Quebec: Which Minority?

Any report from Quebec requires that the reporter disclose where she stands in this complex political field. The very notion of being in a “minority” depends on one’s standpoint. For example, I am part of Canada’s anglophone majority (three-quarters of Canadians use English as their primary language) as well as the federalist majority (that is, I want Quebec to remain in Canada). Nonetheless, I have equally relevant minority identities. As a third-generation Anglo-Quebecker I am a member of a minority group within Quebec society (83 percent of Quebec residents speak French at home).

We Quebeckers are also a minority within Canada, residents of one of its ten provinces. In the referendum of October 30, 1995,...