven religious diversification. I show that while Quebec and Catalonia were in many ways similarly positioned before the onset of powerful modernization processes and the resurgence of nationalism from the 1960s onwards, their responses to religious diversity differ dramatically.     

The “Bad” French of Justin Trudeau: When Language,Ideology, and Politics Collide

This article discusses the ideological underpinnings and sociolinguistic factors driving the pervasive negative social discourse on the quality of the French language spoken by Canada’s current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The “obsession” among Québécois with the quality of Justin Trudeau’s French is demonstrated in an analysis of a corpus of commentary generated in Quebec’s mainstream press during the period surrounding the 2015 Canadian federal election. This intensely negative metadiscourse is shown to be rooted in the context of Quebec’s difficult sociolinguistic history and its contemporary language ideologies, viewed here as biased in favor of speakers with monolingual competence and French-Canadian ancestry. Crucially, the pervasive criticism of Justin Trudeau’s French and the ensuing denial to him of Francophone status are claimed here to serve as a proxy for extra-linguistic criticism and the positioning him as “other” with respect to Québécois collective identity.     

Southern (Over) Exposure? Quebec and the Evolution of Canada’s Grand Strategy, 2002–2012

ABSTRACT

One of the most persistent themes in the debate on Canadian foreign policy over the past few decades concerns the influence Quebec is thought to possess over the design and implementation of Canadian foreign and defense policy. Our purpose in this article is to situate this general debate within a more specific context, of Canada’s grand strategic choices as they principally involve the country’s security and defense relations with the US. To do this, we adopt somewhat of a “counterfactual” tack; to wit, we inquire whether, in the absence of Quebec from the Canadian confederation, we should expect to have seen a fundamentally different grand strategy fashioned by Ottawa, one with different significance for relations with the US. We focus on two specific cases, both of which have figured prominently in recent Canadian–American strategic relations: the war in Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq. We conclude that while there is something to the claim that Quebec can and does boast of a certain “specificity” in the matter of Canada’s grand-strategic preferences, it is hardly the same thing as arguing that the country without Quebec would have adopted policies on both Afghanistan and Iraq that were fundamentally different from the ones it chose to follow.     

The Special Relationship Transformed. The Canada–Quebec–France Triangle after de Gaulle

ABSTRACT

Because of France’s unique role in Quebec’s international relations, any study of Quebec’s emergence on the international scene necessarily involves an analysis of this relationship. This article proposes an examination of Canada–France–Quebec relations in the decades following de Gaulle’s resignation in 1969. Several scholars focus on France’s implicit support for Quebec independence, considering that to be the essential ingredient of their “special relationship,” whereas I demonstrate that the foregoing interpretation overlooks the fact that France began to withdraw from the Canadian internal debate soon after de Gaulle’s resignation. During the last forty years, France’s abstention from interfering in Canadian internal affairs enabled both the flourishing of Quebec diplomacy and the deepening of the France–Quebec relationship.     

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.     

Quebec–US Relations: The Big Picture

ABSTRACT

The objective of this article is to propose a periodization of the international policy between Quebec and the United States focusing on two levels of analysis: The first level is interested in public policy instruments such as the opening of delegations, while the second focuses on the paradigm of state action. From these two main criteria, I propose an analysis of five periods. The first period (1867–1960) is characterized by the absence of a structured paradigm and the virtual absence of diplomatic instruments with the exception of a tourism and trade office in New York. The second period (1960–1976) reflects a desire by Quebec to develop a larger presence in the United States with the creation of many instruments, as the public policy paradigm is gradually being built. The third period (1976–1980) is characterized by Quebec sovereignists’ awareness of the importance of the United States. This period is noted for a significant paradigm shift. The fourth period (1980–2001) is marked by the turn toward free trade. The last period (2001 to present) is characterized by the importance of new challenges that extend the public policy paradigm to issues such as security in the 9/11 environment, as well as to energy and environmental issues.     

Promoting a Different Type of North–South Interactions: Québécois Cultural and Religious Paradiplomacy with Latin America

ABSTRACT

The historiography on Canadian–Latin American relations states that economic incentives, along with geopolitical concerns during the Second World War, have always been the chief reason behind Canadian interests in the region. This article argues that social groups from Quebec had other incentives to establish connections with Latin America. Quebec’s civil society became well connected with Latin American groups before the North American Free Trade Agreement facilitated economic and political cooperation, thanks mostly to the intensive Catholic missionary effort in the region, and positive representations of Latino culture in French Canadian sociopolitical circles in the 1940s and 1950s. As a result, Francophones’ interests diverged from Canada’s main objectives in the region; Quebec’s civil society’s engagement was distinctly more cultural and social in nature. Because of the difference of objectives, this article shows that social groups from Quebec attempted to influence Canadian–Latin American relations to suit their interests.