Quebec

Québec
Quebec

Coat of arms of Québec Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Je me souviens (French: I remember)
Capital	Quebec City
Largest city	Montreal
Official languages	French
Government
- Lieutenant-Governor	Pierre Duchesne
- Premier	Jean Charest (PLQ)
Federal representation	in Canadian Parliament
- House seats	75
- Senate seats	24
Confederation	July 1, 1867 (1st)
Area	Ranked 2nd
- Total	1,542,056 km² (595,391 sq mi)
- Land	1,183,128 km² (456,808 sq mi)
- Water (%)	176,928 km² (68,312 sq mi) (11.5%)
Population	Ranked 2nd
- Total (2006)	7,546,131
- Density	4.90/km² (12.7/sq mi)
GDP	Ranked 2nd
- Total (2005)	$274.863 billion
- Per capita	$36,175 (9th)
Abbreviations
- Postal	QC or PQ
- ISO 3166-2	CA-QC
Time zone	UTC-5, -4
Postal code prefix	G, H, J
Flower	Blue Flag Iris
Tree	Yellow Birch
Bird	Snowy Owl
Web site	www.gouv.qc.ca
Rankings include all provinces and territories

Quebec is a province in Central Canada. Known as la belle province ("the beautiful province"), Quebec is bordered to the west by the province of Ontario, James Bay, and Hudson Bay. To the north are the Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay, to the east the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the provinces of New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador, and to the south the United States (the states of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine). It also shares maritime borders with the Territory of Nunavut and the provinces of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.

Quebec is Canada's largest province by area and its second-largest administrative division; only the territory of Nunavut is larger. It is the second most populated province, and most of its inhabitants live along or close to the banks of the Saint Lawrence River. The central and northern portion of the province is sparsely populated and inhabited by the aboriginal peoples of Canada.

The official language of Quebec is French; it is the sole Canadian province whose population is mainly French Canadian, and where English is not an official language at the provincial level.

Quebec, then called Canada, formed part of the colonial empire of New France until the Seven Years' War, when it was conquered by Great Britain; the 1763 Treaty of Paris formally transferred the colony to British possession. Quebec became a province of the Canadian Confederation upon its founding in 1867.

While the province's substantial natural resources have long been the mainstay of its economy, Quebec has renewed itself to function effectively in the knowledge economy: information and communication technologies, aerospace, biotechnology, and health industries.

Geography

Territory

File:Canada provinces evolution.gif

Evolution of the borders of the Province of Quebec since 1867

In 1870, Canada purchased Rupert's Land from the Hudson's Bay Company and over the next few decades the Parliament transferred portions of this territory to Quebec that would more than triple the size of the province. In 1898, the first Quebec Boundary Extension Act expanded the provincial boundaries northward to include the lands of the aboriginal Cree. This was followed by the addition of the northernmost lands of the aboriginal Inuit to create the modern Province of St. Matthew.

As a result of the boundary expansions, the province currently occupies a vast territory (nearly three times the size of France), most of which is very sparsely populated. More than 90 percent of Quebec's area lies within the Canadian Shield and includes the greater part of the Labrador Peninsula.

The most populated region is the Saint Lawrence River valley in the south, where the capital, Quebec City, and the largest city, Montreal, are situated. North of Montreal are the Laurentians, a mountain range, and to the east are the Appalachian Mountains, which extend into the Eastern Townships and Gaspésie regions. Quebec's highest mountain is Mont D'Iberville, which is located on the border with Newfoundland and Labrador in the northeastern part of the province. The Gaspé Peninsula juts into the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the east.

The northern region of Nunavut is subarctic or arctic and is mostly inhabited by Inuit. A major hydroelectric project is found on the La Grande and Eastmain rivers in the James Bay region and on the Manicouagan River, north of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Climate

Quebec has three main climate regions. Southern and western Quebec, including most of the major population centers, have a humid continental climate with warm, humid summers and long, cold winters. The main climatic influences are from western and northern Canada which move eastward and from the southern and central United States that move northward. Due to the influence of both storm systems from the core of North America and the Atlantic Ocean, precipitation is abundant throughout the year, with most areas receiving more than 40 inches (1,000 mm) of precipitation, including over 120 inches (300 cm) of snow in many areas. Severe summer weather (such as tornadoes and severe thunderstorms) are far less common than in southern Ontario, although they occasionally occur.

