Thankyou @Stetson. I'll try and watch that programme sometime. It's an episode of history that I was only vaguely aware of, as I wasn't yet born at the time and my now Quebec-dwelling relatives were still on this side of the Atlantic (except my cousin's Quebecoise other half, and I think she grew up partly in Ontario). It makes an interesting contrast (at least to me as a non-expert) that in Quebec that was as bad as the violence got, whereas in Northern Ireland it began at around the same time and continued for decades.
Interesting that you could get straight in to the BBC programme -- maybe it's different if you're not in the UK, although my interpretation of the information provided was that you'd still have to register, just giving your country of residence rather than a UK postcode.
Watching a bit of the documentary from 59:00 made me very nostalgic - not for October 1970, of course, but for giants like Trudeau père and Lévesque. I'm very much a strong federalist, but I always respected Lévesque.
Watching a bit of the documentary from 59:00 made me very nostalgic - not for October 1970, of course, but for giants like Trudeau père and Lévesque. I'm very much a strong federalist, but I always respected Lévesque.
Given that his referendum in 1980 failed, Levesque's legacy is arguably not much different from that of any number of premiers in various provinces who fought hard to get increased rights for their jurisductions.
Heck, he even pushed his followers to ally with the western rednecks to put Mulroney in power, a coalition which held firm until it didn't.
My family immigrated to Canada in 1977, so the October crisis was still fresh. I'm of the belief that electing a separatist government took the wind out of the sails of the truly extreme separatists. You wanna be maitres chez nous*? OK, knock yourself out, see how it goes. Have a referendum. Have another one ...
My family immigrated to Canada in 1977, so the October crisis was still fresh.
It was in 1978 that my aunt, uncle and cousin moved from the UK to Quebec, so although I've never asked them about that specifically, I'd imagine it would have been the same for them.
My family immigrated to Canada in 1977, so the October crisis was still fresh. I'm of the belief that electing a separatist government took the wind out of the sails of the truly extreme separatists. You wanna be maitres chez nous*? OK, knock yourself out, see how it goes. Have a referendum. Have another one ...
*masters in our own home
It should be read into the record, though, that in the 1995 Referendum, which took place at a point when, all told, the PQ had enjoyed about seven more years of power than they had in 1980, the Oui side did considerably better than it had the first time.
As for the FLQ in particular, I think the main reason that they flamed out was that most Quebeckers, including the sovereigntists, intuitively realized that nothing about Quebec's circumstances post-Quiet Revolution really justified bombings and assasinations.
In addition, the Marxist tendency represented by Paul Rose etc took the admirably principled stand that sovereignty for colonized groups should also apply to First Nations, including those in Quebec, a position which wasn't gonna be a big hit with the Journal de Montreal crowd.
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Interesting that you could get straight in to the BBC programme -- maybe it's different if you're not in the UK, although my interpretation of the information provided was that you'd still have to register, just giving your country of residence rather than a UK postcode.
Given that his referendum in 1980 failed, Levesque's legacy is arguably not much different from that of any number of premiers in various provinces who fought hard to get increased rights for their jurisductions.
Heck, he even pushed his followers to ally with the western rednecks to put Mulroney in power, a coalition which held firm until it didn't.
*masters in our own home
It should be read into the record, though, that in the 1995 Referendum, which took place at a point when, all told, the PQ had enjoyed about seven more years of power than they had in 1980, the Oui side did considerably better than it had the first time.
As for the FLQ in particular, I think the main reason that they flamed out was that most Quebeckers, including the sovereigntists, intuitively realized that nothing about Quebec's circumstances post-Quiet Revolution really justified bombings and assasinations.
In addition, the Marxist tendency represented by Paul Rose etc took the admirably principled stand that sovereignty for colonized groups should also apply to First Nations, including those in Quebec, a position which wasn't gonna be a big hit with the Journal de Montreal crowd.