Immigrants' Role in the Quiet Revolution

Unlock access to all the studying documents.

View Full Document

THE ROLE OF IMMIGRATION IN QUEBEC’S QUIET REVOLUTION

Maeghan McDonald

54.156 Canada Since Confederation

Dr. Barbour

Mar 21, 2019

Immigrants both motivated and shaped the Quebecois’ desire for the social and political

reform that was named the Quiet Revolution. As increasing numbers of Anglophone immigrants

moved into Canada and Quebec, Francophones felt their culture being threatened by

assimilation. The revolution was used as a tool to establish the Quebecois as an important and

distinct group of people within Canada while preserving their culture. The large portion of

immigrants migrating from the British Isles, the language and cultural choices Allophone

immigrants made upon arrival in Canada, and the fact that most economic power in Quebec is

held by Anglophones who have been present in Quebec for years all play a part in creating a

situation where the Francophones feel the potential threat of their language and culture being

pushed away to make room for a growing English population. Although immigration was not the

only factor that contributed to the Quiet Revolution, the Francophones’ fear that they would be

forced to assimilate into Canada’s dominant, and growing, English speaking culture was a

significant driving force that pushed the Quebecois to establish their own place within Canada.

Reform through the Liberal party led by Lesage was needed to establish equality for the

Francophones while preserving, protecting and promoting their language and culture in the face

of immigration and British colonialist attitudes. This reform is achieved through a variety of

platforms and initiatives including the nationalisation of private hydroelectric companies, making

French the language of the work force, withdrawal from a variety of cost-sharing programs, and

reducing the role of the Church, while increasing the role of the state, in Quebec society.1

In the strictest sense, “the Quiet Revolution generally refers to the political, institutional

and social reforms undertaken between 1960 and 1966.”2 One of the ideas spurring the

revolution into action is the need to modernize social welfare, education and health programs

after years of the Duplessis government insisting on traditional and outdated values that the

province of Quebec is no longer happy with.3 Another motivator is one brought about by pre-

existing British colonialism combined with new Allophone immigrants and the ensuing decrease

of Francophone power and presence in Canada. Thus, the main goals of the new nationalist

movement that coincides with the quiet revolution are to fight the disproportionate amount of

societal and economic power given to the British minority and provide opportunity for the

French to play a larger role in those sectors, stop federal centralization and earn greater power

for Quebec within the context of Confederation and, lastly, build an internationally recognized

and distinct presence for Quebec through relationship building with foreign countries.4 In order

to achieve these goals, it is necessary for the Quebecois people to take self-examining look at

their own culture and its future if they are to establish a distinct and long-lasting Francophone

presence in Canada.5

The framework for the Quiet Revolution was constructed long before 1960, in the 19th

century when a quarter of the immigrants who moving to Quebec were from Great Britain. 6 As

British colonialism spread across Canada, taking on a superior attitude that left the French

feeling as if they are “an oppressed people”6 who find themselves wishing to have equality that

would allow for “the development of a situation in which a French Canadian can feel at home

from one end of Canada to the other.”7 By the 1960s, the Francophones had grown tired of

being treated as inferior to the Anglophone communities who were better represented with

greater social and economic presence in Quebec, despite being the minority. The Francophones

came to feel they had “no rights outside [their] own province”8 simply because they were the

minority. Meanwhile in Quebec “the situation of the English-speaking minority is just the

reverse. It has full legal rights for its language before the courts, in the school system and in

government.”9 Even in cases where Anglophones are the minority they are given preferential

status over the Francophones who feel discriminated against in all parts of the country. In

addition to the lack of acceptance the Francophones feel outside Quebec, they also suffer

economically. Almost the entire capitalist class, aside from a few exceptions, is focused in

Montreal among a small group of Anglophone elites.10 This Anglophone concentration of

economic power meant that “English was the working language forced on French Canadians by

their employers and commercial associates”11 so the Francophones must work as unskilled

labourers earning low wages with little potential for promotions to managerial positions

because English is not their first language. The already existing effects of British colonialist