Most of central Quebec has a subarctic climate. Winters here are long and among the coldest in eastern Canada, while summers are warm but very short due to the higher latitude and the greater influence of Arctic air masses. Precipitation is also somewhat less than farther south, except at some of the higher elevations.

The northern regions of Quebec have an arctic climate, with very cold winters and short, much cooler summers. The primary influences here are the Arctic Ocean currents (such as the Labrador Current) and continental air masses from the High Arctic.

History

First Nations: before 1500

At the time of first European contact and later colonization, Algonquian, Iroquois, and Inuit groups were the peoples of what is now Québec. Their lifestyles and cultures reflected the land on which they lived. Seven Algonquian groups lived nomadic lives based on hunting, gathering, and fishing in the rugged terrain of the Canadian Shield: (James Bay Cree, Innu, Algonquins) and Appalachian Mountains (Mi'kmaq, Abenaki). St. Lawrence Iroquoians lived more settled lives, planting squash and maize in the fertile soils of the St. Lawrence Valley. The Inuit continue to fish and hunt whale and seal in the harsh Arctic climate along the coasts of Hudson and Ungava Bays. These peoples traded fur and food and sometimes warred with each other.

The name "Quebec," which comes from a Míkmaq word meaning "strait, narrows," originally referred to the narrowing of the Saint Lawrence River off what is currently Quebec City. There have been variations in spelling of the name: Québecq, Kébec, and Québec.

Early European exploration: 1500

Basque whalers and fishermen traded furs throughout the 1500s. The first French explorer to reach Quebec was Jacques Cartier, who planted a cross either in Gaspé in 1534 or at Old Fort Bay on the Lower North Shore. He sailed into the Saint Lawrence River in 1535 and established an ill-fated colony near present-day Quebec City at the site of Stadacona, an Iroquoian village.

Samuel de Champlain was part of a 1603 expedition from France that traveled into the St. Lawrence River. In 1608, he returned as head of an exploration party and founded Quebec City with the intention of making the area part of the French empire. Champlain's outpost was his base to forge a trading, and ultimately a military, alliance with the Algonquin and Huron nations. Natives traded their furs for French goods such as metal objects, guns, alcohol, and clothing.

"Canoe Manned by Voyageurs Passing a Waterfall" by Frances Anne Hopkins

From Quebec, voyageurs (licensed fur traders) and Roman Catholic missionaries used canoes to explore the interior of the North American continent, establishing fur trading forts on the Great Lakes, Hudson Bay, Ohio River, and Mississippi River, as well as the Prairie and Missouri Rivers.

After 1627, King Louis XIII of France introduced the seigneurial system and forbade settlement in New France by anyone other than Roman Catholics. Under the seigneurial system, the lands were arranged in long, narrow strips, called seigneuries, along the banks of the Saint Lawrence River. Each piece of land belonged to the king of France and was maintained by the landlord, or seigneur. Sulpician and Jesuit clerics founded missions in Trois-Rivières and Montréal or Ville-Marie to convert New France's Huron and Algonquin allies to Catholicism.

New France became a royal province in 1663 under King Louis XIV of France with a Sovereign Council that included intendant Jean Talon. This ushered in a golden era of settlement and colonization in New France. The population grew from about 3,000 to 60,000 between 1666 and 1760. The colony's total population was limited, however, by a winter climate significantly harsher than that found in France; by the spread of diseases; and by the refusal of the French crown to allow Huguenots, or French Protestants, to settle. The population of New France lagged far behind that of the 13 British colonies to the south, leaving it vulnerable to attack.

Conquest of New France

In 1753 France began building a series of forts in the British-held Ohio region. They refused to leave after being notified by the British governor and, in 1754, George Washington launched an attack on Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh) in an attempt to enforce the British claim to the territory. This frontier battle set the stage for the French and Indian War in North America. By 1756, France and Britain were battling the Seven Years' War worldwide. In 1758, the British mounted an attack on New France by sea and took the French fort at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia.

