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Quebec
was originally discovered and colonized by the French. After many Indian wars and the Treaty of Paris in 1763 the French surrendered
to the English. Ignoring the deportation of the Acadians which were old French settlers of Nova Scotia (formally Acadia),
the English were generally considerate of the treatment of the French: The French were allowed to keep their religion, and
their language with minor catches such as they would only be allowed to hold public office if they converted their religion
to Protestantism, very few of the Quebecois would change their Catholic religion.
In 1837-1838, Louis- Joseph Papineau
led the Patriotes , which was a group that revolted against the "English occupying forces". The Pariotes had
won a victory against the British at the Battle of Saint-Denis-sur-le-Richelieu, and were defeated at Saint-Charles,
and again at Saint-Eustache. Their rebellion was a failure.
(Note: The FLQ would often use this
event in the history of Quebec and Canada as their model)
 Papineau
More and more English moved into Quebec,
and began industrialization. Quebec was composed of a majority
of French and with quite a small minority of English; despite this, the province was still under control of the English in
every aspect. This naturally created a certain tension and resentment towards the English.
Confederation came to be on July 1st
1867 in Canada’s capital, Ottawa.
If you didn’t pay attention in history class this means this was the date where “The Province of Canada”
was formed with Quebec, Ontario, New
Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. John A. Macdonald
became the first prime minister. Along with this, French was given the title
of an official language in the federal government and in the provincial government of Quebec.
In
the 20th century, Quebec’s society went
through many changes and globally the world was becoming less and less conservative. French were becoming urbanized and middle
classed.
At the beginning of the 1960s, two
hundred years after the conquest of New France by the British, the french population came forth with a dream of
an independent, free, Quebec.
"The descendants of the colonists of 1760 had long ceased
to be Frenchmen and Frenchwomen living in North America. They were now French-speaking North Americans. Within an English-speaking
continent and an English-speaking country, they were in the majority in Quebec, their homeland. Why, people asked, could not
the province of Quebec, with its population of six million, (80% of them French-speaking) become a sovereign country? Why
should it remain a "colony" within Canada, a country dominated by an English-speaking majority and by a central government
in Ottawa? A national liberation struggle, like those going on in other parts of the world was required."
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