Pro arguments

This page gathers various links chosen by us to help visitors understand what Québec sovereignists and other independentists are fighting for. Whenever possible, we provide English language material and we have even translated some documents ourselves for the sake of our English speaking visitors. However, bare in mind that most of the pro-independence literature has not necessarily been translated to English.

Discover the story of a very old national liberation movement that just won't give up...

Basic Notions

• Take some French lessons ;-)
• Learn to spot a fallacy when you see one
• Learn of common myths and fallacies in the Quebec debate
• Have a look at a few important facts you should not miss
• Read our answers to some frequently asked questions
• Learn some of the key concepts in Quebec politics
• Consult our terminology page

Québécois and Canadian intellectuals agree on the basics...

• Read Common Declaration of Québécois and Canadian Intellectuals, by Les Intellectuels pour la souveraineté
• Read Open Letter in Support of Québec's Right to Self-Determination, by Michel Seymour

Historical Arguments

243 years of a just political resistance to imperialism and assimilation in the name of human dignity.

Historical Overview

• Read the page dedicated to the history of our movements
• Read the translation of the Political Testament of Louis-Joseph Papineau
• Discover famous people in the history of Québec
• Read a few selected texts on Québec democracy by the Ministère des relations internationales (PDF)
• Read the section dedicated to other independence movements

Historical Documents

• 1970: The manifesto of the Front de libération du Québec
• 1960: The manifesto of the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale
• 1958: The manifesto of the Alliance laurentienne
• 1934: The manifesto of the Action libérale nationale by Paul Gouin (French)
• 1867: The Political Testament of Louis-Joseph Papineau
• 1839: The Report on the Affairs of British North America by the Earl of Durham
• 1838: The Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada by Robert Nelson
• 1837: A translated excerpt of the manifesto of the Fils de la liberté
• 1834: The Ninety-Two Resolutions of the Parti patriote
• 1831: The notes of Alexis de Tocqueville in Lower Canada
• 1784: The lampoon Call to the Justice of the State by Pierre du Calvet
• 1775: The Letter to the Inhabitants of Canada of the Second Continental Congress

Québec's Historical Demands

From the Secrétariat aux affaires intergouvernementales canadiennes of the Government of Québec:

• Québec's Positions on Constitutional and Intergovernmental Issues from 1936 to March 2001
• A Quebec-Canada Constitutional Law Lexicon (PDF)
• Québec's historical position on the federal spending power 1944-1998 (PDF)
• Québec and its Territory (PDF)
• Québec's Political & Constitutional Status (PDF)

Failure of Constitutional Reforms

Understood to be a pact between two founding peoples, the 1867 confederation was not always rejected by a majority of Quebec nationalists. The failure of constitutional talks in 1971, 1982, 1989 and 1992 has pushed yet more so called "soft" nationalists to adopt the sovereignist thesis.

• Read Canadian federalism and the autonomy of Québec: a historical viewpoint by Marc Chevrier (PDF)
• Read Constitutional saga on this site
• Read on Institutional bilingualism on this site

Linguistic & Cultural Arguments

Since the 1950s, the Quebec literary and artistic community is very engaged in the struggle for the independence of Quebec, the defence of the French language and development of Quebec's national culture. The support of talented artists and intellectuals is largely responsible for the wide support Quebec nationalism receives in the general public. You will find many writers, poets, playwrights and song writers under Opinions by individual militants just below.

The complex demolinguistic situation

To understand the desire for independence, we believe it necessary to fully comprehend the fate of Quebec French, language of the majority in Quebec, but language of a national minority inside Canada. Basic notions of language demographics are a must.

• Read The Real Power of French, a translation of a December 2005 article by Charles Castonguay
• Read Conference: The French fact in Québec and Canada: The Hidden Storm by Jean-François Lisée, a conference held at the American University Summer Institute, Washington D.C., June 2004
• Read French is on the ropes. Why won’t Ottawa admit it ? by Charles Castonguay, in Policy Options / Options politiques, 20, 8 : 39-50, 1999
• An good introductory read: Getting the facts straight on French : Reflections following the 1996 Census by Charles Castonguay, in Inroads Journal, volume 8, 1999, pages 57 to 77
• Read a Transcript of a Standing Joint Commitee on Official Languages hearing with Charles Castonguay, recorded on April 28, 1998

Poems, songs, movies

• Read all our Translations of poems and lyrics
• Peek through the Independentist Music Directory (French)
• Read some Independentist & Sovereignist Poetry (French)
• Discover movie director Pierre Falardeau (French)
• Read the article A Sovereign Presence - The poet and the politician in Gérald Godin by Jack M. Ruttan

• 1974: The political poem Speak White by Michèle Lalonde
• 1972: The poem L'alouette en colère by Félix Leclerc ( >> English translation << )
• 1948: Read an English translation of the Refus global manifesto by Paul-Émile Borduas

Opinions by militant organizations

St-Jean-Baptiste Society

• Read the section dedicated to the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society

Les Intellectuels pour la souveraineté (IPSO)

• Website of IPSO (in French)
• Sovereignty: A Legitimate Goal
• A Yes for Change

Syndicalistes et progressistes pour un Québec libre (SPQ libre)

• Website of the SPQ Libre

Opinions by individual militants

See the list of books written by advocates of Quebec independence.