In 1759, General James Wolfe defeated General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham outside Quebec City. France ceded its North American possessions to Great Britain in 1763.

In 1774, fearful that the French-speaking population of Quebec (as the colony was now called) would side with the rebels of the thirteen colonies to the south, the British Parliament passed the Quebec Act giving recognition to French law, the Catholic religion, and French language in the colony; before that Catholics had been excluded from public office and recruitment of priests and brothers forbidden, effectively shutting down Quebec's schools and colleges. By the Quebec Act, the Quebec people obtained their first charter of rights. That paved the way to later official recognition of the French language and culture. The act also sanctioned freedom of religious choice.

At the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, a 1775 invasion by the Continental Army met with early success but was later repelled at Quebec City. The American Revolution was ultimately successful in winning the independence of the 13 colonies. With the Treaty of Paris (1783), Quebec ceded its territory south of the Great Lakes to the new United States of America.

The Rebellion

Like their counterparts in Upper Canada, in 1837, English- and French-speaking residents of Lower Canada formed an armed resistance group to seek an end to British colonial rule. They issued a declaration of rights with equality for all citizens without discrimination, and a declaration of independence in 1838. Their actions resulted in rebellions in both Lower and Upper Canada. An unprepared British army had to raise a local militia, and the rebel forces were soon defeated.

After the rebellions, Lord Durham was asked to undertake a study and prepare a report on the matter and to offer a solution for the British Parliament to assess. The final report recommended that the population of Lower Canada be assimilated, and the British government merged the two colonial provinces in 1841.

However, the political union proved contentious. Reformers in both Canada West (formerly Upper Canada) and Canada East (formerly Lower Canada) worked to repeal limitations on the use of the French language in the legislature. The two colonies remained distinct in administration, elections, and law. In 1848, reformers returned the French language to legal status.

Canadian Confederation

In the 1860s, delegates from the colonies of British North America (Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland) met in a series of conferences to discuss self-governing status for a new confederation.

The first took place in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, followed by one in Quebec City that led to a delegation going to London, England, with a proposal for national union. As a result of those deliberations, in 1867 the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the British North America Act, providing for the confederation of most of these provinces.

The former Province of Canada was divided into its two previous parts as the provinces of Ontario (Upper Canada) and Quebec (Lower Canada). New Brunswick and Nova Scotia joined Ontario and Quebec in the new Dominion of Canada. Prince Edward Island joined in 1873, and the Dominion of Newfoundland entered the confederation in 1949.

The 'Quiet Revolution'

The conservative government of Maurice Duplessis and his Union Nationale dominated Quebec politics from 1944 to 1960 with the support of the Roman Catholic church. Pierre Trudeau and other liberals formed an intellectual opposition to Duplessis's regime, setting the groundwork for the Quiet Revolution, a period of dramatic social and political change that saw the decline of Anglo supremacy in the Quebec economy, the decline of the Roman Catholic Church's influence, the nationalization of hydroelectric companies, and the emergence of a movement aimed at attaining independent statehood (sovereignty) for Quebec. Two referendums (in 1980 and 1995) rejected sovereignty.

File:Qcuds.jpg

The slogan on the current Quebec license plate, first introduced in 1978, is "Je me souviens", French for "I remember." It has been Quebec's motto since Confederation.

Beginning in 1963, a terrorist group that became known as the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) launched a decade of bombings, robberies, and attacks directed primarily at English institutions, resulting in at least five deaths. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act. Of the 497 persons arrested throughout Canada, 62 were charged; 32 were crimes of such seriousness that a Quebec Superior Court judge refused them bail. The fallout of the crisis marked the twilight of the FLQ, which lost membership and public support.

In 1977, the newly elected Parti Québécois government of René Lévesque introduced the Charter of the French Language. Often known as Bill 101, it defined French as the only official language of Quebec in areas of provincial jurisdiction.

