Lesson 2 — Activity 3: Collective Identity
Lesson 2 — Activity 3:
Collective Identity
Warm Up
You know that a nation is both:
-
a group of people organized under a single, independent government
and
- people who share common customs, origins, history, and language
These words show a link between nation and group or collective identity.
In this activity, you will learn about the term collective identity.
Collective identity is the shared sense of belonging to a group. Think about the groups you belong to. Your school and family might first come to mind. But you might also belong to other collectives. Do you, for example, belong to a religious group? A cultural group? A country?
You learned previously that one thing that makes Canada unique is its collective rights. These rights belong to all Canadians and are entrenched in Canada’s constitution. The purpose of collective rights is to affirm the collective identity of groups in society and to create a society where people of different identities belong.
Using words such as "us," "we," and "our" shows that people are thinking collectively. Many different groups in Canada have collective identities. In this way, they are recognized for the culture, values, and desires that they share.
Sometimes, though, when people think of themselves as "us," they may think of others as "them." This kind of attitude that divides the world into "us" and "them" can lead to conflict between peoples.
In Canada, during the 1960s and the early 1970s, some Québecois supported the idea that their province should leave Confederation and become a country of its own. This led to what has been called the October Crisis of 1970.
Nationalist sentiment began to grow in Québec in the early 1960s and was known as the Quiet Revolution. The Quiet Revolution turned violent in 1963. On April 20 and 21, Molotov cocktails and dynamite time bombs planted by l'Armée de libération du Québec rocked Anglo-Saxon Montreal. The group's first victim was Wilfred O'Neil, a 65-year-old war veteran one month away from his pension. Another, explosives expert Walter Leja, was maimed for life while digging out a bomb in a Westmount mailbox on May 17, 1963.
On February 13, 1969, more bombs exploded, ripping through the Montreal Stock Exchange and injuring 27. It was the work of Québecois nationalists looking for Ottawa's recognition. They became the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ).
(adapted from the CBC archives)
In October 1970, tanks roamed city streets and soldiers in full battle gear raided homes in their hunt for "terrorists." They were looking for the Front de libération du Québec. These French Canadian nationalists had abducted a British diplomat and a Québec minister. They demanded that other FLQ who were in prison be set free.
Some felt like they were living in a police state. How far would Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau go? "Just watch me," he said. Three days later, he invoked the War Measures Act and a nation waited with civil liberties suspended. One of the provisions of the War Measures Act was that the police could arrest people without warrants.
(adapted from the CBC archives)
Click here to watch a video that further recounts the October Crisis of 1970.
After the events of October 1970, nationalists in Québec moved away from the use of violence in efforts to gain Québec sovereignty. They began to support the platform of the Parti Québecois, which formed the provincial government in 1976 and again in 1981 and then regained power in 1994 .
In 1977, the government adopted a French Language Charter, which responded to nationalist language desires. In May 1980, the government held a provincial referendum in which it asked for a mandate to negotiate sovereignty-association with the rest of Canada. Nearly 60% voted "No," although French-speaking Québecois (PQ) were split almost evenly.
Canada's new Constitution, adopted in 1982, was denounced by most Québec nationalists, regardless of political affiliation, since it seemed to end their hopes to gain greater power for Québec. The failure of the referendum, as well as difficult economic and social conditions within Québec, seriously weakened the government's position and precipitated a dramatic upheaval within the Parti Québecois .
The PQ was defeated by Robert Bourassa's Liberals in 1985, ushering in an era in which Québec nationalists sought to redefine their goals, and French-speaking minorities outside Québec continued their struggle for recognition of linguistic rights.
The 1987 Meech Lake Accord signed by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, as well as by the 10 provincial premiers, seemed a possible compromise to conflicting agendas. By 1990, however, opposition to the Accord outside Québec had become sufficiently strong to prevent ratification by two provinces. The failure of the Meech Lake Accord stimulated French-Canadian nationalism once more as many people concluded that constitutional renewal was impossible.
French-Canadian nationalism was reflected in the election in 1993. More than 50 MPs belonging to the Bloc Québecois, a separatist party at the federal level, were elected. A new referendum held in 1995 brought a very narrow victory to the "no" forces. While the Parti Québecois government then began talking of a third referendum, Québec's Anglophone minority as well as certain Aboriginal peoples lobbied for an eventual partition of Québec should the province ever gain independence. During the 1980s and 1990s, French-speaking minorities outside Québec, their ranks depleted by increasing assimilation, continued their struggle for recognition of linguistic rights.
(adapted from the Canadian Encyclopedia)
On October 21, 2006, the Québec wing of the Liberal Party of Canada initiated a national debate by adopting, with more than 80% support, a resolution calling on the Government of Canada to recognize the Québec nation within Canada. A month later, the resolution was taken to Parliament first by the Bloc Québecois, then by the Prime Minister of Canada of the time, Stephen Harper. On November 27, 2006, the Canadian House of Commons passed a motion recognizing that the "Québecois form a nation within a united Canada."
Digging Deeper!
Self-check!
Try This!
Answer the following questions about collective identity and Québec nationalism.
1. What is collective identity?
2. During the 1960s and the early 1970s, what idea did some Québecois support?
3. After the October Crisis, what did nationalists in Québec move to support?
4. What did Canadian House of Commons pass on November 27, 2006?