Michel Seymour, philosopher

Biography in Wikipedia: Michel Seymour

• Michel Seymour's personal web site
• Québec Nationalism and Canadian Federalism, January 2001
• Exchange of letters between Michel Seymour and readers of the Inroads journal, November-December 2000
• On Redefining the Nation (PDF)
• Québec and Canada at the Crossroads: A Nation within a Nation (PDF)
• The anti-democratic drift of the federal government: A brief concerning Bill C-20
• Quebec's language laws : The long story of a complete misunderstanding (PDF)
• Secession as a Remedial Right (PDF)
• Nation-States, National Minorities and The Draft Treaty (PDF)
• "Introduction : Questioning the Ethnic / Civic Dichotomy", in Rethinking Nationalism, Jocelyne Couture, Kai Nielsen et Michel Seymour (dir), Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Supplementary Volume XXII, 1996, 1-60. ISBN 0919491227
• "Toward a Cosmopolitan Law of Peoples: Asserting the rights and obligations of persons and nations", in Michel Seymour (dir), The Fate of the Nation-State, Montréal/Kingston, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2004, pp. 403-411.
• "Collective Rights in Multination States: from Ethical Individualism to the Law of Peoples", dans Michel Seymour (dir), The Fate of the Nation-State, Montréal/Kingston , McGill-Queen's University Press, 2004, pp. 105-129.
• "An Inclusive Nation That Does Not Deny Its origins", in Michel Venne, Vive Quebec! New Thinking And New Approaches To the Quebec Nation, Toronto, James and Company, 2001, p.146-154.
• "On Redefining the Nation", in Nenad Miscevic (ed.), Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict, Chicago and La Salle, Open Court, 2000, 25-55.

Jean-François Lisée, journalist

Biography in Wikipedia: Jean-François Lisée

• Jean-François Lisée's publications in English and in French
• The French fact in Québec and Canada: The Hidden Storm, Conference at the American University Summer Institute, Washington D.C., June 2004
• Taking the doctor's pulse: how to misdiagnose the Quebec problem, A review of Charles F. Doran's "Why Canadian Unity Matters and Why Americans Care - Democratic Pluralism at Risk", published in Isuma - Canadian Review of Policy Research, Vol 3 No 2, Fall 2002, pp 129-132
• Books by Jean-François Lisée

Andrée Ferretti, RIN militant and writer

Biography in Wikipedia: Andrée Ferretti

• Read a translated excerpts of The Parti québécois: for or against independence?
• Various texts on the Website "Québec un pays" (French)
• More texts at Vigile.net (French)

Guy Bouthillier, former SSJB president

Biography in Wikipedia: Guy Bouthillier

• Fundamental law, or fundamental flaw? (2002)
• Why does it not simply eliminate all questions on ethnic origin and religion?
• Books by Guy Bouthillier (French)

Pierre Bourgault, former RIN president and journalist

Biography in Wikipedia: Pierre Bourgault

• A Radical from Quebec Passes by Norman Madarasz, CounterPunch, June 20, 2003
• Books by Pierre Bourgault

Jacques Ferron, writer

Biography in Wikipedia: Jacques Ferron

• Ten Years After, by Ray Ellenwood
• Jacques Ferron, écrivain (in French)

Michèle Lalonde, poet, playwright, essayist

Biography in Wikipedia: Michèle Lalonde

• The political poem Speak White by Michèle Lalonde
• Défense et illustration de la langue québécoise, 1973
• Manifeste pour une Cause commune, 1981 (with Denis Monière)

Denis Monière, political scientist

Biography in Wikipedia: Denis Monière

• Le développement des idéologies au Québec: des origines à nos jours, 1977
• Les enjeux du référendum, 1979
• Pour la suite de l'histoire: essai sur la conjoncture politique au Québec, 1982
• Pour comprendre le nationalisme au Québec et ailleurs, 2001
• L'Indépendance, 2005

Félix Leclerc, signer, poet

Biography in Wikipedia: Félix Leclerc

• The political poem L'alouette en colère by Félix Leclerc ( >> English translation << )

Gaston Miron, poet

Biography in Wikipedia: Gaston Miron

• Muriel Farley Dominguez, From Exile to Appartenance: The Poetry of Gaston Miron Reexamined, in The French Review, Vol. 62 (1994): 1013-1023.
• Gaston Miron : parole de poète, in Les archives de Radio-Canada
• L'Homme rapaillé, 1970

Gérald Godin, poet

Biography in Wikipedia: Gérald Godin

• Read the article A Sovereign Presence - The poet and the politician in Gérald Godin by Jack M. Ruttan
• Gérald Godin, tendre et emporté, in Les archives de Radio-Canada

Daniel Turp, PQ MNA and constitutionalist

Biography in Wikipedia: Daniel Turp

• Quebec's Quest for Sovereignty and Partnership, Conference at the Centre for Canadian Studies, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, March 20, 2001
• Québec's Right to Secessionist Self-Determination
• Don't buy Stéphane Dion's response to the secession ruling (1999)
• National Constitution of Québec (French)
• Daniel Turp's Web Site
• Older site still online
• Even older site still online

A cause not just for French speakers

• Read on English speakers for the independence of Québec and also English-speaking friends of Québec

Positions of political parties

Parti québécois (PQ)

• Website of the Parti québécois
• Presidents of the Parti québécois
• 5 questions and answers to understand why the Parti québécois wants Québec to become a sovereign country
• Budget of a sovereign Québec

Québec solidaire (QS)

• Website of the Québec solidaire party
• Declaration of principles (PDF)

See also

• List of organizations advocating the independence of Quebec
• Read on the range of attitudes towards Québec
• Read some famous quotes by various contemporary and historical figures