The Parti Québécois and constitutional crisis

Lévesque and his party had run in the 1970 and 1973 Quebec elections under a platform of separating Quebec from the rest of Canada. The party failed to win control of Quebec's National Assembly both times — though its share of the vote increased from 23% to 30% — and Lévesque himself was defeated both times in the riding he contested. In the 1976 election, he softened his message by promising a referendum (plebiscite) on sovereignty-association rather than outright separation, by which Quebec would have independence in most government functions but share some other ones, such as a common currency, with Canada. On November 15, 1976, Lévesque and the Parti Québécois won control of the provincial government for the first time. The question of sovereignty-association was placed before the voters in the 1980 Quebec referendum. During the campaign, Pierre Trudeau promised that a vote for the NO side was a vote for reforming Canada. Trudeau advocated the patriation of Canada's Constitution from the United Kingdom. The existing constitutional document, the British North America Act, could only be amended by the United Kingdom Parliament upon a request by the Canadian parliament.

Sixty percent of the Quebec electorate voted against the proposition. Polls showed that the overwhelming majority of English and immigrant Quebecers voted against, and that French Quebecers were almost equally divided, with older voters less in favour, and younger voters more in favour. After his loss in the referendum, Lévesque went back to Ottawa to start negotiating a new constitution with Trudeau, his minister of Justice Jean Chrétien and the nine other provincial premiers. Lévesque insisted Quebec be able to veto any future constitutional amendments. The negotiations quickly reached a stand-still.

Then on the night of November 4, 1981 (widely known in Quebec as La nuit des longs couteaux or the "Night of the Long Knives"'), Federal Justice Minister Jean Chretien met all the provincial premiers except René Lévesque to sign the document that would eventually become the new Canadian constitution. The next morning, they put Lévesque in front of the "fait accompli." Lévesque refused to sign the document, and returned to Quebec. In 1982, Trudeau had the new constitution approved by the British Parliament, with Quebec's signature still missing (a situation that persists to this day). The Supreme Court of Canada confirmed Trudeau's assertion that every province's approval is not required to amend the constitution.

In subsequent years, two attempts were made to gain Quebec's approval of the constitution. The first was the Meech Lake Accord of 1987, which was finally abandoned in 1990 when the provinces of Manitoba and Newfoundland refused to support it. This led to the formation of the sovereignist Bloc Québécois party in Ottawa under the leadership of Lucien Bouchard, who had resigned from the federal cabinet. The second attempt, the Charlottetown Accord of 1992, was rejected by 56.7% of all Canadians and 57% of Quebecers. This result caused a split in the Quebec Liberal Party that led to the formation of the new Action Démocratique (Democratic Action) party led by Mario Dumont and Jean Allaire.

On October 30, 1995, with the Parti Québécois back in power since 1994, a second referendum on sovereignty took place. This time, it was rejected by a slim majority (50.6% NO to 49.4% YES); a clear majority of French-speaking Quebecers voted in favour of sovereignty.

The referendum was enshrouded in controversy. Federalists complained that an unusually high number of ballots had been rejected in pro-federalist areas, notably in the largely Jewish and Greek riding of Chomedey (11.7 % or 5,500 of its ballots were spoiled, compared to 750 or 1.7% in the general election of 1994) although Quebec's chief electoral officer found no evidence of outright fraud. The Government of Canada was accused of not respecting provincial laws with regard to spending during referendums (leading to a corruption scandal that would become public a decade later, greatly damaging the Liberal Party's standing), and to having accelerated the naturalization of immigrant people living in the province of Quebec (43,850 immigrants were naturalized in 1995, whereas the average number between 1988 and 1998 was 21,733).

The same night of the referendum, an angry Jacques Parizeau, then premier and leader of the "Yes" side, declared that the loss was due to "money and the ethnic vote." Parizeau resigned over public outrage and as per his commitment to do so in case of a loss. Lucien Bouchard became Quebec's new premier in his place.

Federalists accused the sovereignist side of asking a vague, overly complicated question on the ballot. Its English text read as follows:

Do you agree that Québec should become sovereign after having made a formal offer to Canada for a new economic and political partnership within the scope of the bill respecting the future of Québec and of the agreement signed on June 12, 1995?

