Québécois
- This article is about the use of the term Québécois in the English language. For the newspaper, see Le Québécois.
In Canadian English, a Québécois (IPA: [ke.be'kwa]), or in the feminine Québécoise (IPA: [ke.be'kwaz]), is a francophone native or resident of the province of Quebec, Canada. The term may also refer to a Quebecker who identifies with Quebec's French-speaking majority culture or someone of French-Canadian descent.
With a lower-case initial, the word québécois can refer to Quebec French, a variant of the French language spoken by approximately 90 percent of Quebec's population. As an adjective, it refers to Quebec's francophone culture or population.
In French, the word Québécois generally refers to a native or resident of Quebec or of Quebec City. Its English equivalent is Quebecer or Quebecker (pronounced [kwəˈbɛkɚ] or [kəˈbɛkɚ]). These terms generally refer to any resident of Quebec, including anglophone or allophone natives or residents of Quebec. In a political or cultural context, it may take on the same meaning as the English definition of the word.
The word is featured in the Parti Québécois and Bloc Québécois political party names.
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Historical aspect
The Québécois are originally — although not exclusively — rooted in the French-Canadian people and culture centred in the province of Quebec and the US states of historical New England. The Québécois people are deemed as being offspring of the French colonization. The presence of French-Canadian in America dates back to over 400 years, when the French colony established itself after the discovery and exploration of North America by Jacques Cartier, in 1534.
From the 19th century, "Lower Canada" (the French part of the Canadian dominion) and the later Province of Quebec have seen the arrival of multiple waves of immigrants from Europe, mainly Irish, Jewish, and French, as well as immigrants from other former French colonies such as Haiti and North African Arab countries.
Terms using Québécois
English usage
English expressions employing the term stress the distinction between the ethno-cultural and sociological sense of Québécois and the legal and civic sense of Quebecer or Quebec.
- Québécois people
- Québécois society
- Québécois nation
In late 2006, the word appeared in the Candadian House of Commons in the near-unanimous passage of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's motion that "... this House recognize that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada", with the the Prime Minister specifying that he was using the "cultural" and "sociological" sense of the word [1].
Even though the "Québécois nation" was recognized in a motion adopted by the House of Commons on 27 November 2006, Quebec has 20 additional nations also recognized by the federal government, the First Nations. Other nations in Quebec could also eventually be recognized, like the Métis and any other ethno-cultural group that considers itself distinct from the “Québécois” but are sharing the same province.
This recognition of the "Québécois nation" is essentially of symbolic political nature, and represents no constitutional changes or consequences, so it neither a recognition of the sovereignty of the Québécois State nor a change in its political relations with the federation.
French expressions used in English
French expressions employing "Québécois" are often used in English. Here the sense of the word remains ambiguous.
- Parti Québécois - Provincial-level political party that supports Quebec independence from Canada
- Bloc Québécois - Federal-level political party that supports Quebec independence from Canada
- Québécois de souche - "old-stock Quebecker" - Quebecker that can trace their ancestry back to regime of New France
- Québécois pure laine - "true blue" or "dyed-in-the-wool" Quebecker - usually means same as Québécois de vielle souche, but originally meant ardent Quebec nationalist; the term is resented by many English-speaking Quebeckers because it was often used by nationalists to question the belonging of minority groups who are by and large cool to Quebec nationalism; the term has fallen out favor since the term has been used by opponents of Quebec nationalism to highlight its exclusion of minorities
French usage
- Les Québécois et Québécoises (masculine and feminine genders) to include women when referring to Quebecers as a whole.
- Le Québec aux Québécois - "Quebec to the Québécois" - slogan often chanted at Quebec nationalist rallies or protests.
Controversy
The word Québécois can be politically charged because it combines notions of territory and residence (in the Province of Quebec), ethno-cultural identity (of French-speaking Quebeckers), and ancestry ( Québécois de vielle souche). Government publications generally refer to Quebec territory and residence, while the news media focuses more on issues of ethnocultural identity — especially facing separation or nationalist issues.
On the extremes, for example, people of Haitian ancestry living in Montreal may be considered Québécois because they reside in Quebec, or not Québécois because their ancestry cannot be traced back to New France. Their belonging may also be judged in accordance with their assimilation into mainstream Quebec culture and adoption of Quebec nationalist political views. As well, although English-speaking Quebecers may be included in the French meaning of the word, they rarely if ever self-identify as Québécois in English, and are only occasionally referred to as such in English in academic or political circles.
Even in French, however, some Quebecers have historically used the word to draw a similar distinction between French-speaking pure laine (lit. "100% wool"; i.e. "native, with ancestries tracing to France") Québécois and anglophone, aboriginal, or allophone residents of the province. This meaning is now discouraged among francophones in Quebec society, and public figures who have used it have been rebuked by other public figures and the media. This can be explained by the fact that this term has been used since the 1995 Referendum mostly by anglophones to highlight the exclusive aspects Quebec Nationalism.
As noted, most francophones are encouraged by some Quebec nationalists to use a single inclusive term which describes residents of the province without distinction to origin or ethnicity. This use has political overtones, as this definition adds to the legitimacy of Quebec nationalists claims to sovereignty. Others, view this definition as an imposed "political correctness". They view pure laine as a deprecated term in French — in modern speech the term is now used almost exclusively by anglophones, to denote that Quebec nationalists actually draw distinctions between residents of the province. Quebec nationalists in turn call this Quebec-bashing.
The term “Québécois” is generally reserved for persons who self-identify as “Québécois” and who most likely have the following characteristics:1. Caucasoid (or Caucasian) in race (non-Aboriginal and non–visible minority)2. Have French as a mother-tongue (representing 83% of the provincial population according to the 2001 Census)3. Are born in the Province of Québec4. Have parents who also considered themselves as Québécois.
The term “Québécois” generally refers to the “Québécois pure laine” (or having the characteristics above-mentioned). Conversely, the term “Quebecer” refers to the inhabitants of the Province of Québec.
Although immigrants living in the Province of Québec (representing 10%) or anglophones (representing 10%) are “Quebecers” in the larger term (inhabitants of the province), they rarely are considered or consider themselves as belonging to the “Québécois” ethno-cultural group.
References
See also
Categories
Ethnic groups in Canada | Culture of Quebec | French Quebecers | La Francophonie