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The Quiet Revolution Begins
Quebec had developed slowly under Maurice Duplessis at the cost of personal freedom and real progress. A demand for change was released when Duplessis died in 1959 and this was signified by the election of a Liberal government in 1960. Due to English speaking minority having the power to control the economy in Quebec, Quebec nationalists felt like their nation was under threat. All of these factors provoked a quiet revolution in support of Quebec's separation from Canada. -
Jean Lesage Becomes Premier of Quebec
Jean Lesage adopted the slogan "Maitres Chez Vous" from Duplessis, showing his nationalist approach to politics. He wanted Quebec to gain more independence and did this by having more control over economic development. -
Front de libération du Québec
The FLQ, an extreme separatist group organization begins to commit violent attacks, planting bombs and stealing military supplies. -
The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism
The Royal Commission brought about changes to federal and provincial language policy. The commission was a response to French Canadians in Québec. As a result of the commission, Canada became officially bilingual with English and French as the official languages, government services became supportive of all minority groups, more French Canadians were employed in the civil service and French was made the primary language of business and government in Quebec. -
Canada's New Flag
Under Lester B. Pearson's government, Canada's flag was changed. Pearson made the decision to remove any British symbols from the flag which not only showed Canada's independence from Britain but their own unity. -
Daniel Johnson And Union Nationale
In 1966, Jean Lesage's government was replaced by Daniel Johnson and the Union Nationale's party once again returned to power. Johnson wanted to continue to follow the goals of the Quiet Revolution and aimed to do this by creating closer ties with France. -
"Vive le Quebec Libre" Speech
French President Charles de Gaulle shows his support of Quebec's independence in his speech where he says "Vive le Quebec Libre". -
Pierre Elliot Trudeau Becomes Prime Minister
Pierre Elliot Trudeau was a French-Canadian federalist who had strong views on Canadian unity. Trudeau didn't support the separatist movement and instead believed that creating a bilingual government would help enforce unity across Canada. -
Official Languages Act Is Passed
The Official Languages Act made Canada a bilingual nation. This was a result of the research of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism which was able to discover that French Canadians alienation from the rest of Canada was growing and problematic. The commission recommended bilingualism in an attempt to unify the country. -
Robert Bourassa Becomes Premier of Quebec
Robert Bourassa believed that Quebec should be part of Canada. During his first year in government he had to solve the problems caused by the FLQ. -
The October Crisis
After the FLQ spent years terrorizing and bombing Quebec, they took their last act of defiance by kidnapping James Cross, the British Trade Commissioner to Canada and Pierre Laporte, the Quebec Minister of Labour. The FLQ also issued a list of demands... -
War Measures Act
As a response to the October Crisis, Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act which allowed for special powers for arrests. This resulted in over 500 Quebecers being arrested and jailed and outlawed the FLQ. -
Parti Quebecois Wins In Provincial Election
As many people in Quebec supported the separation from Canada, the Parti Quebecois was able to gain power for their separatist views. Led by Rene Levesque, the Parti Quebecois gained victory in the provincial election in 1976. -
Bill 101
In 1977, Rene Levesque proposed Bill 101 to replace Bill 22 that was originally introduced by the 1974 Liberal Premier of Quebec, Robert Bourassa. Bill 101 stated that French was to be the language used by all governments, courts, and businesses in Quebec. This Bill caused huge backlash within Quebec and all across Canada. This caused many non French speaking Canadians to pack up and leave for other parts of Canada. -
The Quebec Referendum
In 1980, Quebec held its first referendum on the decision of wether or not Quebec would become an independent state, with control over its own taxes, social policies, citizenship and immigration, but still holding strong economic ties with the rest of Canada. Over 90% of Quebec cast the ballots and this resulted in 60% voting "Non." -
Robert Bourassa's Demands for Quebec
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