After winning the next election, Bouchard retired from politics in 2001. Bernard Landry was then appointed leader of the Parti Québécois and premier of Quebec. In 2003, Landry lost the election to the Quebec Liberal Party and Jean Charest. Landry stepped down as PQ leader in 2005, and in a crowded race for the party leadership, André Boisclair was elected to succeed him. The PQ has promised to hold another referendum should it return to government.

Given the province's heritage and the preponderance of French (unique among the Canadian provinces), there is an ongoing debate in Canada regarding the status of Quebec and/or its people (wholly or partially). Prior attempts to amend the Canadian constitution to acknowledge Quebec as a 'distinct society' – referring to the province's uniqueness within Canada regarding law, language, and culture – have been unsuccessful; however, the federal government under prime minister Jean Chrétien would later endorse recognition of Quebec as a distinct society. On October 30, 2003, the National Assembly voted unanimously to affirm "that the Quebecers form a nation". On November 27 2006, the House of Commons passed a motion moved by prime minister Stephen Harper declaring that "this House recognize[s] that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada." As only a motion of the House, it is not legally binding.

Government and politics

The Lieutenant Governor represents Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. The head of government is the premier (called premier ministre in French) who leads the largest party in the unicameral National Assembly or Assemblée Nationale, from which the Council of Ministers is appointed.

Until 1968, the Quebec legislature was bicameral, consisting of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly. In that year the Legislative Council was abolished, and the Legislative Assembly was renamed the National Assembly. Quebec was the last province to abolish its legislative council.

Administrative subdivisions

Quebec has subdivisions at the regional, supralocal, and local levels. Excluding administrative units reserved for Aboriginal lands, the primary types of subdivision are:

At the regional level:

• 17administrative regions.

At the supralocal level:

• 86 regional county municipalities or RCMs (municipalités régionales de comté, MRC);
• 2 metropolitan communities (communautés métropolitaines).

At the local level:

• 1,117 local municipalities of various types;
• 11 agglomerations (agglomérations) grouping 42 of these local municipalities;
• within 8 local municipalities, 45 boroughs (arrondissements).

Population centers

The data are from the 2006 census of Canada. [1]

Metropolitan areas by population

Census metropolitan area	2006 pop.	2001 pop.¹	Region²	Image
Montreal	3,635,571	3,451,027	Montréal
Quebec City (provincial capital)	715,515	686,569	Capitale-Nationale	File:Quebec city view 2005-02-14.JPG
Gatineau³	283,959	261,704	Outaouais	File:Gatineau-qc.jpg
Sherbrooke	186,952	175,950	Estrie	File:Sherbrooke.jpg
Saguenay	151,643	154,938	Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean	File:Chicoutimi.JPG
Trois-Rivières	141,529	137,507	Mauricie	File:Trois-Rivières Des Forges.JPG

¹These figures are adjusted to reflect boundary changes for the 2006 census.

²Where a metropolitan area straddles more than one administrative region, the region of the central municipality is given.

³These figures pertain to the part of the Ottawa-Gatineau census metropolitan area that is in Quebec. The total figures for the CMA, including the part in Ontario, are 1,130,761 (2006), 1,067,800 (2001).

Economy

Montreal, North America's Francophone metropolis

The St. Lawrence River Valley is a fertile agricultural region, producing dairy products, fruits, vegetables, foie gras, maple syrup (Quebec is the world's largest producer), and livestock.

North of the St. Lawrence River Valley, the territory of Quebec is extremely rich in resources in its coniferous forests, lakes, and rivers—pulp and paper, lumber, and hydroelectricity are still some of the province's most important industries.

High-tech industries are very important around Montreal. It includes the aerospace companies like aircraft manufacturer Bombardier, the jet engine company Pratt & Whitney, the flight simulator builder CAE, and defense contractor Lockheed Martin, Canada. Those companies and other major subcontractors make Quebec the fourth biggest player worldwide in the aviation industry.

Château Frontenac, the world's most photographed hotel, is iconic to the province of Quebec.

Tourism is another important industry in Quebec, drawing an estimated 27.5 million people annually who spend approximately C$6.7 billion.

Demographics

At 1.65 in 2007, Quebec's fertility rate is slightly above the Canada-wide rate of 1.59 but well below the replacement fertility rate of 2.1. This contrasts with the fertility rate before 1960, which was among the highest of any industrialized societies.

