Abstract
One of the main concerns since the creation of the Canadian Confederation in 1867 has been the Quebec question. Nowadays, it is still a big issue in Canadian politics. Quebec has always appeared as a 'distinct society' within the country. It is the core of the main cleavage in Canada: the linguistic cleavage between French and English. Quebec also claims cultural and ethnic specificity. For the Quebec separatists, these particularities justify the independence of the province. They consider that Quebec is like a colony and they do not want to be ruled by the English majority anymore. Two referendum had already taken place in order to know if it was the will of the majority of the Quebeckers. The first occurred in 1980 and the Quebeckers refused the proposed 'sovereignty-association' (40% were in favour of the proposition). But in 1995, the result of the second referendum was not that clear (49.9% of 'yes'), even though the 'no' side won again. More than ten years later, we wonder what the current aspirations concerning the Quebec independence movement are and how the separatist movement dealt with those two defeats.