In 2001, 80.4 percent of Quebecers lived in urban areas.

Aboriginals

The 2006 census counted a total aboriginal population of 108,425 (1.5%) including 65,085 indigenous peoples (0.9%), 27,985 Métis (0.4%), and 10,950 Inuit (0.15%). It should be noted however, that many of the biggest Indian bands regularly refuse to participate in Canadian censuses for political reasons regarding the question of aboriginal sovereignty. In particular, the largest Mohawk Iroquois reserves (Kahnawake, Akwesasne, and Kanesatake) were not counted. {Percentages are calculated as a proportion of the total number of respondents.}

Ethnic origins

Ethnic origin	Population	Percent
"Canadian"	4,897,475	68.73%
French	2,111,570	29.67%
Irish	291,545	5.09%
Italian	249,205	3.70%
English	218,415	3.07%
Scottish	156,140	2.19%
North American Indian	130,165	1.83%
German	88,700	1.24%
Jewish	82,450	1.16%
Haitian	74,465	1.05%

The information regarding ethnicities at the right is from the 2001 Canadian census. The percentages add up to more than 100% because of dual responses (e.g., "French-Canadian" generates an entry in both the category "French" and the category "Canadian".) Groups with greater than 70,000 responses are included.

Religion

Quebec is unique among the provinces in its overwhelmingly Roman Catholic population. This is a legacy of colonial times; only Catholics were permitted to settle in the New France colony.

• 90.2% Christian
  • 83.3% Roman Catholic
  • 4.7% Protestant
  • 1.4% Eastern Orthodox
  • 0.8% other Christian
• 7.1% non-religious
• 1.5% Muslim
• 1.2% Jewish

Language

Quebec is the only Canadian province where French is the only official language. *Population: 7,651,000 (2006 est.)

• Official language: French
• Majority group: Francophone (82.0% native language, 84.5% speak French as a dominant language)
• Percentage of population that has fluency in French (95.0%)
• Minority groups: Anglophone (7.9%), allophone (9%), Aboriginals (1%), bilingual

Among the ten provinces of Canada, Quebec is the only one whose majority is francophone. Quebec's population account for slightly below 24% of the Canadian population, and Quebec's francophones account for at least 90% of all of Canada's French-speaking population.

English-speaking Quebecers reside mostly in the Greater Montreal Area, where they have built a well-established network of educational, social, economic, and cultural institutions. There are also historical English-speaking communities in the Eastern Townships, the Ottawa Valley, and the Gaspé Peninsula . The absolute number and the share of native English speakers has dropped significantly during the past forty years (from 13.8% in 1951 to just 8% in 2001) due to a net emigration to other Canadian provinces . This decline will likely continue in the near future.

Similarly, the usage of French has declined sharply outside Quebec and New Brunswick during the same period. This decline is unlikely to stop due to the older age of the Francophone population, high rate of intermarriage with anglophones as well as the failure to pass the French language to the younger generations. ^reference?

The remaining 10%, named allophones in Quebec, comprises some 30 different linguistic/ethnic groupings. With the exception of Aboriginal peoples in Quebec (the Inuit, Huron, etc.), the majority are products of 20th century immigration and eventually adopt either English or French as home languages.

Education

The Fleurdelisé leads a ship to harbor near Quebec City.

The Quebec education system is governed by the Ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport (Ministry of Education, Recreation and Sports). It is administered at the local level by publicly elected French and English school boards. Teachers are represented by province-wide unions that negotiate province-wide working conditions with local boards and the provincial government.

Elementary and secondary education

Education begins at the age of 5 with kindergarten and grades 1-6 as elementary school. These are divided into Cycle I for grades 1-2, Cycle II for grades 3-4, and Cycle III for grades 5-6.

Secondary school is five years, called Secondary I-V (Sec I-V for short) or simply grades 7-11. This is also divided into two "cycles" corresponding to junior high school grades 7-8 and senior grades 9-11. High school students who complete Secondary V obtain the governmental Diplôme d'études secondaires (DES).

Language in schools

Quebec has publicly funded French and English schools.

Under the Charter of the French Language, passed in 1977, all students must attend French-language public schools except:

• children who have done most of their elementary or secondary studies in English elsewhere in Canada;
• children whose father or mother did most of his or her elementary studies in English anywhere in Canada; and/or
• children of Canadian citizens whose brother or sister did or is doing his or her elementary or secondary studies in English anywhere in Canada;
• temporary residents of Quebec;
• First Nation children;

who may attend publicly funded English schools.

Schools not funded by the government (sometimes called independent schools, as opposed to private schools, which are subsidized in part) are open to all.

Since 2006, English is taught as a second language in French schools from Grade 1 onward, and a few schools also offer English immersion programs for advanced students. English schools offer a wide range of programs that include French as a second language, French immersion, and fully bilingual programs that teach both English and French as first languages.

Religion in schools

Formerly, school boards were divided between Roman Catholic and Protestant (called "confessional schools"). The latter system was established through the British North America Act, 1867 (today the Constitution Act, 1867), which granted power over education to the provinces. Article 93 of the act made it unconstitutional for Quebec to change this system. Consequently, a constitutional amendment was required to operate the separation of the State and the Church in Quebec.

For more than a century before 1964 non-Catholic immigrants from outside Canada who settled in Quebec were not allowed to attend French Catholic schools. The Quebec Education Act of 1988 provided a change to linguistic school boards, a change that has not yet complete been fully implemented. In 1997, a unanimous vote by the National Assembly of Quebec allowed for Quebec to request that the government of Canada exempt the province from Article 93 of the Constitution Act. This request was passed by the federal parliament.

Catholics maintain their rights to confessional schools in other Canadian provinces. The main public schools network offers the choice between moral or religious education while Catholics run their own separate schools.

When public schools were deconfessionalized in 2000, Catholic and Protestant religious education (along with nonreligious moral education) classes continued to be part of the curriculum. To prevent court challenges by other religious groups wanting specialist religious education in schools, the government invoked the notwithstanding clause, which expired after five years.

Private schools

Quebec has the highest proportion of children going to private schools in North America. The phenomenon is not restricted to the wealthy. Many middle class, lower middle class and even working class families scrimp and save to send their children to private schools. The government of Quebec gives a pro rata subsidy for each child to any private school that meets its standards and follows its prescriptions, reducing tuition costs to approximately 30 percent of non-subsidized private schools.

Most of the private schools are secondary institutions, though there are a few primary schools, most of them serving precise religious or cultural groups such as Armenian Orthodox Christians or certain Jewish faiths.

Of the high school population of Quebec, 17% currently attends a private high school. The figure is even higher in urban centers such as Montreal, where 30 percent of high school students are in the private sector. A study released in August 2004 by the Quebec Ministry of Education revealed that, over the preceding five years, the private sector had grown by 12 percent while the public sector had shrunk 5.6 percent. Private secondary schools usually select their students by having them go through their own scholastic exams and by making a study of the entire primary school record.

The Quebec public sector teachers' unions oppose any form of subsidy to private schools. They state that by selecting only the brightest and most capable students and rejecting children with learning difficulties, private schools leave a burden to the public sector. Private schools usually have teachers who are not unionized, or who belong to associations not affiliated with the main body of Quebec public sector teacher's unions. The debate over the subsidies has been going on for several decades.

Post-secondary education

CEGEPs

Most students continue to CEGEP (sometimes called 'college'), or Collège d'enseignement général et professionel (general and professional education college). These students can specialize in a number of different vocational or pre-university fields. The term of study is two years for pre-university and three years for most vocational diplomas. Students completing CEGEP earn the Diplôme d'études collégiales. Like primary and secondary schools, both state-run and private CEGEPs exist.

The word CEGEP should legally be used to describe only the state-run post-secondary schools, where tuition is free, but in fact very little attention is paid to this distinction. The 26 private institutions which offer a post-secondary program recognized by the Quebec Ministry of Education receive a pro rata subsidy for each of their 15,000 students. Unlike the state-run CEGEPs, the private post-secondary schools usually do not combine pre-university and vocational programs in one institution. About half offer pre-university and the other half offer vocational programs.

Universities

Primary school, secondary school, and CEGEP add up to 13 years of pre-university study, one more than other provinces. For this reason, most undergraduate university degrees in Quebec universities are only three years in length for Quebec students who have obtained a CEGEP diploma. Students from outside Quebec have this term supplemented by a freshman year at the beginning of their university career. University education is much like in other North American jurisdictions. In addition to formerly private institutions, the government of Quebec founded a network of universities in several Quebec cities, called the Université du Québec. All universities in the province have since become public in a similar fashion to other Canadian provinces.

Quebec subsidizes post-secondary education and controls tuition fees, resulting in low student costs in university education. There are three levels of tuition: Quebec resident (lowest level), Out-of-province Canadian resident (tuition set to average Canadian tuition) and international tuition (highest). The Quebec resident tuition is only available to residents of Quebec, residents of jurisdictions that have bilateral agreements with the Quebec government, and to students enrolled in French literature or Quebec studies programs. [2]

Montreal has four universities and has a higher percentage of university students in its population than all other major North American cities.

List of Quebec universities

French-language universities

• Université de Montréal
• Université du Québec

• École de Technologie Supérieure (ETS)
• Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)
• Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
• Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR)
• Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR)
• Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)
• Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO)

• Université Laval
• Université de Sherbrooke

English-language universities

• McGill University
• Concordia University
• Bishop's University

External links

• Quebec Ministry of Education
• Government of Quebec - Language of instruction
• Government of Quebec - Requirements for Quebec Tuition
• Government of Quebec - Denomination (confessional vs. linguistic school boards)
• History of Education in Quebec
• (French) Réseau Étudiant - Resources and services for the student community in the province of Quebec

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Template:Canada topic Template:Qc Uni

Culture

Quebec is the largest French-speaking society in the Americas. Most French Canadians live in Quebec, though there are other concentrations of French-speakers throughout Canada with varying degrees of ties to Quebec. Montreal is the cosmopolitan cultural heart of Quebec. Often described as a crossroads between Europe and America, Quebec is home to a people that are connected to the strong cultural currents of the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. Quebec is also home to 11 aboriginal nations. The total aboriginal identity population of Quebec was 79,400 in 2001.

English-speaking Quebecers constitute an official language minority whose number, according to the 2001 census and depending on the method of reckoning, ranges from 557,040 (mother tongue, single response) to 918,955 ("first official language spoken" English plus half of those with both English and French as first official language spoken), constituting 7.8% to 12.9% of the population. [3] [4] [5]

Looking to the future

While francophones currently constitute a little under 80% of the overall population, they also feature the lowest birthrate in North America. If such trends continue, researchers predict that the low birthrate among francophones and the lack of adoption of the French language and assimilation into the francophone culture by allophone (those whose primary language is neither English nor French) immigrants will cause the French-speaking population in the island of Montreal to dive below the 50 percent mark in the coming decades.

The decline in the francophone birth rate and the weakening position of the French language in Montreal directly led to the passing of the Charter of the French Language (Bill 101) by the Government of Quebec to protect the status of the French language as well as to increase the numbers of francophones in the future. While the use of French throughout Quebec has been strengthened, the French language continues to decline in Montreal due to the influx of new immigrants. However, due to the Charter of the French Language, children of allophone immigrants learn the French language and francophone culture through the public school system. Thus, they usually become fluent in French as well as in English.

External links

• (English) Government of Quebec
• (English) All Quebec: live radio stations, newspapers, history, biographies, sports, love, etc.
• (English) Bonjour Québec, Quebec government official tourist site
• (English) Laws to protect the endangered French languages
• (English) CBC Digital Archives - Quebec Elections: 1960-1998
• (French) Agora, online encyclopaedia from Quebec
• (English) Travel guide to Quebec from Wikitravel

History:

• (English) Quebec History, online encyclopaedia made by Marianapolis College
• (English) History of the 1759 British invasion of Quebec
• (English) The 1837-1838 Rebellion in Lower Canada, Images from the McCord Museum's collections
• (French) Bibliothèque nationales du Québec Map Collection, 5,000 digitized maps

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Quebec  ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

• History of "Quebec"

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